*4.5 stars
TW: sexual assault/rape, mental illness, self-harm, body image, incest, suicide ideation

the subject matter was the main reason I wanted to pick this book up, as I had no knowledge of the author prior, but from the lyrical aspects of the poems to the way the strung together through parts, it really did remind me at times of songs forming a cohesive story over their play time. an album, of sorts.

she pulls together a narrative that I found to be different to other modern poetry collections; from the verse and technique to the subject matter, it felt like a breath of fresh air- even though the content was quite difficult to deal with. I was initially reading and analyzing this collection for a gender issues class, on the topic of sexual assault, but there were so many other aspects I found myself digging deeper into, that resonated quite wonderfully with me.

I highly recommend this to starters of more contemporary poetry who still want a verse that flows and has wonderful visualization, while also keeping true to the starkness and straightforwardness topics as heavy as the ones in the collection deserved.