"Thoughtfully curated, Commodore Rookery, by Christy Lee Barnes, captures and recasts the first year of parenthood. Through the lens of the rookery, where the speaker goes for inspiration, insight, and wonder, the familiar challenges of parenting an infant—sleepless nights, feeding difficulties, relationship changes—become transcendent. The mother’s identity, rather than being merely lost or blurred, metamorphosizes—expands beyond the self, through time and across species." 

-Angelia Williamson for MER 

My first chapbook, Commodore Rookery, published Fall 2025 through Finishing Line Press. You can purchase a copy on bookshop