blud

i can't articulate how much i loved this. but i think there's not a single wasted line in this entire thing.

some favorite poems are "leverage", "three strikes", "the ghost's daughter speaks: white elephant", "kin", "for Carol, who is no one", and "the last time".

notable favorite lines:

“I cannot help but admire
this horrible power
of mine, how each small thing
can become a death:

the lost house key,
a spoiled egg, a howling dog.

There is no prayer
or pill for this.”

***

“She keeps

lots of dead cats in her freezer says if I’m good &

pray they will come back to life & be my pets”

***

“Back then, I wasn’t shit.
Just electrified violence.
All fists, piss & safety pins"

***

“This is no poisoned apple

movie-star spell, Mother.”

***

“quit show more saying better when you mean eviscerated.”

and too many more. show less

An incredible collection. A raw and brutally honest look at familial trauma, as it happens in your nuclear family and as it repeats in the family you make.

As beautiful as it is brutal

This was incredible. I’ve read more than a hundred books this year, and this was easily one of the best. I loved it.