Reviews

The Nightgown & Other Poems by Taisia Kitaiskaia

sriq's review

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"candles everywhere are dying/
To see me naked."

"Call the Hobbler, that crude hive, spilked/
Large in hoard and deed, heath hoared/
And shoveled, hair bathed in gravel, mead."

"The sea full of rings, the sea full of itself and other people's hair,/
And the worms in the earth watching us, the sound turned off;"

"Your beauty is catching,/
All my antelopes are on fire and ruined."

thndrkat's review

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

3.0

Graphic, surreal, and visceral persona and narrative poems.  This collection was hard for me to read cover to cover because of the intensity, but I did appreciate some of the poems that are really bold and beautiful in their strangeness. 

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alliecorinne's review

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

2.5

meganstrahl's review

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2.0

I honestly just didn’t understand the majority of the poetry. Perhaps this is a book to read more than once in order to parse its meaning.

lamusadelils's review

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4.0

Estos poemas son caóticos, graciosos y aún así a veces evocan escenas que llegan profundamente.

Creo que me gusta la más la prosa de Kitaiskaia pero aún así fue interesante explorar su poesía. Aprecio la variedad de temas y la sensación de una mente que está constantemente flotando sobre diferentes ideas y sintiendo profundamente acerca de muchas cosas.

autumnalis's review

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challenging reflective medium-paced

2.5

I honestly think I missed something here. I was pulled in by the description and love of folklore/myth and got word salad instead. Most of the poems felt like they were written by an AI that was fed poetry that aligned closer to the description. 

That said I really did enjoy a couple of the poems in here. Lady Butter was a particular favorite. 

adrianasturalvarez's review

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3.0

There are some nice pieces here and there, and I admit I probably missed something, but to me these works felt small and without ambition. At times they even felt aimless.

madi's review

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4.0

I can definitely say I've never read anything like this collection! The poems are all surreal, almost fairy-tale like. So strange. My favorite line was: "It's itching out, my feet are raining."

That said, it felt a bit repetitive at times and I almost felt like it was too long that few of the poems were memorable to me. But it is definitely a collection I will be returning back to and ruminating on.

monkon's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

3.75

nathuffman97's review

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3.0

Neat use of language but I'm not sure I really understood most of these. Kind of interesting but mostly very strange.