I hate to be so blunt and negative, but this was awful. "Encouraging tales of resilience" - where? I skimmed the rest of the book after decidDNF @ 30%
I hate to be so blunt and negative, but this was awful. "Encouraging tales of resilience" - where? I skimmed the rest of the book after deciding to DNF it, just to see if those tales showed up later, and they don't. The book is written like a Dr. Seuss motivational book for adults who hate their jobs, which is somehow both obnoxious and incredibly boring. The very first story talks about how, if you hate your job but can't afford to take an 8-week vacation, maybe you could go part-time — because y'know, in this economy, we can all totally take a pay cut! /s
Forgive me if I unlearn pretty and learn vicious in its place.
Trista Mateer has been cemented as a favorite poet for me, thanks to this collection.
Forgive me if I unlearn pretty and learn vicious in its place.
Trista Mateer has been cemented as a favorite poet for me, thanks to this collection. A mix of poetry and multimedia art, Artemis Made Me Do It takes life experiences for so many women—harassment, assault, insecurity, toxic relationships, having her queerness questioned and erased—and melds them with the infamous tale of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.
I AM THE GOLDEN ARROW. I AM ANGER CAUGHT IN THE THROAT. I AM WHAT PROWLS THE WOODS AT NIGHT. I AM WHAT WANTS AND DEVOURS. I AM THE HEART ON FIRE.
There is so much pain, and grief, and anger, and vengeance in these poems, and it both soothed and stoked the flames of a primal rage that I, like so many others, live with every day. Have you ever tried to review a piece of media that hit so close to home, you can't fully express your thoughts on it without flaying yourself raw, too? That's how I'm feeling right now.
The question is not whether you will be hurt by this life. You will be hurt. The question is: What will you do in the aftermath? Will you swallow grief or will grief swallow you?
If you enjoy angry, emotional poetry with a focus on trauma, grief, and healing, this is for you. If you enjoy feminist rants and a fiery need for a better world, this is for you. If you enjoy tales of deities, both kind and unkind, and the ways in which their stories still continue to shape the world around us and how we view it, this is for you. I adored this collection and cannot possibly recommend it highly enough.
hopeless against a backdrop of blue sky, wondering when will this pain end?
I've had Cynthia Pelayo's b
An unjust death taken, tortured mocked in misery
hopeless against a backdrop of blue sky, wondering when will this pain end?
I've had Cynthia Pelayo's books on my TBR for quite some time and have been especially interested in her poetry, so I was incredibly excited to read Crime Scene, especially once I learned it was more of a story in verse than a collection of poems (while I love the latter, the former is one of my favorite methods of storytelling!).
I was immediately taken in not only by how clever and unique Cynthia's ways of phrasing things can be, but also by how necessary her viewpoint on true crime feels. I enjoy true crime books and documentaries as much as many others do, but there's certainly something to be said for the way true crime consumers can take things too far, even exploiting the victims' memories and glorifying the killers at times. Crime Scene shines a light on that problem, in a way, as it exposes the ugly underbelly of crime work by showing us Agent K's ghosts and personal demons that have arisen from her work investigating these murdered victims.
I immensely enjoyed the premise of Crime Scene, but I'll be totally honest: I didn't "get" some of the entries. Something about the flow of thought processes was at times too abstract for my brain to latch onto, but even with that said, I still found myself unable to put it down. I think it's going to hit home with so many readers and I highly recommend picking up a copy, especially if you enjoy horror poetry or poetry with heavy, dark themes like this. And of course, I can't wait to read more from Cynthia soon!
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
Everything that dies returns and I want that to be as true for murdered girls as it is for frogs and salamanders
Donna Lynch absolutely blew me away w
Everything that dies returns and I want that to be as true for murdered girls as it is for frogs and salamanders
Donna Lynch absolutely blew me away with her last collection, Choking Back the Devil, so I knew this collection was going to be incredible as well, but I didn't know I could love it this much. I tabbed practically every other page in my copy of Girls From the County because it felt like each and every poem had something in it that was so important, that I needed to let it sink its teeth into me and then mark it for easy future access to return to.
