I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The collection is full of vivid imagery. It was a little too religious for my tastes, but then again I probably should have read the description a little closer. I'm not a fan of the first 30 or so pages but the poems get a lot better as you get further into the book. I think this book could have been better, but I would love to read more from this author in the future.

I love a good poetry. I love poetry. I can read poetry in any day and any time but I find it difficult to review.

This book was good on its own though I find the first few poems lacking depth compared to the last poem at the end. If you're not a fan of gothic things I don't think you'll enjoy this one,

I find this one raw, daring, and complex.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

She Used to Be on a Milk Carton reads like a mess of words that somehow compell you to continue turning the page. Some of these poems are pure gold, carefully constructed verses that twist your soul. Two especially beautiful poems are "Dark Matters" and "Oh, Adored Cadaver". Kailey Tedesco has a wonderful way with words, spinning then in such a way that everything is not as it seeks. You'll have to dig deep into this poetry, delve past what it appears, so you can get to the core of what Tedesco means. There are times when the ramble of words make little sense, but I promise, these poems will surely make your heart twist. With themes of the female experience, religion, birth, and the abstraction of life, you'll delve deep into the meaning of life, the enormity of the universe, and the unpredictable pattern of living.
It wasn't my favorite collection of poetry, but there were a few poems that managed to captivate me, and even feel the deep rumble of emotion.

When I picked up this book, I did not know what I was expecting. Was surprised in a good way. The poems told were all fresh and interesting. Bravo

She Used to Be on a Milk Carton
by Kailey Tedesco (Author) Whitney Proper (Illustrator)

April Gloaming Publishing


Arts & Photography , Poetry
Pub Date 30 Mar 2018


I am reviewing a copy of She Used to Be On A Milk Carton through April Gloaming Publishing and Netgalley:

In this powerful debut collection of poetry Kailey Tedesco shares the place between body and spirit, soul, love trauma and even logic. This collection treads the line between human spirit and our physical and spiritual selves.


The poems in this collection are told through images of Catholicism, heavenly bodies, dark magic, serpents and God. Tedesco in this book challenges what it means to be a woman in an often contradictory world.


I give She Used to be On a Milk Carton four out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This book focused a lot on gothic imagery to portray and deliver the message, which I approve. It’s honestly become so difficult to find a well written gothic poem.

To think about it, the title “She used to be on a Milk Carton” is pretty indicative that the speaker feels lost, and the first couple poems depict that emotions perfectly, but then things just.. get out of control. One of the biggest criticisms I have is that the beginning of the book has very poorly constructed pieces. Especially when you compare them to the ones that come at the end of the book. Those were beautiful, I have to say. And one of my favorite poems was the one the book was named after: She Used to be on a Milk Carton. The intricacy and delicacy Kailey showed in that poem was simply beautiful, and I wished there were more pieces like that.

It was a huge turning point in the book after that poem, and it seemed like all the poems after that just found their bearings and fell straight into a beautiful motley of dark and enchanting imagery. And that brings me to the imagery of this book-

Like I said, this book relies heavily on gothic images, but at the same time, it also uses the female body to deconstruct the society and the way it views a woman. Because when we first meet the speaker, she’s already at a low point, we don’t get to see her devolve into that state of mental being, which I think would’ve been excellent. Because while we understand that the author feels lost and helpless, we don’t get to see how she got to that point. And so, there’s a disconnect.

I gave this book a 3 1/2 stars, not because it was a bad book, but because it was a book that could’ve been better. Would I read Kailey again? Definitely. She’s a really good poetess, and I strongly felt like by adding those half-baked poems in the beginning, she just lowered the impact all her later poems could’ve had on the reader from the get go, because those were beautiful enough to deserve an applause-

Because I had goosebumps.

This was a poignant and striking collection that went far than my expectations initially gathered. The range of emotion expressed through simple drawn design and a playful attitude with style really allowed for a full engagement with complicated issues that aren't easy to talk about at all. From the struggle of great pain caused by those that we love the most, to the conflict between ourselves, our gender, our faith and how the world views us, everything was linked in a way that is resemblant of the everyday. That title of 'she used to be on a milk carton' is also particularly significant because it suggests that, whilst that is the most painful place to be - lost and missing, it is also a place that can be transcended. We are not reduced to only our worst nightmares and the places where we feel the most pain, nor do those states have to be ugly and garish; that's why poetry has been born out of them. Here, pain is simultaneously beautiful and unbearable and I consider myself at a great privilege to have been able to share in the thoughts of this supernova of a writer.

You know that book that makes you feel like your brain has liquefied and is slowly draining from your ears with every page you read and by the end you are fairly certain that you qualify for the Dumbest Person on the Planet award? I just finished it.

Do you want to know what this book of poetry is about? Me too! I don’t know why She Used to Be on a Milk Carton. Maybe she was lost, just like I was while I carefully read each poem trying to extract its meaning. I know what the blurb said and I know I was really interested in reading these poems.

There were a couple of poems where it’s possible I may have cottoned on to the central theme but I’m afraid I needed someone to dumb it down for me. There was a girl in my English class who would write poems that she read to the class frequently. I never understood those either but my teacher practically fell over herself declaring their literary masterpiece worthiness.

I assume these poems were very well written and that people much smarter than myself will rave about how full of deep and meaningful ideas they were. I’m certain that English teacher could wax lyrical about every poem in this book. If you read these poems after checking out someone else’s review (preferably someone who can actually provide valuable feedback about this book) I really hope you love it.

Personally I’m going to go find a sponge to mop up as much of my brain as possible and hope I can find a way to reverse the liquefaction process.

Thank you to NetGalley and April Gloaming Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

I had a lot of trouble following the free-flowing thoughts of a lot of these poems. I'm talking Joycean levels of stream of consciousness. I thought that was unfortunate, because many poems had really great lines with great, fresh images (even if I felt like I had no context for them), and a couple poems really worked for me, like "Depression for Catholics" and "Can Three Be God Without Ghosts?"

Poetry is so subjective that it's hard to remain completely unbiased when reviewing it. I stopped a third of the way through the book because I was in no way connecting with the material, but because it's poetry the lowest rating I'll give it is 3 stars (because I know poetry is subjective and don't want to keep someone else from reading it). I just wasn't interested in poetry where 1/2 the poems celebrate periods and/or death... And I'm fairly comfortable discussing both in open forum.

My favorite poem was 'How Often We Confuse Ovens for Rabbit Holes' especially the closing line: 'All my life, I’ve been chasing the vermin home, only to wake up exactly where I started.'