Lovely, introspective poetry. Words that come to my mind to describe the poems are “moody, rich, and atmospheric.” There were poems that mused over life, family, and little moments. My favorites were the character study poems, such as Wayne or Lenora at the Window. Other poems that stood out were Kindergarten and The Organ Grinder. Good stuff.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an unbiased review.

I requested this because I haven't read poetry in a long time and I thought the fact that this was mixed with horror would be a good reintroduction to reading poetry. However, I couldn't really get onboard with this.

A lot of the imagery in this collection is rather grotesque, and some of the subjects of the poems are dark, so I understand the horror genre label. However, the poems didn't frighten me, give me the creeps or give me any other kind of horror emotion.

I think I know the reason for this, and that's because I find it really, really difficult to lose myself in poetry. I guess like with books, lots of flowery language distracts me from the story, so maybe that's where I'm going wrong with poetry, because it's often quite flowery. I do enjoy some poetry but it has to be straightforward and tell an easy to follow story. This collection... wasn't. It was flowery and filled with language that went about telling a story in confusing ways. At some points, I didn't have a clue what I was reading or what supposed to be feeling.

Example: "Mathematics are a ladder in the wild," you said, drunk. "Climb it to reach the real." - Um, I beg your pardon? What are you saying?

There were a couple of pieces in here that I did like. One being Northwest Passage which read more like a story. But for the most part, this collection was lost on me.

So unfortunately for me, this was a 2 star read. I didn't find it that interesting and I'm glad it was only a short read. However, this may be great for anyone who loves and connects with poetry. I can't exactly say if this is well imagined, well written poetry, because I honestly don't know - I found a lot of the metaphors and descriptions very confusing, as I've said before - but it might be worth giving a shot if you enjoy the more flowery writing.

Thanks to Netgalley and Brooklyn Arts Press for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

My rating is closer to a 3.5 than a 4.

I don't claim to have any understanding of poetry at all and I feel like that really impacted my ability to enjoy this collection. There were so many poems that I know had a deeper meaning than what I was getting, but I had no idea what I was reading. That being said I found the writing really beautiful and did really enjoy some of the ones from section two. I think The Wake and The Hatch are probably my favorites of this collection.

A dark and weird collection of poetry I would recommend this one for poetry lovers and horror fans.