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lisathepoetlibrarian's review
5.0
It has been some time since I picked up a book and refused to stop. In the last few hours of this gray Saturday I have grown with the speaker of these poems and once again believe no matter how wounded we can all learn to love better, deeper and more fearless than we once imagined.
judyapneeb's review
4.0
"Thought myself body enough for two, for we.
Found comfort in never being lonely."
This collection is gorgeous, heart-breaking, and beautiful.
Found comfort in never being lonely."
This collection is gorgeous, heart-breaking, and beautiful.
genrejourneys's review
4.0
Rating: 4/5
TW: SA, Sick Family Member
“Bestiary: Poems” was a wonderful collection dealing with monsters (or what we think are monsters), identity, and love.
While the title suggests a collection documenting animals (possibly monstrous), I found the book is better summarized as a mediation on aspects (both the good and the bad) of monsterhood (both the literal ones and figurative), love, and self identity as a Black girl (and also as an adult). I really appreciated how solidly Kelly woven her connective themes and experiences throughout the collection. Ideas are revisited and revised constantly. The poems specifically named after animals of legend were particular standouts.
This book would be wonderful for anyone interested in its themes or poetry in general, as long as the reader is mindful of the heavier content that the work is tackling.
TW: SA, Sick Family Member
“Bestiary: Poems” was a wonderful collection dealing with monsters (or what we think are monsters), identity, and love.
While the title suggests a collection documenting animals (possibly monstrous), I found the book is better summarized as a mediation on aspects (both the good and the bad) of monsterhood (both the literal ones and figurative), love, and self identity as a Black girl (and also as an adult). I really appreciated how solidly Kelly woven her connective themes and experiences throughout the collection. Ideas are revisited and revised constantly. The poems specifically named after animals of legend were particular standouts.
This book would be wonderful for anyone interested in its themes or poetry in general, as long as the reader is mindful of the heavier content that the work is tackling.
omgnikki's review
5.0
august 2023 poetry challenge day 2. rated 4 stars in 2018 but i'm bumping it to 5 in 2023. there's something really tender yet unflinching about this collection.
nearfutures's review
5.0
Bestiary is beautiful and extremely effective not just as a poem container but also as a collection; in addition to the individual works being stunning, the order and referential (sometimes explicitly so) quality of them together is so deliciously crafted. This is one of those collections that is stronger for being a collection. Favorites: "Catalogue," "Self-Portrait as a Block of Ice," "Ostrich," "Love Poem: Centaur," and "Self-Portrait as a Wooden Flower."
librar_bee's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
5 stars. In this collection, Donika Kelly speaks to the girl and the animal in us - sometimes one and the same. Kelly's ability to weave words together to paint a picture, to tie together common threads, to deliver a gut-punch, is unmatched.
emilydugranrut's review
2.0
2.5; an overall weak collection, both in form and function. One standout, though:
“When he opens her chest, separates the flat skin
of one breast from the other, breaks the hinge of ribs,
and begins, slowly, to evacuate her organs, she is silent.
He hollows her like a gourd, places her heart
below her lungs, scrapes the ribs clean of fat
and gristle with his thick fingers. He saysNow you are ready.
and climbs inside. But she is not ready for the dry bulk
of his body curled inside her own. She is not ready to exhale his breath, cannot bear both him and herself,
but he says, Carry me, and she carries him beneath her
knitted ribs, her hard breads. He is the heart now,
the lungs and stomach that she cannot live without.”
“When he opens her chest, separates the flat skin
of one breast from the other, breaks the hinge of ribs,
and begins, slowly, to evacuate her organs, she is silent.
He hollows her like a gourd, places her heart
below her lungs, scrapes the ribs clean of fat
and gristle with his thick fingers. He saysNow you are ready.
and climbs inside. But she is not ready for the dry bulk
of his body curled inside her own. She is not ready to exhale his breath, cannot bear both him and herself,
but he says, Carry me, and she carries him beneath her
knitted ribs, her hard breads. He is the heart now,
the lungs and stomach that she cannot live without.”
percystjoan's review
5.0
love poem: satyr
i have filed my horns and trimmed my beard
and warmed my throat into a fine and sober
warble. i play a little song in the key
of your name. i call to you with a breath
of spring, a small wind warmed in my breast
and shaped by the lips you loved. love, i see
you've closed the window to your heart.
closed, too, the door, and blacked the light.
i put my ear to the glass, to the wood. i hear
your heart like the wind in the reeds,
meting out my name.
[also: little box, out west, catalogue, how to be alone, and commandments.]
i have filed my horns and trimmed my beard
and warmed my throat into a fine and sober
warble. i play a little song in the key
of your name. i call to you with a breath
of spring, a small wind warmed in my breast
and shaped by the lips you loved. love, i see
you've closed the window to your heart.
closed, too, the door, and blacked the light.
i put my ear to the glass, to the wood. i hear
your heart like the wind in the reeds,
meting out my name.
[also: little box, out west, catalogue, how to be alone, and commandments.]
jvillanueva8's review
3.0
I’m really conflicted on this. As a whole, the book was beautiful and kept some really nice thematic elements throughout. The thread of fathers and mothers stands out, as well as the mythological love poem motif. That being said, no individual poem really stands out to me. Taken separately, they were each nice but didn’t really grab me.