Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Wound from the Mouth of a Wound by torrin a. greathouse

13 reviews

romeri's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Might be my favourite poetry book ever — it raises the bar for poetry books for me so much. 

But you already know the myth: Rape
that made the body punishment for itself. 
— “Medusa with the Head of Perseus “ (1)

Such is how it opens.
Wound from the Mouth of a Wound powerfully confronts gender, ablelism, sexual violence, and more. It intimately weaves tales intertwined with the poet’s own identity as a disabled, transgender woman. 

I’m misdiagnosed—bipolar this time—then,
three days later, my grandmother is diagnosed with cirrhosis & isn’t
this exactly what we mean when we call family by the word blood? 
— “Heirloom” (22)

As someone who struggles with medical issues, I resonate with the book’s images of phlebotomy and white hospital walls, and I appreciate its discourse on disability. As a cisgender woman, some of the book’s portrayal of womanhood I relate to, while others broaden my scope of what womanhood can embody. I am grateful to be able to briefly share a vastly different womanhood in torrin a greathouse’s words. 

We search for a beginning to this story & find only a history of breakage 
x-rays cannot explain. Some girls are not made, but spring from the dirt
— “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination Before a Diagnosis Can Be Determined (50)

The book opens with the body — “what is an ouroboros but a body, or a story, without a beginning or an end” (2). At its end, I find myself standing in front of a mirror with the book held in front of my chest, so as to read the last poem’s horizontally flipped words — “but look, here it is, real / & irrefutable” (61). Like an ouroboros, a body, it completes itself. The book might have ended but disabled, queer people’s struggles with their identity goes on. This books reminds us that we are beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Ableism, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Death, Medical content, and Transphobia

booksandteatime's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Transphobia, Grief, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Violence, and Sexual harassment

buttermellow's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Ableism, Body shaming, and Bullying

Moderate: Medical content, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Alcoholism and Eating disorder

lifeinsherds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

torrin a. greathouse is a poetry powerhouse. "Wound from the Mouth of the Wound" explores disability, medical trauma, gender, family and grief, for starters. greathouse is a master of form and language. I also think this is a great book for anyone who doesn't think they "get" poetry, or think poetry is "boring". This book is anything but boring. Would recommend to practically anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Ableism, Violence, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, and Hate crime

Moderate: Cursing

singofthemoon's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Ableism, Dysphoria, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Death of parent, and Rape

Minor: Misogyny

birdbeakbeast's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

a collection by an immensely talented poet. Written with deep emotional understanding and sharp insight into the ways trauma, transphobia, and ableism combine.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical trauma, Ableism, Chronic illness, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Hate crime, and Transphobia

Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Rape

Minor: Self harm

elliotvanz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Visceral, raw, and deeply personal. Greathouse's poetry is full of striking and arresting imagery. The poems in this collection trace over the themes of violence and the body. Particularly a disabled body, and a trans body. This collection is a defiant scream into the darkness and I'm glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Rape, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

jayisreading's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

What a stunning poetry collection. greathouse reflects on queerness (particularly transness) and disability, as well as the intersection of the two, to give a glimpse of the violence and injustices these communities face. These poems are sensitive, much like the emotional and physical wounds carried by queer, disabled people. Some wounds remain open and raw, while others have healed but are ever-present, and greathouse does a phenomenal job to address the complexities of carrying such wounds, gracefully and fiercely addressing the pain, power, and resilience that come with being disabled and queer. Much to think about long after finishing these poems.

Some favorites: “Essay Fragment: Medical Model of Disability,” “Ode to the First Time I Wore a Dress & My Mother Did Not Flinch,” “The Queer Trans Girl Writes Her Estranged Mother a Letter About the Word Faggot & It Is the First Word to Burn,” “An Ugly Poem,” “Phlebotomy, as Told by the Skin,” “Still Life with Bedsores,” “On Using the Wo|men’s Bathroom,” and “Ars Poetica or Sonnet to Be Written Across My Chest & Read in a Mirror, Beginning with a Line from Kimiko Hahn”

Read for the Sealey Challenge.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Hate crime, Medical content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

a_sterling's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, and Hate crime