(Above and below) Photography by Zach Suggs

Let the Water Rise is a coming-of-age poetry book by Eli Cate that tells a story of a young woman losing her mind and a young man discovering himself.

Beginning in a Southern Baptist church with titles like “Purity Pledge” and “Jesus, Snakes, and Sleep Deprivation”, Let the Water Rise dives into gender and religion in the Deep South. In “Asylum”, “Let There Be Lightning”, “Soft Blues” and “Night Song” we get glimpses of the poet’s mind, and the madness that follows them. Finally, in “Dragonfly Prayer”, the poet wonders would it would be like to become someone new.

Cover photo, cover design, interior layout and poetry by Eli Cate