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sintari's review
5.0
“It is the land where he is buried, the place
she spent her whole life, the room
where they made it impossible
for her to have children.
It is the colony where he did not learn to read,
but did paint every single slat of fence
you see that shade of yellow.
The place she didn’t want to leave
when she finally could,
because she’d lived there 50 years,
and couldn’t drive a car, or remember
the outside, or trust anyone
to touch her gently.”
The poet (like my little sister) has cerebral palsy, and in this volume she invoked what her own haunted life may had been if she’d been born 50 years earlier in a time when science thought it best to lock our “crippled” and “feebleminded” away. I will not even lie and say I didn’t find this an incredibly tough read. And that’s also why I’d give it 10 stars if I could.
she spent her whole life, the room
where they made it impossible
for her to have children.
It is the colony where he did not learn to read,
but did paint every single slat of fence
you see that shade of yellow.
The place she didn’t want to leave
when she finally could,
because she’d lived there 50 years,
and couldn’t drive a car, or remember
the outside, or trust anyone
to touch her gently.”
The poet (like my little sister) has cerebral palsy, and in this volume she invoked what her own haunted life may had been if she’d been born 50 years earlier in a time when science thought it best to lock our “crippled” and “feebleminded” away. I will not even lie and say I didn’t find this an incredibly tough read. And that’s also why I’d give it 10 stars if I could.
savshelfinger's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
a blast from the past so to speak
but for real; I love how this collection resurrects a place I never would have known about.
but for real; I love how this collection resurrects a place I never would have known about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Sexual assault
cseibs's review
5.0
So glad I finally got around to reading this. Through poetry she is able to conveysoemthing that no narrative could capture.
ohcorrica's review
5.0
This book of poetry was incredibly moving. The imagery is extremely powerful and really allows you to visualize the horror that she is describing.
honeygirly211's review
4.0
I picked up this book of poetry after I read one of Brown's poems through a daily poem email subscription. It was such a beautiful and powerful collection, and the individual pieces work so well as a group, carefully crafted and moved together. I do think there were a few poems that felt a bit too abstract for the collection and took me out of the flow a bit, but overall reading was a deeply moving experience.
therealmlg's review
5.0
This is one of my favorite poetry books I have read this year so far. Brown's concept is original and the execution is tender and evocative without being exploitative or plodding (dangers I think inherent in this type of subject matter or just in books organized around this type of central conceit). A beautiful book.
atayoshapedspace's review
4.0
poetry has not moved me so dramatically since franny choi’s soft science or nayyriah waheed’s nejma. a truly stunning collection. i felt has though inhabited the mental and physical space of the disabled and dispossessed girls and women institutionalized in a way that could only engender deep empathy.