Although I'm not the biggest fan of unstructured poetry and poems that read more like prose than verse, this collection of poems was really well done. It highlights the struggles of life, living and the symbiosis of flesh and bodies. It's empathic, kind, patient and uplifting. The collection does a good job of making you feel grounded in your body and your life.

Didn’t enjoy this one as much as I thought I would.
It was a little difficult to get into since it was formatted different.
But there’s so many poems that I did like and would love for people to actually read.

Such an impactful, hard-hitting compilation of poetry. I don't usually read poetry books, but I made an exception for this one, and wow, I didn't regret that at all. Clark has such a magical way with words, stringing them together in spells, bewitching the reader to follow her tales. I finished the book in a day and was in awe. 4 stars!

3/5 stars, a really unique collection of poetry

<i> Thank you to Interstellar Flight Press for the arc through Netgalley and physical copy in exchange for an honest review! </i>

Poetry is such an interesting genre, and probably the most honest, but there's always going to be some that doesn't fit what people enjoy reading. That was unfortunately this book for me, objectively it wasn't that bad, but I think the writing style was just in not my favorite form. I prefer modern poetry and while this was scratching the surface of that, I feel like it did not fully commit.

I think the most interesting part of this collection was the themes that the poetry was written about. The initial idea, talking about human bodies and how they are simply that, was really interesting but the overall execution could have been better. As well, some of the metaphors or images the author was trying to explain didn't make a lot of sense to me. So I think that took me out of the reading just a bit.

Overall, this was still an interesting poetry collection, even if it was a bit short. This author has written other books and I may check those out, just to see if it was a one time thing or the style that they write under. The themes were interesting, I just wish there had been a bit more attention put into the writing or editing.

[TW: poor body image, blood and gore (light), poor mental health, missing girls (mentioned)]

Loved reading it, it was so nicely written but at times I found it hard to continue reading. Though i don't think that was because of how it was written, it's more so what was discussed. But overall it was a great read.

I wanted to read more poetry this year and Escaping the Body by Chloe N. Clark was a perfect start.

It is raw, honest and at times brutal. Clark weaves together all the ways we feel our bodies and how we are estranged from them. This is not an easy subject, and with so few pages she manages to say so much about it. I was impressed by how different her works were while still staying true to her chosen topic, and I enjoyed the speculative and horror vibes of some of the poems. There were only 1 or 2 that didn't really click with me, I've read all the others several times already. I was hoping for a collection that would make me feel something, and this one delivered. After getting myself a physical copy, I think I will be reading this again and again.

This is a powerful, emotional, intelligent and overall impressive collection and I will definitely read more by Chloe N. Clark.

I was especially impressed by "Missing Girl Found", "Insert Bad Joke Here" and "The Undue Acidity In Your Veins".

Thank you to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

5/5

I am so into the magic of reading confessional poems and honestly this was such a treat to my soul. This book is not only just "confessional" in its term but also focuses on the desire to be found but not be searched at the same time. It alks about feminism and the search of love within a body, the spirit, the fire to be free. In simple terms it is a collection poems which hae the capacity to desolate you from the worldly things and captivate you in the best of essence. Loved it <3

Rating poetry is odd, but this was not for me. I do not understand the classification of this as “Horror Poetry”, but perhaps that’s my ignorance. I enjoyed a handful of poems, but they weren’t so memorable that they stuck with me. The rest were so similar that they ran together. Getting through this was tough.

2.5, rounding up because I’m not a poetry expert so maybe it’s over my head.

Hi, I absolutely loved this. I love it when the title perfectly describes the body of work.The way Chloe N. Clark writes with such lightness about heavy topics is amazing. It is literally like an out of body experience. This collection is raw and dreamlike at the same time. I look forward to reading more of Clark's work!

Personal Favorites:

''What the Earth Returns to Our Mouths"
''Missing Girl Found''
''I was planning on Learning to Breathe today''
''Error Coding''
''If You Lived Here''

*This Review can be seen on Goodreads*

Moving poetry. Chloe N. Clark intertwines poetry with horror and sci-fi genres masterfully. I found myself going back and rereading a handful of poems numerous times. I can't wait to read more by this poet.

**Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review

This was like reading a short story collection, and the stories were about something like finding yourself and a bit on heartbreak. And written very well. I liked that they each had different format.

I loved this collection! Escaping the Body touched on a lot of themes that I love to read about in poetry. Each poem was wonderful and I find myself revisiting the poems in this collection. Will absolutely read more of anything this author writes!

This was stunning. Clark masterfully weaves topics of loss, grief, trauma, etc. beautifully throughout these poems, without relying too heavily on how devastating these topics are -- there's no shock value or undermining of the heaviness these topics carry. I'm particularly interested in the way Clark talks about being missing; it feels so fresh and so raw. I really can't rave about this enough.

It’s sort of hard to write a helpful review of a poetry collection if you didn’t really connect with it. I will say that this collection is interesting with some good horror elements. I found some of the imagery and wording quite repetitive, but overall worth reading.

“Someone once told me the best way to save yourself when drowning is to give in. Don’t panic, often giving in feels the same as escape at first. Often escape feels like breathing.”

I loved this collection of poetry. The writing was hauntingly beautiful. There were moments that I felt like I was reading a horror romance and then others where I felt I was getting a deep look into someone’s shadow work/healing journey.

