About

 

Headshot of Jessie Scrimager Galloway, a close‑up, head‑and‑shoulders portrait of a fair‑skinned woman standing outdoors against a brightly painted brick wall. She has short, tousled red hair that looks strawberry blonde in the light with the sides closely cropped and a longer, wavy fringe that catches sunlight glimmer. Her blue‑gray eyes look directly at the camera, and she carries a gentle, closed‑lip smile. There’s a hint of freckles and natural rosiness on her cheeks. She's dressed in a dark, collared polo and a simple, barely-seen silver necklace with an unseen pendant. The background is an abstract graffiti mural in muted reds, greens, whites, and blacks, softly out of focus behind her.
Photo Credit: Reina Vazquez

 

 

Jessie Scrimager Galloway is an adopted, queer poet with mommy issues. She is a graduate of Pacific University’s MFA program and author of the chapbook Liminal: A Life of Cleavage, Lost Horse Press. She loves her wife’s fried chicken and enjoys riveting conversations with her best editor: Snacks, a wily, polydactyl, orange cat. not my daughter (Etched Press, 2024) (opens in a new tab) is her first full-length collection.

 

Press Kit (opens PDF in a new tab)

not my daughter

 

Book cover of 'not my daughter' by Jessie Scrimager Galloway. A book cover on a solid pale pink background. Centered in the upper two‑thirds is a delicate gold chain that enters from the top right, loops once, and descends to a heart‑shaped pendant. The pendant is warm brass‑gold with a soft patina and casts a faint shadow to its lower right. Etched into the heart, in a simple lowercase typewriter font, are the words: not my daughter. To the right of the pendant, about one‑third of the way down, the word “poems” appears in the same small, typewriter‑style text. Near the bottom of the cover, centered horizontally, the author’s name is printed in a slightly larger lowercase typewriter font: Jessie Scrimmager Galloway. The overall effect is spare and intimate, suggesting personal stories woven like a chain around a single, resonant phrase.

 

“With crisp lyricism and narration, not my daughter slices dogma and illuminates the power of resiliency. This book is a must-have for living in this world and claiming your sexuality, your name, your life no matter what. Jessie’s poems redefine daughterhood and embrace what we humans long for, always, love.”

Thea Matthews, author of Unearth [The Flowers]

 

“The queer-adopted-kid-poet-who-teaches-creative-writing in me swoons over the brilliant craft and the precise play with language. I’ll return to this collection again and again. I want to use every poem as an example of “this is how you truth.” These poems give us somewhere to belong and make us feel less alone.”

Su Flatt, Columbus-based Writer & Educator

 

“This debut collection presents a brilliant examination of three languages: heritage, erasure, and wonder. Here, you’ll see a poet in the crossfire of the human experience. This work cuts with precision crafting a map that resonates with raw authenticity. Jessie weaves a narrative that is both haunting and deeply moving. This book is a must-read.”

Antony Fangary, author of Haram

 

“Jessie's lines of poetry are glass castles; ready to shatter over you again and again. She elicits a yearning, that is delicate and eternal, from tender moments that can make—or break—a life: a ripped saccharine packet lying prostrate on a table, a fork scraping the rim of a plate, the pluck of fishnet threads marking a thigh.”

Andrea Passwater, Oakland-based Writer

 

Purchase not my daughter (opens in a new tab)

Media

 

Watch "Barometer" above and read a few sample poems below.

 

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