Before you leave...
Take 20% off your first order
20% off
Enter the code below at checkout to get 20% off your first order
Discover summer reading lists for all ages & interests!
Find Your Next Read

In her debut full-length collection of poetry, Paying for Gas with Quarters, U.S. Army veteran Aly Allen explores and illuminates the war in Afghanistan, wartime and childhood traumas, and post-war parenthood.
Allen deployed to Afghanistan as a broadcast journalist with the U.S. 10th Mountain Division. A divorced parent of two, Allen is neurodivergent, as are her kids. She also is diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She recently began gender-transition, after years of sobriety and therapy.
Allen's writing often ponders the effects war has on her children and first wife. Soldiers and veterans are directly affected by wartime experiences, she says, but how many others inherit these wounds?
Many of Allen's poems thrust readers into the midst of daily chaos-whether in the parental or soldierly gaze-weaving attempts to navigate parent-child relationships both present and past, wrestling with grief and guilt, but also growing in hope toward stability and healing.
HERE'S WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: "War, family, life, and death collide in this collection. Allen's reverberating lines beat with ear-splitting blasts of beauty."Thanks for subscribing!
This email has been registered!
Take 20% off your first order
Enter the code below at checkout to get 20% off your first order