GO GO GO GIRL is an epic work by this symbiotic pairing. Ripping, tearing, gripping, daring. The rawest nerves, the dangerous curves. Life lived hard at all speeds - fast, slow, and everything in between. It's all in here, pulsing with Nicca's personal truth and illuminated by Jesse's ocular electricity.

--Nels Cline

Nicca Ray and Jesse McCloskey enhance one another’s work in this exquisite collaboration of poetry and artwork, reflecting lives intertwined in love and creation. Nicca’s words come alive in Jesse’s hands: joy, pain, fear, every aspect of her past and present. Even in his sketches of Nicca with her eyes closed, somehow, her eyes are wide open, unafraid to speak the truth having finally found a safe place.

– Puma Perl, poet/writer, Birthdays Before and After

TALKING IN SLEEP

with every turn a word

a slap at the air

a cry

with every scene a run

running from the man

a shout

with every body – ah

hidden from the self

a reach

with every reaching hand

a murmuring heart

a plea

with every turn a word

a word commanding

a cease

with every corner lit

freedom comes to light

a breath

Go Go Go Girl has the exhilaration, despair, and feral beauty of a lost X album. Poems that open the heart’s trap door.  Images that burn themselves into your retinae.

--Peter Trachtenberg, 7 Tattoos, The Book of Calamities, Another Insane Devotion

 THREADS

Falling

Through sky

Through earth

Through ground

Through hole

Through man

Reaching

For clouds

For leaves

For dirt

For shovel

For hole

I fell for a man

My heart was a sieve

I’m falling through sky

Landing on stars

Reaching for ground

Shoveling dirt

Branding

Reckless

Abandon

Running

Through streets

Through maze

Through gardens

Through thorns

Through sprinklers

Hoping

For love

For dreams

For joy

For sun

For birth

Rebirth

"The tightly chiseled poems of Nicca Ray burn with intensity in GO GO GO GIRL. Reading these words, you feel the ferocity of traumatic Los Angeles childhood, the back-alley punk adolescent strung-out affairs, the struggle to escape the lure of drink, drugs, sex, love, and the past, and the joy of finding belief in the self and the internal strength to rise above. The poems are complemented by remarkable, intimate drawings and paintings by Ray's longtime partner, artist Jesse McCloskey,  adding depth and expanse to the intricacies of the work. The flow of meaning between poem and visual, visual and poem, shifts direction as some poems inspire the art, and other poems are inspired by the art. A magical collection, one that provides more fulfillment with each new reading."

—by Kat Georges, poet, Awe and Other Words Like Wow; co-director, Three Rooms Press

Nicca Ray's new collection Go Go Go Girl is a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit, a haunting reminder of the thin line between salvation and surrender, love and despair.  Complemented by  Jesse McCloskey's superb  monochromatic palette of drawings, every word becomes a melody, every line a revelation, guiding readers through the labyrinthine maze of existence with grace and resilience. With each turn of the page, we are reminded that even in the darkest moments, there is beauty to be found, and in the depths of despair, there is the promise of new beginnings.  

--Richard Modiano Director Emeritus of Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center