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healnotslay's review against another edition
4.25
We are fire or
the image of fire, the day, or
the breaking of it. We disappear, chaff
of myth, what held the story of a season’s end.
Crumple the fetal S of your body until you resemble a ball of paper. The fold of your limbs, the ache in your joints.
Watch as he manicures his lawn, puts in all places a bit of blue, a turning leaf. And then,
how the female finds him,
lacking. All that blue for nothing.
Hauntingly vulnerable & desperate collection but still contains so much humour & levitytruly I gasped when the gay porn poem appeared it’s kinda jarring but I like that she had the balls to keep that in the collection & speaking of collection this was such a cohesive collection motifs revisited again & again without being boring & there still being like a Narrative such that I would go back and reread earlier parts because I’d realised something/she’d revealed something halfway through.
Hated that so much hinged on Greek mythology tho bc some of us are women in STEM and don’t know that Pegasus was born from the beheading of Medusa (I googled every single beast mentioned except the werewolf so I also learnt lots!)
Favourites: Self Portrait as a Door, Whale
the image of fire, the day, or
the breaking of it. We disappear, chaff
of myth, what held the story of a season’s end.
Crumple the fetal S of your body until you resemble a ball of paper. The fold of your limbs, the ache in your joints.
Watch as he manicures his lawn, puts in all places a bit of blue, a turning leaf. And then,
how the female finds him,
lacking. All that blue for nothing.
Hauntingly vulnerable & desperate collection but still contains so much humour & levity
Hated that so much hinged on Greek mythology tho bc some of us are women in STEM and don’t know that Pegasus was born from the beheading of Medusa (I googled every single beast mentioned except the werewolf so I also learnt lots!)
Favourites: Self Portrait as a Door, Whale
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia, Dementia, and Sexual assault
james1star's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
I did enjoy reading this poetry collection, Kelly uses animals and mythical creatures throughout to put forward various messages and topics. As someone not too experienced with poetry, there were some that I didn’t quite understand but for the most part I could extrapolate meaning. They are all well crafted and poetic (who’d of guessed) so is a pleasant experience. However, the author does touch on some TW topics like child abuse, sexual abuse, sexual content, sexuality, mental health and others but is done so from a personal perspective that really connects with the reader. I personally didn’t get too much of the ‘love’ aspects the collection stated in its synopsis but maybe I’m not able to fully comprehend the nuances?? Not sure and I also felt the ending was slightly rushed with little structure - but obviously it doesn’t need to do so being a collection and Yhh… ignore me
Some quotes that spoke to me:
‘When they cover their legs,
I can feel beautiful, too.’
‘Fences break a landscape
the way a body makes
a road’
‘You hate your loneliness
as you hated yourself as a child. You are bored
with your hatred.’
‘Each body is a body on display…’
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Child abuse, Incest, and Pedophilia
Minor: Self harm, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
laurajhirsch's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
I really loved this collection— there are some stellar poems in the first half (I’m especially a fan of Self Portait as a Block of Ice) but I felt like it really picked up steam and got especially strong toward the last third. A lot of poems all throughout that will stick with me, and that I’ll be sharing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Dementia, Self harm, Rape, and Pedophilia
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