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evavroslin's review against another edition
5.0
Jessica Drake-Thomas is the newest entry to join the pantheon of dark poetry goddesses alongside Stephanie M. Wytovich, Christina Sng, Linda Addison, Sara Tantlinger, and many others.
Her poems seep under the skin and burst in a panoply of emotion that touches scars. I cannot possibly hope to do justice to describing why this is such an essential poetry book for all dark poetry lovers to devour if they haven't already. It is a stunning book. The poems are visceral and cut deep. Clash Books, which has been putting out fantastic releases for the past several years, really topped an exceptional level of excellence with this year's selection, including this book. I hope to see much more from this wickedly talented author.
Her poems seep under the skin and burst in a panoply of emotion that touches scars. I cannot possibly hope to do justice to describing why this is such an essential poetry book for all dark poetry lovers to devour if they haven't already. It is a stunning book. The poems are visceral and cut deep. Clash Books, which has been putting out fantastic releases for the past several years, really topped an exceptional level of excellence with this year's selection, including this book. I hope to see much more from this wickedly talented author.
findingmontauk1's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
BURIALS by Jessica Drake-Thomas is a collection of dark poetry with so much emotion. Bringing together elements of witchcraft, ritual, relationships, and pain, one thing is certain: "you can't get rid of me or silence me!" While reading I am reminded of themes of resilience and strength in these poems and spells. There is a wide variety in this collection full of some sharp imagery linked to ashes, fire, bones, dirt, and all that Gothic goodness! I find that most of these poems cut deep and from a novice-poetry reader's perspective they are extremely relatable. This entire collection IS a whole mood, a complete aesthetic, and will continue to resonate with me!
inkychaotics's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
“I want a necklace / made of the teeth / of my friends / so I can keep their bones close / against this pulse / at my throat.”
A lovely, haunting collection that casts its spell over the readers and lures them into history, ritual, love, grief, and more. I really enjoyed the imagery throughout the pieces; for example in "The Poisoning" -- "His antlers are trimmed in stars." Beautiful. Jessica Drake-Thomas has a strong writing voice, and I'm eager to read what she does next!
A lovely, haunting collection that casts its spell over the readers and lures them into history, ritual, love, grief, and more. I really enjoyed the imagery throughout the pieces; for example in "The Poisoning" -- "His antlers are trimmed in stars." Beautiful. Jessica Drake-Thomas has a strong writing voice, and I'm eager to read what she does next!
motherhorror's review against another edition
I've read about a dozen dark poetry collections between 2019-2020 and if there is one thing I have learned through practice, it's to go into the collection with eyes to see and ears to hear. I think as a rookie poetry reader, it's important for me to stay out of the text, at least on the first run. Later, as I browse through the poems again, I look for subtext, symbolism, and potential meanings. If I go into a collection with too much activity going on in my brain, I have a harder time engaging with the poetry.
That being said, BURIALS by Jessica Drake-Thomas is welcoming to everyone. These poems are accessible and relatable.
The first one, QUEEN OF STICKS, establishes a strong point of entry for the reader
"Meet my lover, / the executioner. / He kills people / for his bread." (30-33)
I loved that at the back of the book, there are some notes from the author about selected poems (pg. 67). For example, the poem, A KIND OF DYING, was written after reading, PERFUME: THE STORK OF A MURDERER by Patrick Süskind-one of my favorite books. It made that particular poem even more menacing the second time I read it. I paid closer attention to words like, "hunts", "smell", "scentless", "specimens".
This stood out like a neon sign:
"He wraps my body / in fat-soaked silks / to leech away the desire / pouring from my being." (94-98)
If you're familiar with the story of PERFUME, this poem brings everything right back and I just loved it!
I particularly liked the Love Spells.
The repeated words became a drumbeat. Organic things like roots, dirt, birds, smoke, bones, trees
But also inorganic things like texting, houses, carpets, windows, casket, trophy, dumpster
and the contrasts started becoming very noticeable-a sweet juxtaposition as organic things rotted, faded, decayed, spoiled...I'm not sure what it all means but all of it made for a rich, cohesive reading experience.
I truly enjoyed this.
I would say that a few times, I felt my age. There was a poem that mentioned formals, and I wondered if that was like a prom? And then I questioned if the poetry was for a younger audience...but then I dismissed all of that nonsense and just kept on reading. But that did disrupt my experience for a moment. I'm going to keep reading dark poetry-especially when it's as delicious as this collection.
That being said, BURIALS by Jessica Drake-Thomas is welcoming to everyone. These poems are accessible and relatable.
The first one, QUEEN OF STICKS, establishes a strong point of entry for the reader
"Meet my lover, / the executioner. / He kills people / for his bread." (30-33)
I loved that at the back of the book, there are some notes from the author about selected poems (pg. 67). For example, the poem, A KIND OF DYING, was written after reading, PERFUME: THE STORK OF A MURDERER by Patrick Süskind-one of my favorite books. It made that particular poem even more menacing the second time I read it. I paid closer attention to words like, "hunts", "smell", "scentless", "specimens".
This stood out like a neon sign:
"He wraps my body / in fat-soaked silks / to leech away the desire / pouring from my being." (94-98)
If you're familiar with the story of PERFUME, this poem brings everything right back and I just loved it!
I particularly liked the Love Spells.
The repeated words became a drumbeat. Organic things like roots, dirt, birds, smoke, bones, trees
But also inorganic things like texting, houses, carpets, windows, casket, trophy, dumpster
and the contrasts started becoming very noticeable-a sweet juxtaposition as organic things rotted, faded, decayed, spoiled...I'm not sure what it all means but all of it made for a rich, cohesive reading experience.
