"If My Body Could Speak" by Blythe Baird is a beautiful work of poetry crafted with the likeness of Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace with themes of feminism, trauma, and learning how to be a woman in today's world through 45 evocative poems. Button Poetry has never failed to bring up and coming poets to the public and certainly shows no signs of stopping with Baird's collection. "If My Body Could Speak" doesn't romanticize tough topics eating disorders and rape, but instead shows them in their truest, raw form, revealing what each is like with poise, grace, and just the right amount of anger. I'm excited to see what Button Poetry and Blythe Baird have to offer in the future. I look forward to reading many more works from her.

**I RECEIVED A COPY OF THE BOOK FROM THE PUBLISHER IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW**

In today’s age where trigger warning are nearly expected for anything with tough topics, it’s important to note that this book should have warnings for disordered eating, sexual assault, and LGBTQIA+ topics (apologies if this sounds off—she discusses things like queer identity, coming out, and acceptance as a queer person, which I know can be triggering for some individuals). The majority of the poems are related to these topics.

I’ve seen—and loved—many of these poems on Button Poetry so it was nice to read them and revisit them. I had expected from the cover that the majority of the poems would relate to disordered eating and from her previous performances, I knew to expect sexual assault-related poems but I had hoped to see more variance in the topics discussed. I would have liked to see some poems that weren’t about disorder eating or sexual assault.

I love so many of Button Poetry’s authors and I think they tend to knock it out of the park but this one slightly missed the mark for me. It was a solid 4/5, but I don’t believe it will be a book I revisit.

Having watched some of Blythe Baird’s spoken word poetry performances, I knew what I was getting into with this book. Let me say that reading the poems in written form hits just as hard as hearing them being spoken.

This collection is a beautiful, brutally honest look at what it is to be a trauma survivor, a feminist, and a woman, among other things. Some of these poems made me ache for myself and all the other women in the world.

I am looking forward to more from Ms. Baird in the future.

This little book honestly blew me away. I was vaguely familiar with Blythe Baird but I will certainly be following her closely after this. Her poetry is raw and visceral, written to be spoken, to be performed. I found myself waiting to read it until I had privacy and quiet so I could read each poem aloud and take each word in.
Baird has done incredible work speaking about her struggles with anorexia and her sexual assault, and this book is a stunning and extraordinarily honest treatise on healing and speaking truth to power. I'm already looking forward to seeing more from her.

One of my favorite books of poetry as of late. It was refreshing to read about some of the same body struggles I have faced in my own life and see such strength in this woman’s journey. Must read for all women!

I'm a really big fan of Button Poetry, and Blythe's videos have always been some of my favourite to watch. She's an excellent performer, and I was so excited to see her book available on NetGalley - I immediately downloaded it and started reading.

And man, was I blown away. Her writing is powerful and raw, with themes (TW) of sexual assault, eating disorders, mental health, family dynamics, love - life. She writes about being a woman in such a violent and possessive world, and you can't help but relate and see yourself in her poems.

Some of my favourite poems from the collection:
- Theories About the Universe
- High School
- Girl Code 101
- Pocket-Sized Feminism
- Evolution of Healing
- Concerns from a Hot-Boxed Jeep
- The Way I Was Taught to Love
- Taxidermy
- The Ship I Built
- Everything is Fluid
- For the Rapists who Call Themselves Feminists
- Balancing

A must read, can't wait for more by Blythe.

Wow. Just... wow. I have a new favorite modern poet, full stop. Never has any poetry book resonated with me quite as hard as this one did. It's so unapologetically feminist, bold, brave, body-accepting, queer, rape-decrying, angry, broken, beautiful and I never wanted it to end. I can count eight poems I would tattoo on my body right this very moment. Wow.

Whether she was talking about eating disorders, surviving sexual assault, or coming to recognize her own love for other women, I related so damn much to every bit of it. And I wish I didn't, and I wish she didn't get it, because nobody deserves to go through the things that we and so many other people on this planet have been through, but it feels so good to be seen.

I don't even have words. I'd rather just offer you some of Blythe's.

