Middletown

In Middletown, her third book of poems, Stephanie Rogers reflects on her chaotic childhood in the drug-addled industrial wasteland of Middletown, Ohio. In an engrossing collection of formal beauty, sardonic wit, scathing anger, and class resentment, Rogers’ uniquely vivid voice describes a transformation from a frightened but defiant little girl to a desperate, angry adolescent, and finally, to an adult coping with the death of her estranged father, an addict. In the end, Middletown reveals the rage and rapture of growing up feeling unloved in the middle of nowhere.

Stephanie Rogers is the author of three books of poetry, including Middletown (2025), Fat Girl Forms (2021), and Plucking the Stinger (2016), all published by Saturnalia Books. She was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio and attended The Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati. Her work has appeared in journals such as The Adroit Journal, Boulevard, New Ohio Review, Salamander, and Tin House, among others. She currently lives with her husband and two cats in Lebanon, TN.