Emergency Exits
by Shannon Swearingen Gabriel
Shannon Swearingen Gabriel
Shannon Swearingen Gabriel (she/her) grew up in a small town just outside of Nashville. She spent a semester studying and traveling in Europe before earning a BFA in creative writing at the University of Evansville, located in southern Indiana. After interning for a literary magazine based in Pittsburgh, she moved to Chicago to begin her professional career in the digital marketing industry, and she now leads a team of copy editors at a top agency.
In 2020, after several years of creative burnout, Shannon picked up a pen again and began to scribble poetry in the spare moments between parenting and her day job. Her poems have now been published in a wide array of literary magazines, including, most recently, The Southern Quill, Last Leaves Magazine, and Black Fox Literary Magazine.
Shannon now lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, daughter, and two cats. She enjoys visiting the city and its many fantastic restaurants; reading and writing in coffee shops; and spending far too much money on vinyl records and books.
praise for Emergency Exits
In Emergency Exits, every word is an invitation to sink deeper into the mystery and marvels of life. In our complex world, Shannon Swearingen Gabriel is profoundly good at noticing what is important. With reverence and clarity, Gabriel’s words are a delight for the senses as she explores all phases of life. Each poem is lush with fruit and herbs, lingering memories, and the ache of existence. Deliberate and affecting, these poems do not simply exist, but breathe and bloom around the reader. Resonant, intelligent, and always emotionally grounded, this collection is a gift for anyone looking to connect with the quiet joys of everyday beauty and the small moments that shape us.
- Katy Luxem, author of Until It Is True
Within the poems of Emergency Exits, we have in our hands a way out, often metaphorical, occasionally literal, of the tangled mess we are in, as the world fades faster than the summer sun, plunging us into darkness sooner than we could’ve ever expected. Gabriel’s imagery soars off the page, and emotionally, we are held in rapture as we discover how to keep existing, keep growing, how to find and make a home, and how our bodies can “anchor you to this Earth, at least for one hour longer, just one hour longer.” The biggest compliment I can pay this astonishing collection is this: I wish I was publishing it!
- Jeff Bogle, publisher of Stanchion Magazine & Books
An amazingly well-organized chapbook that unabashedly reshapes the world into poetic beauty while still allowing the cracks to show. It really is an instruction manual, one that reminds of a simple truth: it's up to you how you choose to see things. Behind each emergency exit is a question: What will you do when the darkness comes? Will you find solace in your garden? On your porch? Will you reach out for comfort or to be comforted? Or will you reach out to grab the sun itself to reclaim the light with your teeth?
- Adam Bechtold, founder and Managing Editor of samfiftyfour