This is not female privilege,
this is survival of the prettiest.

We are playing the first game
we learned how to.

———

I have run out of compassion for wolves. I have run
out of compassion for anyone who isn't outraged.

———

Watch me build an empire from the ashes
of everything that tried to destroy me.

Content warnings for rape, abuse, misogyny, eating disorders

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Button Poetry for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

If I wasn't opposed to mandatory reading, I'd wish this book was taught in schools. Girls should read it to know they are not alone, and boys should read it to realize how they make girls feel.

Blythe Baird talks about rape culture, sexual assault, eating disorders and feminism in the most relatable way possible. Her poems paint familiar pictures of everyday life that I'd never find a way to express this well. I was so surprised, touched and humbled by this book that I feel inadequate to even describe the impact it had on me.

Baird is five years younger than me, but she shows more potential than any other poet whose work I've read lately.

I am going to buy this book, which is the highest compliment I can pay a book I read for free. I am going to buy it and save it for any kids I have in the future to read.

Reading this book brought me to a home. A safe place.

It was filled with important things that didn't drag or feel heavy.

At the very least, it was enlightening.

A relief to know it's not uncommon to feel a type of way and for how fucked up it is to be so common in the first place.

There were many keys points that I myself have always wanted to address

I, however, don't have the same platform or finesse

I will though, someday

It felt great to hear my voice in my head read words by another instead of droning over my own and feeling isolated.

You see, I've found that I could relate to the high school experience

Peer-pressured fumbling with alcohol-flavored tongues, the force so great you go along so that they don't notice too much

The assaults of my sisters are their own shrines of endurance but never a clean slate or a choice

Did I mention my first kiss was with a girl?

It confused the shit out of me so I kissed a boy, I hated them both

These poems coming from my Caucasian counterpart are no less different than mine.

We really are not that different.

Wow. A raw and deep touch to the authors reclaiming of her eating disorder and rape. It is not a light book, and can be very triggering to anyone who is recovering from either. But it is beautifully written and it is something I continued reading because she is not apologizing for her past, she is reclaiming her voice. I would definitely not skip this one.

Loved the gentle poetry of this book which focuses on tough subjects. Such as, eating disorders and body image. How messed up and catty girls can be to each other. Loved it!

There is denying, whenever I see a Blythe Baird poem come up on Button Poetry, I am straight there, and this collection of poems which was recently released is certainly proof of why as she spills her words perfectly throughout If My Body Could Speak.

A personal collection of poems, it was never going to be anything less from this writer, and the words are delivered with such emotion on every page. Poems that run through different themes such as sexuality, politics and family and each one makes you think and puts you for a second in the writer’s shoes and it makes sometimes uneasy and sometimes hopeful reading.

Poems such as ‘Pocket Feminism’ resonate just as much now as they ever did in this book and poems such as ‘When The Fat Girl Gets Skinny’ make it clear why so many people have heard these words out loud as they still feel as raw on paper as they did as she performed it. ‘Lipstick’ is a short poem, but I bloody love that last line, ‘I am my own special occasion’ and I think about it everyday.

A brilliant book, it’s so good to have her work in one place so I can read it again and again.

I've been a fan of Blythe Baird's poetry for a while now, having seen her recite her poetry on the Button Poetry YouTube channel. Seeing her publish her own poetry collection was a wonderful surprise. Reading this collection left me a little breathless at times, mostly because of how much I can relate to it. Baird doesn't hold back in her poetry, in fact, it's a place where she lets herself open up about her past mistakes. I wish I had something like this growing up and going through high school. Someone to remind me that I'm not alone and that I never was. In fact, many of the poems in here remind me of high school so clearly that I can almost smell it. Overall, I really enjoyed this collection and reacquainting myself with some old favourites.

Button Poetry has been an equal share of hits and misses for me. Blythe Baird's If My Body Could Speak put the hits in lead. It's the most honest collection I've read this year. Though, a trigger warning is needed as the book's topics range between sexual orientation, eating disorders, and rape.

