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whatsmacksaid's review against another edition
3.0
Two and a half stars. It's fine, overall, but I'm also reading Donika Kelly's poems which just blow There's A Witch in the Word Machine entirely out of the water. None of Fagan's poems really hold up under a second reading. So, again, it's fine. Not great, though.
rcsreads's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.5
The person who borrowed this from the library before me had left their bookmark on page 4. Kind of wish I'd given up at the same point. Maybe the 3rd person who borrows it will get the bookmark to the end.
sarah_faichney's review against another edition
5.0
I must confess to being a bit of a lazy reader. I don’t like to have to work to find meaning. For this reason, I haven’t even attempted many of the classics. I’m also not a huge fan of poetry because often the hunt for meaning makes me feel somehow excluded; that the genre is not meant to be accessible to the likes of me. I’m a purveyor of the “the author simply meant that the curtains were blue in colour” school of thought. Having said all of that, I loved “The Panopticon” so jumped on this collection when it was recommended to me by a friend. Fagan’s poetry goes some way to bridging the gap for me. Her understanding and use of language is a beauty to behold. Some of the poems left me feeling a bit excluded, which I have no doubt is my failure to interpret. Others struck me, right in the centre of my soul, and brought me to a place of magical acceptance. They connected me to my own emotions in a way that only a truly gifted writer can and for that I shall be eternally grateful. “Spell Written In A Square” is a piece of work that warrants being blown up to A3 size and displayed in every home across the world. Likewise the following from “Spell for the Futility of Longing” - “a good witch always banishes the baneful, for it sickens body and soul.” This collection is one to devour, then revisit again and again. Fagan’s observations of relationships, and what it means to be a woman today, are stunning. I read this through the BorrowBox library app. I shall be buying a hard copy to take pride of place in my bookcase. Great stuff!