I truly enjoyed this.
I would say that a few times, I felt my age. There was a poem that mentioned formals, and I wondered if that was like a prom? And then I questioned if the poetry was for a younger audience...but then I dismissed all of that nonsense and just kept on reading. But that did disrupt my experience for a moment. I'm going to keep reading dark poetry-especially when it's as delicious as this collection.
stephaniemwytovich's review against another edition
5.0
Resurrection is a favorite theme of mine when it comes to storytelling. I just love the intensity of it and how it pushes boundaries and bodies to shapeshift, to reinvent oneself. When it comes to poetry, I think of Sylvia Plath’s The Colossus and Anne Sexton’s collection Transformations, and so when I read the tagline to Burials by Jessica Drake-Thomas (“What is buried can return”), I knew I had to have this book in my hands.
Now usually when I read poetry, I like to take my time, savor each piece, let it move and live within me. But trust me when I tell you that I devoured this book. I literally could not put it down and I read through it not once, but twice in a sitting. Not only are these poems invocations and spells, but they celebrate the divinity within us all while focusing on the shadows, the ugly, the sad. It is a celebration of our fire and our water, our passions and our tears, and personally, I am here for that darkness like a phoenix covered in flames.
The collection starts off with the poem “Queen of Sticks,” which brilliantly sets the tone for the book because at its core, it’s a poem about resilience. The character sees death, experiences death, becomes death, and yet each time she resurrects, stares him in the face, warning him, daring him, letting him know that the forest is full of secrets, that women are born screaming and dripping with a magic that doesn’t dissolve. When I think of sticks, I think of the grittiness of earth, how we ground ourselves in our surroundings, in our graves, but I also think of wands and fire, and how there is this spiritual, impulsive energy bathing in it that speaks to queens and to mothers.
As I made my way through the book, I soaked in commentary about domestic horrors, all those chains we carry that bind us to our houses, our lineage, our families (chosen or otherwise). There are love spells within that let us drink to our desires, to our failures, to our immaturity, chaos, and complexity, and I smiled at the focus on hair and beauty and pain here because all the best spells (and poems) are intimate and messy. For instance, there is a line in “Love Spell Number Two” that reads: “You’ll need/ an entire bottle/ of wine./Drink this/out of a mug,/ and extra large one,/ which reads:/ I <3 MY DOG.”
Yes, I felt personally called out here because that is real, authentic magic. It’s not the Instagram aesthetic (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but this just felt more at home to me, and I think that speaks to that earthiness that I was talking about earlier in the review with “Queen of Sticks.”
Something else that I appreciated here was the vulnerability on the page. Woven throughout these poems are memories, bone shards, ashes, and doorways, and I felt the reoccurring images of horses, birds, and hunger echoing throughout as I moved through this graveyard of decaying bodies, trapped souls, and wandering girls. In some ways, this scared me because this book felt familiar, like I’ve lived some of these lives, dreamed some of these dreams, and it makes me laugh because I remember reading something years ago about how women wake and remember that they’re witches, and I feel like sisterhood, that camaraderie here, and it’s potent.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.
Now usually when I read poetry, I like to take my time, savor each piece, let it move and live within me. But trust me when I tell you that I devoured this book. I literally could not put it down and I read through it not once, but twice in a sitting. Not only are these poems invocations and spells, but they celebrate the divinity within us all while focusing on the shadows, the ugly, the sad. It is a celebration of our fire and our water, our passions and our tears, and personally, I am here for that darkness like a phoenix covered in flames.
The collection starts off with the poem “Queen of Sticks,” which brilliantly sets the tone for the book because at its core, it’s a poem about resilience. The character sees death, experiences death, becomes death, and yet each time she resurrects, stares him in the face, warning him, daring him, letting him know that the forest is full of secrets, that women are born screaming and dripping with a magic that doesn’t dissolve. When I think of sticks, I think of the grittiness of earth, how we ground ourselves in our surroundings, in our graves, but I also think of wands and fire, and how there is this spiritual, impulsive energy bathing in it that speaks to queens and to mothers.
As I made my way through the book, I soaked in commentary about domestic horrors, all those chains we carry that bind us to our houses, our lineage, our families (chosen or otherwise). There are love spells within that let us drink to our desires, to our failures, to our immaturity, chaos, and complexity, and I smiled at the focus on hair and beauty and pain here because all the best spells (and poems) are intimate and messy. For instance, there is a line in “Love Spell Number Two” that reads: “You’ll need/ an entire bottle/ of wine./Drink this/out of a mug,/ and extra large one,/ which reads:/ I <3 MY DOG.”
Yes, I felt personally called out here because that is real, authentic magic. It’s not the Instagram aesthetic (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but this just felt more at home to me, and I think that speaks to that earthiness that I was talking about earlier in the review with “Queen of Sticks.”
Something else that I appreciated here was the vulnerability on the page. Woven throughout these poems are memories, bone shards, ashes, and doorways, and I felt the reoccurring images of horses, birds, and hunger echoing throughout as I moved through this graveyard of decaying bodies, trapped souls, and wandering girls. In some ways, this scared me because this book felt familiar, like I’ve lived some of these lives, dreamed some of these dreams, and it makes me laugh because I remember reading something years ago about how women wake and remember that they’re witches, and I feel like sisterhood, that camaraderie here, and it’s potent.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.
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