Girls From the County feels like a merging of dark poetry and true crime as it follows stories that we know are true not only from the author's note in the beginning, but also because they're the kinds of stories we're all painfully familiar with, especially women, especially women who grew up in small towns where everyone knows who the devil on their street is, but nobody's willing to exorcise him.
Donna Lynch is my favorite modern poet and I genuinely cannot recommend this collection highly enough. Her work always leaves me both raw and starstruck in the best possible ways.
Thank you to the publisher and Erin Al-Mehairi for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
And without those feathers, there Was no lovely enchanted Songbird, no pure Princess, just me:
An ordinary girl With a sore heart And a map of words Benea
And without those feathers, there Was no lovely enchanted Songbird, no pure Princess, just me:
An ordinary girl With a sore heart And a map of words Beneath my skin
There are few things I love more in the literary world than retellings and stories inspired by fairytales: specifically the dark, old versions of those fairytales, where the curses leave their victims forever changed, where true love is often paralleled by great sacrifice, where the good guy doesn't always win. All of that is exactly what inspired this poetry collection, and Stephanie Parent did an incredible job bringing back all of those melancholy, dimly lit waves of nostalgia through these poems. Not only do these poems offer a new perspective on those old stories, but they also weave in themes of feminism, being uncomfortable in one's own skin, and that slow, arduous journey to self-acceptance that so many of us have experienced.
I related immensely to one particular narrative about a young girl who is discontented by the real world and wishes she could be that heroine saving herself from the wicked witch's curse, escaping the brambles and thorns and crumbling castles. I also couldn't help relating to a separate but connected theme: a young woman who feels less than special, and finds herself idealizing the clawed grasp of a beast, if only to be his obsession. I was certainly both of these girls at some time or other, and reading these poems was a gentle but bittersweet reminder of where I've been and how far I've come.
In case you didn't notice, this collection meant a great deal to me and I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend it highly for anyone who enjoys fantastical poetry and fairytales, and I can't wait to read more from Stephanie in the future!
Thank you to the author for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
Everything humans don’t know, they name dark matter. Everything they fear vindictive god. I’ve never been so hungry, but let me tell you a secret. To bec
Everything humans don’t know, they name dark matter. Everything they fear vindictive god. I’ve never been so hungry, but let me tell you a secret. To become a ghost, you have to starve for it.
I read quite a bit of horror poetry, and I especially love horror poetry with feminist themes and queerness and witchcraft, so naturally, I was so excited to check out Avra Margariti's debut collection, The Saint of Witches.
There are some absolutely gorgeous poems in this collection, with my two favorites being the above-quoted 'On the Genesis of Ghosts', as well as 'The Thing About Stars'. There are pieces featuring queer love, the mistreatment witches and those mistaken as such have been forced to suffer throughout the years, and so much more.
There are also poems in this collection about the desire to remain childless, which isn't something that I can relate to in any way (as many of you know, I'm a mother and very happy to be one ♥), but I felt like I needed to point it out because I know many of my friends wish to remain childless and would love to see themselves represented in this collection!
Unfortunately, the book as a whole was a little bit of a rollercoaster for me. I tried breaking the collection up into a few short reading sessions here and there to avoid dwelling upon it too much, but there's not a solid feeling of continuity throughout the collection, so I wasn't able to devour it in one go (which is my preferred method of reading poetry collections). That's very much a "me"-specific issue as a poetry reader, and I'm certain it won't impede the experience of many others who read this book!
Overall, The Saint of Witches is a great debut poetry collection and I enjoyed my time spent with it. I recommend checking it out if you enjoy horror poetry, and I look forward to reading more from Avra in the future!
✨ Content warnings for: (from the author's own notes) (view spoiler)[violence, blood, mutilation, attempted or referenced execution (by drowning, hanging, burning), child and animal death (non-graphic), suicide, loss of autonomy/control, imprisonment (hide spoiler)]
Thank you to the author for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
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