Independent publisher Frayed Edge Press has announced the release of How To Tie & Untie Mist, a new poetry collection by author and musician Daniel Hales. Officially launched on May 13, the book marks Hales’ second full-length poetry collection with the press and offers a bold, experimental exploration of meaning-making through language.
Described by Frayed Edge Press as “a deeper dive into the questions and shifting answers we generate to manufacture meaning,” the collection builds on the foundation of Hales’ previous release, ¿Cómo Hacer Preguntas? or How To Make Questions: 69 Instructional Poems in English. However, How To Tie & Untie Mist is not merely a sequel; it is an evolution. Through surreal instructionals and imaginative scenarios—ranging from how to get a job promotion to how to approach swans—the collection challenges conventional poetic form and interrogates the complexity of existence in a world veiled by uncertainty.
The book’s third and final section introduces an innovative technique: partial erasure of earlier poems within the volume. These skeletal reinterpretations engage in a dialogue with their source texts, offering contradiction, clarification, or revelation, as the poems metaphorically “untie” their previous forms.
Acclaimed American poet and professor CAConrad praised the book, calling it “a brilliant page-turner.” In a statement, CAConrad added, “By the time you reach ‘How To Be Mist,’ you will want to begin reading these poems over the phone. Call your lover and your friends, and don’t forget to call your mother! I love this book!”
Daniel Hales is the author of the hybrid novel Run Story (Shape&Nature Press), as well as three poetry chapbooks—Shake My Ashes, Blind Drive, and Tempo Maps. His work has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Conduit, Booth, and Quarter After Eight, among others. In addition to writing, Hales creates music under the names Umbral, The Ambiguities, and Selah haleS. He also performs with the band The Frost Heaves & Hales, whose latest album is titled Ghost Of A Chance To The Shadow Of A Doubt.
How To Tie & Untie Mist is available for purchase directly from Frayed Edge Press at frayededgepress.com, as well as through major online booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. A Kindle edition is also available. Libraries and institutions can acquire the book through distributors such as Ingram and Baker & Taylor.
Frayed Edge Press is an independent publishing house based in Philadelphia that focuses on amplifying marginalized voices, forgotten histories, literature in translation, and works that engage critically with contemporary issues. Readers who purchase both of Hales’ poetry collections from the publisher’s website are eligible for a 17% discount.
