Limited Edition GHOST :: SEEDS T-shirt

Designed in collaboration with Zander Schlacter, this limited edition t-shirt celebrates the publication of Sebastian Merrill's debut poetry collection GHOST :: SEEDS. Inspired by the book's cover, the design speaks to magic portals, trans identity, and queer myth-making.

About Zander:

Zander Schlacter (he/they) is an interdisciplinary artist and designer from Nashville, Tennessee. Zander earned his BFA in textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2020, Zander founded their namesake textile and home goods line known for its maximalist, eccentric patterns and bold, adventurous color combinations.

About the book:

Set on a remote island on the Maine coast, GHOST :: SEEDS incorporates elements of magical realism and myth to explore and trouble conceptions of gender and identity. The central tension of this book-length poem is a dialogue between a transmasculine speaker and a figure that he conceptualizes as his ghost, the girl-ghost of the self that he left behind to become the person he is today. Putting a queer spin on the myth of Persephone, the girl-ghost speaks from an underworld lit by glowworms, cut through by dark rivers, and connected to the world above through a sea cave. The ocean serves as a throughline connecting the speaker and his lost self, providing a setting in which everything is continually in flux: the cycle of the tides, the pounding surf against the rocky coast, and the ever-present threat of pollution and climate change. Kayaking through a coastline studded with islands, alongside seals, porpoises, and herons, amid swirls of floating plastic, we are invited into a world in which the only constant is change. Alternating between prose-like elements and lyric meditations, the book’s expansive form makes full use of the page from margin to margin, creating space and breathing room for complicated investigations of memory, gender, and grief.