"A paperback edition of this book was originally published in 1994 by Black Sparrow Press"--Title page verso

"In this breathtakingly inventive autobiographical novel, Eileen Myles transforms her life into a work of art. Told in her audacious and singular voice made vivid and immediate in her lyrical language, Chelsea Girls cobbles together memories of Myles's 1960s Catholic upbringing with an alcoholic father, her volatile adolescence, her unabashed 'lesbianity,' and her riotous pursuit of survival as a poet in 1970s New York. Suffused with alcohol, drugs, and sex; evocative in its depictions of the hardscrabble realities of a young artist's life; with raw, flickering stories of awkward love, humor, and discovery, Chelsea Girls is a funny, cool, and intimate account of a writer's education, and a modern tale of how one young female writer managed to shrug off the chains of the rigid cultural identity meant to define her"--Page 4 of cover

Bath, Maine -- The kid -- Merry Christmas, Dr. Beagle -- Light warrior -- Bread and water -- My scar -- Everybody would go play cards at Eddie and Nonie's -- The goodbye tapes -- Robin -- Madras -- 1969 -- February 13, 1982 -- Violence towards women -- Toys R us -- Neuromancer -- Dog damage -- My couple -- Mary Dolan: a history -- Popponesset -- Marshfield -- My father's alcoholism -- 21, 22, 23 ... -- Quietude -- Robert Mapplethorpe picture -- Leslie -- Epilogue -- Jealousy -- Chelsea girls