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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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Ableism, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Death, Medical content, and Transphobia
buttermellow's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Ableism, Body shaming, and Bullying
Moderate: Medical content, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcoholism and Eating disorder
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.
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.
Read for the Sealey Challenge.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Hate crime, Medical content, and Transphobia
Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia
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