When everything is romantic, you treasure the pain, the longing, and the unruliness of emotion. You yearn for love and indulge in its absence. You follow the stars and become engulfed by platitudes of affection.

The collection describes the sweet intimacy and torture of loving through time and distance. The scenes are painted against a backdrop of romantic-period landscapes, married to the specific catharsis of Rothko’s brand of modernism. In the prose, there is promise in a message finding its way to another person, and hope in the message finding them well.

I was inspired by music, lyrical birth caused by whatever makes romance so compelling, a flood to the senses, ignited by the stylings of the titular Charli XCX song.

This zine was published on October 31, 2024, in Washington, D.C. There has been one printed edition composed of 15 copies.

Blaise Nettles is a graphic designer and interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, CA.