Massive Trigger Warning for anorexia/eating disorder, rape/sexual abuse, and homophobia.
This collection is an obvious critique on society and of a women’s place in our society and of eating disorders and sexuality.
This collection of poetry is extremely raw, but unfortunately very relatable, and I’m sure I’m not the only person that will relate with many of these poems.

If you like feminist-heavy poetry, I’d suggest adding this to your to be read list, it covers so many hard-hitting topics that you’ll most likely find something you relate to.


#NetGalley. #ifmybodycouldspeak #blythebaird

This book was incredible. I've always loved Blythe's spoken word, and this collection focuses on eating disorders, depression, and sexuality - all in ways that feel very relatable to me. I would absolutely recommend this book, and look forward to going back to it and reading it again.

This was so good. Definitely going to make my top three poetry favorites for 2019. I actually read a couple of these poems via friends. It's not often that poetry makes its way through word of mouth in non super reader circles. Rupi Kaur did, and for many of the same reasons. Getting to what it means to be woman. I especially loved the one related to coming out to her mother. Reminded me of last year's Honeybee by Trista Mateer in how she approaches the intimacy and complications of girl girl love. Others have said a lot more and better about the body image work, so U wanted to say read this for more than that, even though the fat girl me did cry over those too.

Hunger is at the heart of Blythe Bard’s brutally honest and painful collection of poetry. Starting with “WHEN THE FAT GIRL GETS SKINNY”, we’re pulled into the reality of living in recovery, not just from the eating disorder Bard struggles with throughout much of the collection, but recovery from what it is to be a woman today. The idea that you can simultaneously be too much and not enough is an undercurrent throughout the body of her work: too much, when she wants to be open and honest about her sexuality and rape but not enough to fit in with the cool girls and “feminist bros” that, while personified in the academic experience.

Bard’s “too much” is explored deeply in poems like “DRESS CODE, a pantoum”, which details the hypocrisy of school dress codes and how quickly a girl’s body develops (a say girl, as the experience is happening when the narrator is 11 years old) determines when she is free for public consumption. That we sexualize girls as soon as they develop bodies that align with what a “woman” should look like (breasts and hips, but not too much of either) while simultaneously warning them that boys are dangerous robs girls of their childhood. Of their education. She is too much because an adult is telling her she is too much — that her body needs covering up, that it poses a threat.

Shifting to not being enough, Bard uses experiences with love and sexuality. In “THE KINDEST THING SHE ALMOST DID”, a familiar battle with trying to figure out how to make a partner happy is fought. No matter what she does, Bard knows she’s not enough for this lover. But she keeps trying and trying and trying, trying to change into something else — something more — that she’ll be enough for this woman. She hungers for love, is starving for it, now that she’s accepted her sexuality, has been recovering from her eating disorder, can love fully and freely. But not everyone is as accepting of love as she is.

And this is part of the larger message I felt Bard was relaying in this collection. We can, by ourselves, own our trauma and recovery. We can learn to live with the ghosts that haunt us. But it doesn’t mean that the rest of the world is ready to hear our truths. That the world doesn’t want another slam poet on stage talking about rape, like in “YET ANOTHER RAPE POEM”, but that should silence you.

As someone working tirelessly to come through my trauma, If My Body Could Speak not only made me feel seen, but also inspired me to find my voice. It doesn’t matter if I’m too much or not enough for someone, and it’s okay to feel that hurt loudly. Feeling is as much part of recovery is turning off the calorie calculator in your head is. Fans of Amanda Lovelace and Sabrina Benaim will find pieces of themselves reflected back in Bard’s poetry.

This was my first time reading Blythe Baird, despite hearing so much about her over the years! Overall, I enjoyed this collection. While some of the poems were a little too straight forward for my liking, I felt as though I could relate to many of them. I can’t wait to seek out videos of these poems being performed! I would definitely recommend this collection to friends and others.

#IfMyBodyCouldSpeak is a collection of honest poetry that deals with tough topics like sexual assault and body image. They are short and long length poems that aren’t just instagrammable but raw and eloquent.

I will look forward to more from this compelling poet!

Than you #NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy in return for an unbiased review.