Thank you to NetGalley, Chloe N. Clark and the publisher for providing me with a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautifully raw and heartbreaking collection of poetry. I read it in one sitting and fell in love with them all.

Brilliant, page turner, Escaping the Body is a wonderful collection of poetry that gets you hooked from the first line up to the last page. The author shared an addictive and creepy collection that makes you wonder and reflect on everything — the seductives thoughts of what escapes from your body and what hides behind the trees. Readers who loves horror, psychological stories that makes you wonder even after turning the last page, this collection is for you.

There is something very melancholic and magical about Escaping the Body by Chloe N. Clark that's stuck with me since I've read this poetry collection. Reminiscent of reading suburban fantasy novels that take emotions and turn them into something dreamy and sentient, Clark's poems articulate experiences and feelings in a compelling and extremely personal manner.

One of my favorite lines from this collection comes from the poem "You'd Be Home Now":
"how I would like to seduce / the infinite, use my tongue / to collapse galaxies in on themselves / over and over, let the stars find new / ways to make my body ache"

I am definitely going to get a physical copy to own and would love to read this writer's future work. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Chloe N. Clark for this eARC!

It turns out I unwittingly chose to overlook the “magic tricks” part in the description for #EscapingtheBody. It must be because all else sounded much, much, much more enticing . . . which, not-really-spoiler alert, they are!

The allure of Clark’s poetry lies in the darkly sentimental, and the sentimentally dark. There is a dissociative quality to them that evokes the sad girl trope, which I have fallen head over heels in love with in the past 7-8 months. Thus I found myself similarly in love with the collection upon finishing the first of the five parts that make up the book.

The following part had the exact opposite effect, when tech lingo and pop culture elements were introduced. Granted, Houdini was named in the last poem of Part I, but the rest was so good I wasn’t as hung up on it. After Part II, the harrowing imagery, the striking voice, the mystical sensibility made occasional returns in powerful, moving poems; but none of the following parts were as strong as the first.

(For those curious, a tally of how many poems I love-love-loved in a part:
I. 7
II. 0
III. 4
IV. 2
V. 0 — but whereas I noted down a strong dislike for 5 poems in Part II, I only noted 1 for Part V aside from absolute hatred for a Hulk reference in an otherwise good poem.
This is not to say I did not like the other poems featured in a part — I’ve in fact kept a considerable amount of quotes — it’s only to remark how many poems in their entirety captivated me.)

(For those curious again, I also noted dislike for 3 poems in Part IV, plus a dislike for a title . . . which I’ll get to shortly.)

The book lost rhythm straight after Part I, but I read most of it in a single sitting. The sole reason I didn’t finish it was that overall loss of momentum that should tie the poems together. At times I wasn’t sufficiently interested in the next poem. This coincided with magic tricks and Houdini being incorporated into the poems. I believe it’s only partly because I am annoyed by this subject matter itself that I wasn’t a fan of these poems; the bigger ‘why’ is that I found Clark’s pen to lack in these poems what makes it special in darker or mystical ones, or more sentimental or surreal others.

My overall experience with the book also suffered from my particular experience with some of the titles: I was a bit frustrated that a number of them felt disjointed from the poems, I was put off by the ones that read like angsty tumblr one-liners. The one title, though, that ruined the vibes (yes, I’m saying vibe seriously, I’ve made peace with the fact it’s an inalienable part of my lingo now) was Duolingo in Part IV. The poem itself was beautiful, brilliant, but I couldn’t connect with it all because of the title. I realise this sounds inconsequential, but I get hung up on these small things.

All my complaints that would normally turn me against a book were not enough to cloud my appreciation for Escaping the Body. I found Clark’s poems not just inspired, but also inspiring. I loved the way she words the simplest moments, the way she spins before-seen ideas into distinctive approaches. The smallest expressions, the smallest thoughts held such peculiar magic at times, and I felt compelled to write, drawing on them — hence I found these poems inspired in their own right, and inspiring for me.

My favourite poems among favourite poems were A Reward for You and the Ones I Don’t Think You Need and & Other Ways to Read the Dirt. I haven’t been able to shake off either. As a matter of fact, the latter, overtly political with a unique lyricism, has become one of my all time favourites, ever. I wish I could plaster it everywhere. I wish I could etch it on me, in me. I’d be satisfied if the night sky were a hologram, and this was displayed.

Concluding, I would like to clarify why my rating will be different on different platforms. NetGalley asks for ratings based on how likely one would be to recommend the book. That for me is a solid 4/5. However, my overall experience with the book would be more a 3/5, as per my aforementioned less favourable opinions regarding having to push myself through a bit. But do, absolutely do, read this book, if only for & Other Ways to Read the Dirt. It’s that good. I’m that obsessed with it. Plus, there are many other fierce poems I would have written at length about if I hadn’t already written a review that’s verging on excessive length-wise (sorry!).

[DRC provided by #NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press. Honestly, thank you for making it possible for me to be able to read this book!!]

P.S. In The Escape Artist Wants to Tell You (at least the DRC version) “it’s” was twice misspelled as “its”.

This is a cohesive collection of narrative-based poetry, each one laced with nostalgia and curiosity. Each poem circles back to the body - its functions, its limitations, its futility. Recurring themes are empathy, dystopia, trauma, dreams/nightmares, robots and missing people. My favourite aspect was the repeating allusions to magic: referencing illusionists, psychics, magic shows, funhouses and circuses. Chloe N. Clark has a talent for vivid imagery and paints a clear picture with her language.