Metatron Press is thrilled to open pre-orders for Lateral Sway, the debut collection by Hannah Karpinski.
Moving through queer intimacy, memory, and displacement, the poems in this collection trace what it means to be pulled off-course—towards others, towards language, towards fleeting forms of belonging. Fragmentary and tender, Lateral Sway offers an account of how connections survive across bodies, borders, and time.
when you are the first sound of morning
your words ocean & I am weightless
when you look at me with your whole face
my shadow falls behind me
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About the Book
Lateral Sway is a lyric record of queer friendship and desire—rooted in intimate personal archives and collective memory, and shaped by the pressures of distance, secrecy, and longing. These poems hold open the question of how we stay close across time and place, and what it means to make room for others when their stories are not ours to tell.
Advance Praise
“Dear Reader, you have in your hands a gorgeous tumult of verse. It’s a tonic. A balm. A much-needed reprieve from all the wrong kinds of chaos.”
— Sina Queyras
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ ᴏꜰ ʟᴇᴍᴏɴ ʜᴏᴜɴᴅ + ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀᴍʙᴅᴀ ʟɪᴛᴇʀᴀʀʏ ᴀᴡᴀʀᴅ ꜰᴏʀ ᴘᴏᴇᴛʀʏ“Lateral Sway explores the lyrical intricacies of human/girl relation and the beauty of the complexities that emerge. Seeking to make the lives of queer others in Poland visible alongside hers, Karpinski in the end is permitted to share only her own desires, leaving open the search for answers: how can we make space for others, when their stories are not ours to tell?”
— Erín Moure
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ ᴏꜰ ᴋᴀᴘᴜꜱᴛᴀ + ꜰᴜʀɪᴏᴜꜱ + ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴏᴠᴇʀɴᴏʀ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ’ꜱ ᴀᴡᴀʀᴅ ɪɴ ᴘᴏᴇᴛʀʏ
Author Bio
Hannah Karpinski is a lesbian Canadian poet from Tkaronto/Toronto. Diving into intimate personal archives and collective memory, she writes about queer friendship and queer desire. You can find her poems in Commo Mag, Voicemail Poems, Ghost City Press’ My Loves: Digital Anthology of Queer Love Poems, and elsewhere. Lateral Sway is her first book.
Book Details
Title: Lateral Sway
Author: Hannah Karpinski
Release Date: May 16, 2026
Format: Paperback
Genre: Poetry
Pages: 88 pages
ISBN: 9781988355788
Cover art: Wera Grzes
Title hand lettering: Ella Brew
Cover + book design: The Obscura Agency
Product
Book — $20 CAD
Bundle – $48 (this title is available in our 2026 Spring Bundle – 20% off)
Spring 2026 Launch Tour
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Toronto — May 21 — Flying Books
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Montreal — TBA— TBA
Pre-Order Your Copy
Pre-orders directly support the author and help sustain the work of small presses. Reserve your copy of Lateral Sway today.
