Image Credit: Margarita Zueva “I line each bone of my spine against the bed, press my hands, damp with anticipation, against the bed// and wonder how long it will take me to die,” the speaker says in Jennifer LeBlanc’s collection of poems, Descent. Descent is a lush, gorgeous collection that delves into the Eleusinian Mysteries and the…
Tag: Poetry Collections
This Week, I Read Zoë Luh: [and time erodes like thunder]
Image Credit: Max La Rochelle via Unsplash Content Warning: The book reviewed here contains sexual assault, death, and medical violence. “i find home in cavities/in that darkness and space in between/learn to hold my tongue,” the speaker says in Zoë Luh’s debut collection of poems, [and time erodes like thunder]. The pieces in this book…
This Week I Read Matthew Haigh: Death Magazine
Image Credit: Jonathan Ybema via Unsplash “I will say my skull is a gleamy sheet of metal. It’s pretty and sheer. Your body smells so good, like the air. I’m really into the good stuff all over your heart,” the speaker says in Matthew Haigh’s collection of poems, Death Magazine. The book is set up…
This Week, I Read Erik Fuhrer: not human enough for the census
Image Credit: Paul Biñas via Unsplash “some bodies have always been haunted/their houses built on toxic remains/their bodies breathing in/the dust of industry’s buried bones,” the speaker says in Erik Fuhrer’s collection of apocalyptic ecopoetry, not human enough for the census. The poetry in this collection involves stunning wordplay and the absurd that is stylistically…
this week, i read rob mclennan: A halt, which is empty
Image Credit: Noah Näf via Unsplash “Listing, and in consequence. Whip-smart. Porcelain, imprints. Restless,/in what seemed. Eternity. A printed image. Transmitting, sparks,” the speaker in “[entirety, the edge of sky, scrapes]” says in rob mclennan’s collection, A halt, which is empty. Most of the poems in the collection are fragmentary. Literally, they are made up…
This Week, I Read Gabriel Oladipo: Emma
Image Credit: Pietra Schwarzler via Unsplash Emma, by Gabriel Oladipo, is a series of voice poems from the perspective of a teenage girl, Emma. She is addressing those who are close to her, in a sort of confessional. Whether she’s actually telling them, or this is a journal is unclear. The poem, “White Teeth,”…
This Week, I Read Mela Blust’s Skeleton Parade
Image Credit: Andrés Gómez via Unsplash “As children// we are /terrified of the monsters/under our beds//and as adults,/we willingly lie//beside them,” the speaker says in Mela Blust’s debut collection of poems, entitled Skeleton Parade. Skeleton Parade is a goth chic collection of poems about sexual abuse, the accompanying anguish, healing, and empowerment. Blust’s ability to…
This Week, I Read Elisabeth Horan’s Odd list Odd house Odd me
This week, I read Elisabeth Horan’s Odd list Odd house Odd me: Poems for Emily. These are not “after” poems, but rather a one-way correspondence from a poet to a kindred soul. There are references to Emily Dickinson’s work, but nothing that tries to be Dickinson. These are utterly from Horan’s own voice and perspective,…
This Week, I Read... 