"lake words" is a small self-published book by writer, poet and Salt Lake City resident milo, in collaboration with coauthor Lucy Allen. Self-termed “a queer abolitionist love letter to the lake,” the book contains bite-sized discourse on the existential threat Great Salt Lake faces. milo said the book was composed on Antelope Island, during a vigil for the lake held by the River Writing Community. The vigil lasted 47 days, the entire length of the Utah legislative session.
“I was out there by myself for eight days and nights, and did a lot of writing and just filled a whole notebook, basically. It was a lot of, honestly, angry ranting, is what if felt like,” milo said.
milo and Allen entered the book into the Queer Spectra Arts Festival and later made more copies for friends. milo says the book offered a different perspective, not always featured in the mainstream media, that their friends resonated with. Not initially intending to mass produce the book, milo said since its inception hundreds of copies have been distributed.
Now, Allen and milo are looking to make "lake words vol. ii" even more collaborative. Milo said artists can submit short essays, visual art, poetry, visionary fiction and genre-bending work to lakewords.com by April 1. They said they hope this project will bring people together around the lake.
“We really hope to bring forward voices that aren't being heard and bring narratives from the people and from the community. And we want to open the door to grief and rage, and love and everything in between. Because it's all there, and we don't see it often enough. And so we wanted to make a place for people to put it,” milo said.
milo said 25% of the proceeds from the book will be donated to Wuda Ogwa, formally known as 'Boa Ogoi', Cultural Interpretive Center. Its mission is to educates visitors on the history of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation.
