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bashsbooks's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Nichelle is a crazy-talented poet. Her poems scratch the itches in my brain just like the ones I was reading constantly in undergrad to learn the craft. I especially enjoy her meditations on religion - and how she grapples with the idea of god in the face of racial, queer, and class injustices. My favorite poems were "Jesus Saves," the soup poems, and "When the Last Time You Went To Church?", but all of them are sooo good. I love the way Nichelle plays with space, too - the footnote poems were also all really clever. I cannot wait to read The Porch (As Sanctuary).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence
-These are the trigger warnings listed on the title page.ziggybooks's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.0
"πΊπ°πΆ π£π¦ππͺπ¦π·π¦ π΄π’πΊπͺπ―π¨ πΊπ¦π΄ πͺπ΄ π¨π°π°π₯ π¦π·π¦π― πΈπ©π¦π― πΊπ°πΆ π₯π°π―'π΅ πΈπ’π―π΅ π΅π°"
tw: themes of self-harm, death, mental health, suicide, blood, sex, violence.
i must say, this one took me by surprise.
getting into this book i had one thought in mind: how much more can i say about poetry that expresses about something -or someone- i don't necessarily believe in? i've never been a religious person.
jae nichelle's poetry slapped me across the face, but in the best way possible. it stopped me dead in my tracks and forced me to find the meaning behind every verse, and the common things underneath it all.
girlhood, childhood, the female experience, sexuality, family, the human experience. everything from race to religion to queer relationships.
while i am not a religious individual, i do come from a religious extended family. i've seen up close what religion means, how it affects people and those around them. as i read more, i got more into her story.
i loved the use of foot notes! it was creative and i thought that it didn't just add to the writing, it also transformed it into another poem in itself. 'we create our own coming of age' is an example of this. great editing, great versification.
another thing that left me speechless: the water/mother metaphor in 'hands'. just, wow.
the prosody left me wanting more every time and i really liked jae's way of describing thoughts and feelings.
over all, an amazing compilation of poems that follow a pattern and break it at the same time. adored it!
thank you @netgalley @croptopassassin & @andrewsmcmeel for the opportunity!
π
[ p.s:
shout out to 'lover, we get old' for mentioning argentina, woop!! ]
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Suicide, Self harm, and Death
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