A young woman with blonde hair and fair skin sitting on a white blanket in a park, holding a small birthday cake decorated with colorful sprinkles. She is wearing a red long-sleeve top and blue overalls. The background features green trees and bushes, with sunlight filtering through.

A person writing in a notebook with a pen and an open book nearby on a wooden desk. There is a glass of water and some bottles on the desk.

Smart, Sharp, Unforgettable:

Your Next Favorite Reads Await

The cover of a book titled "Run Me Before the Party Ends" by Chloe Rodriguez. The cover features a purple and pink ornate masquerade mask surrounded by flowers and decorative objects, with a purple hue overlay.

A handwritten letter on a slightly curled piece of paper, placed on top of closed books, with dried flowers nearby.

Ruin Me Before the Party Ends is a sharp, intimate exploration of memory, identity, and the ghosts we carry from past loves and forgotten places. Through a series of vivid and surreal odes, the collection delves into the tangled landscapes of love, longing, and the personal histories that shape us. With wit and vulnerability, the poems invite readers into a world that balances the chaotic energy of youthful rebellion with the quiet ache of growing up. From the neon glow of Miami’s forgotten dive bars to the haunted swamps of Florida, each poem is a search for meaning in the spaces that elude us—whether in the fleeting pleasure of a fast-food quesadilla, the fading memory of dive bars and strip clubs, or the tender grief of a mother’s absence. Ruin Me Before the Party Ends is an invitation to a party where nostalgia, loss, and the desire for connection are all tangled together, and where the end always feels just around the corner, with each poem a desperate attempt to hold on before it all slips away.

Latest Release: Ruin Me Before the Party Ends

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A young woman with long blonde hair, wearing a black turtleneck sweater and jewelry, sitting at a wooden desk in an office. Behind her are bookshelves and a whiteboard with writing on it.

Meet Chloe

Chloe Rodriguez is a poet, writer, translator, and instructor from South Florida, where salt air and memory often find their way into her work. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida State University and is pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing. Her poems trace the soft violence of nostalgia, the ghosts of girlhood, and the absurd rituals of longing. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her work has appeared in Delta Review, Wingless Dreamer, The Windward Review, Poet’s Choice, Midnight Mind Magazine, The South Florida Poetry Journal’s Anthology of Florida Poets, and elsewhere. Her debut chapbook, Ruin Me Before the Party Ends, arrives courtesy of Finishing Line Press. She is currently tending to a full-length poetry collection and a memoir-in-progress, and forever yearning for a swamp hermitage somewhere deep in the Everglades.

MY STORY

What readers say

Through lushly rendered descriptions, compelling lyricism, and a stark awareness, these poems masterfully tour us through life’s varied and complex landscapes: the natural and the urban, childhood and womanhood, the visceral and the spiritual, the romantic and the profane, innocence and decadence.

–Richard Blanco, 2013 Presidential Inaugural Poet, author of Homeland of My Body

Open notebooks with handwritten notes and loose papers on a desk, surrounded by stacks of books.

“Chloe Rodriguez‘s poems resonate with both large personal and Americana iconograghy. Her poems zing and sing with tremendous energy. They are beautifully crafted and elegant on the page. Her voice is unmistakable and resonates with gusto and bravado. Congratulations on her entrance to the church of American poetry, a much welcomed and brilliant debut!

–Virgil Suarez

Open book with text on pages, partially obscured by a potted plant with dark leaves, on a wooden surface.

Chloe Rodriguez’s Ruin Me before the Party Ends is a wild invitation to one “manic pixie dream girl’s” riot of color, lights, and dive bars, and through it all, she asks “What is it be a woman?” A little girl sees the pink neon sign for a pole dancing club. Is that it? A late-night deejay, Delilah, hands out romantic advice. Should we take it or is it just another trick? Are we all as lost as Laika in the outer reaches of the cosmos? Or are we post-pop princesses ready “to hang up the combat boots?” There are so many women inside one woman, and Chloe Rodriguez has invited them all to her party. A rock ‘n’ roll debut!

–Barbara Hamby