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alaynapowell's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
One of my new favorite poetry collections — House is an Enigma is both haunting and healing as it reflects on what it means to exist in a body, as well as the language used to describe that experience. Emma Bolden’s use of language and metaphor awed me!
shiloniz's review against another edition
5.0
"House sees itself and House / is sorely afraid. House will break its own roof / into shingles, House will eat itself with termite/ teeth, House will rot, if that's what it takes."
House is an Enigma is a collection that delves into loss due to chronic illness and its various traumas. The House poems weave throughout the rest of the collection, tearing down the walls brick by brick as it goes, building them up back in between, then tearing them down again. It mimics the cyclical nature of grief and chronic illness. It searches for light, finds it, snuffs it out. Its a beautiful lyric exploration of something I am all too familiar with and it doesn't shy away from the betrayals of the body. I haven't felt this strung out and seen by a poetry collection since reading Emily Skaja's Brute.
House is an Enigma is a collection that delves into loss due to chronic illness and its various traumas. The House poems weave throughout the rest of the collection, tearing down the walls brick by brick as it goes, building them up back in between, then tearing them down again. It mimics the cyclical nature of grief and chronic illness. It searches for light, finds it, snuffs it out. Its a beautiful lyric exploration of something I am all too familiar with and it doesn't shy away from the betrayals of the body. I haven't felt this strung out and seen by a poetry collection since reading Emily Skaja's Brute.
lgschmidt's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful poetry you must read for yourself! Highly recommend!
snowmaiden's review against another edition
4.0
At first it seemed that these poems were so cloaked in metaphor that I couldn’t gain entry. Then I came to the poem called I Was Told Not to Write About the Body and everything clicked for me. Once I wrapped my head around the system of metaphor, I saw that these are poems of defiance in the face of lost opportunity. As someone who is mostly ok with not having kids but occasionally wistful, I especially liked “The Daughter I Will Never Have” (also available at the link above).
jenniferlynnkrohn's review
5.0
I loved this book. In it, Emma Bolden explores the grief, infertility and the archetype of the house, whether it be the body or the idea of home itself. However, as with any great book of poetry, that description itself is limiting. I just want to read these poems aloud to friends.
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