A short and sweet collection of poetry on the topic of chronic illness. Bashe writes about their own experience and while the rose ghost poems were obviously very personal, I found them a little to cliche and juvenile. A bit too "Amanda Lovelace" for my liking. The other poems however do a much better job at capturing the emotion and themes.

My favorite poems are "Seven For Beauty", "Trauma Is For People Who Fear Death", and "Death Is A Lesbian and She Can Pick Me Up."

My thanks to Interstellar Flight Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Beautiful Malady Poems’ by Ennis Rook Bash.

I tend to approach poetry a little gingerly though I was drawn to this collection by the publishers’ description of it being “speculative poems about fairy tales, folklore, fantasy, and the supernatural with the reality of chronic illness and disability.”

I am very drawn to the subject matter explored and appreciated that the poems were short and focused.

Indeed, from the first poem through to the last I found that I could relate deeply to Ennis Rook Bashe’s poems and am certainly happy to recommend this unique and powerful collection.

In addition, I found the cover art very striking and it certainly enticed me to explore the poetry within.

This collection of poems is a fantastical, speculative ride pulling us through and into themes of disability and pain. The use of a fantasy lens, discussed directly in the author's note (one of my favorite parts of this collection), as a way to communicate trauma is extremely well done and effective. The language is gorgeous, trippy, heart wrenching, and ripe. It walks us up to topics that so often get a dry, detached treatment. These poems are also perfectly curated, each benefitting from inclusion in the whole, making the collection better than the sum of its parts. Like a great album, this is an x factor that doesn't happen often and is so satisfying to see. "All our changelings, welcome home."

I got an ARC of this book.

I am not a poetry person. I don't understand poetry. I don't like poetry.

I do understand a body that seems to betray you, not seeing yourself in what you are engaging with, not being thought about by the majority. I understood so much of Bashe's ideas, frustrations, pains, and anger. It was nice to see both skeletons and my disabled body in poetry, not what I was expecting at all.

Still poetry, so wasn't something I loved. But I did enjoy it. For me to even admit I enjoyed poetry, there has to be something there

*Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy of this book

This book is dark and beautiful. I imagine it as a garden, though the cover art has likely influenced that idea. It is a collection of poetry. Poetry is not typically something that I enjoy, however this one stole my heart. I loved reading them and feeling the power and intent behind each chosen word. The poems focus on chronic illness, abilities, trauma, and is beautifully woven. It certainly has fantasy elements, which are my favorite. I loved rose ghost and how the text flowed. It provides insight into the minds of others, touching on hard topics whilst still managing to be whimsical in the same instance.

One of my favorite poems from Beautiful Malady is at the beginning of the book and it talks of how immigrants perceive their new country. ‘Theoretically, inherited’ made my heart ache.

Ennis Rook Bashe has an unusual dictionary for their poetry. I don’t read a lot of this genre so I could be wrong. I liked finding collegiate vocabulary to describe the mundane and yet complex turns of life. Bashe also utilizes graphic imagery which can make you squirm - even if you are a horror film aficionado like myself. They also bring forth the uncomfortable topics that no one likes to talk about or to only talk about in “worthy” situations.

Beautiful Malady rips off the bandages and lets you see beyond the cover of politeness, society, and “the rules” to the raw feelings underneath. I love it for its honesty and the fact that it made me uncomfortable. It made me think. Art is supposed to do this and Bashe has created one heck of a Beautiful Malady.

I want to buy multiple copies of this book and put it directly into the hands of more than a few friends with chronic illnesses, or who have suffered even the smallest microaggression in the hands of a medical provider. I want to share it with every person who's been told "it's just anxiety" or already judged by the shape of their body or the color of their skin or the timbre of their voice.

This short poetry book really beautifully gets into the griefs and horrors of living with chronic illness in a world where healthcare is a ticket line, a voice calling 'next!' as quickly as a human mouth can say the word. I think it's truly important to read even for those who haven't ever felt mistreated by a nurse or doctor or someone on a help line, who's never had to advocate for themselves or a loved one-- because so many of us have.

Thank you to NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for the free copy in exchange for this honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing an ARC of this poetry collection with me in exchange for an honest review!

"My body? I’m not really here, you know. I’m just made of thoughts and glass and light."

I really liked this poetry collection and all of the fantasy connections.
But the best part of the book, and I mean this in a positive way, is the author's note at the end.
I would absolutely pick up from this author again and would recommend this to any poetry fan who is looking for a bit of fantasy whimsy mixed in with their hard hitting poems.

Despite being quite short, this book was filled to the brim with emotions, escapism, and determination. There were a few poems that stood out to me in particular, such as Mad, Without Scientist, or Changelings (Migratory Legend Type 5805). I loved how the author incorporated disability into fantastical situations. We can always stand to have more disability rep in our literature, and the author did it justice. I also loved the author's note at the end. It tied the whole book together and perfectly summed up the reason for why the author writes. Also, as a side note, I am now thoroughly interested in reading their romance series, and will definitely be picking it up!

As a chronically ill, rpg and poetry enjoying queer person, finding poetry about being chronically ill and queer is a very specific niche. Before today I've never read anything that has those themes in it. I love that Ennis takes something that has distressing connotation and makes it beautiful. Stories about disabled characters can be difficult to find, and when we do find them they tend to make the character a sign of strength and 'despite everything they persevered' and lemme just say -- they all make it glaringly obvious that the person writing it isn't disabled. And disabled characters are written so blandly. Their disabilities are viewed as obstacles, rather than part of the character itself. Disability isn't always this ugly thing no one can talk about. As a disabled person, it gets infuriating. Ennis takes something that has its challenges and it's not always pretty all the time and turns it into something amazing. The fantasy aspects of it are great too. I loved the authors note at the end too--sometimes our characters are faced with pain and struggle to pull ourselves up and over the ledge, but we always make it in the end. I love that it takes rpg aspects into it--disabled characters as robots, cryptids, wizards. It's awesome. We're just as capable of being the bad ass mcs.

This poetry collection is an honest and lyrical look into the life of someone with chronic illness and struggling with mental health issues. As someone who was sick a lot throughout my life and had many surgeries as a child, I felt this collection in a way that many others haven't hit.

Thank you to Interstellar Press and NetGalley!

I’ll admit: I saw this in an email from Interstellar Press, saw queer sci-fi/fantasy and disability, so I immediately clicked. Poems aren’t quite my thing, but Bashe’s narrative voice was strong and soaring through metaphor and blunt speech both.

Quick read, and accessible to those who are not poetry fans, and beautiful flow!

Gosh, this is excellent. The imagery used is so poignant and so many of the tales woven together are so good. This is a great examination of chronic illness and disability through a speculative lens, and I really enjoyed the chance to read it.

3.5/5.0

A beautifully written collection of poems with the themes of disability, chronic illness, trauma and queerness running throughout.

I was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful Malady features a collection of poems centred around disability, queerness, love, death, and trauma.

Though most of these poems are unrelated, rose water i-viii presents before the reader a poignant tale of a prince and his ghost bodyguard. I loved how the poet employs fantastical and sci-fi elements to create vivid imagery.

The poems flow together quite well and make use of different forms of literary devices to create a powerful impact. The unique perspective on disabled bodies and the bittersweet tone of discussion around death was very well done.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection and will definitely read more by the poet.
The only reason this isn't a full 5/5 is because a few of the poems were too abstract. They read like an amalgamation of different words joined together which was poor for overall clarity.

I highly recommend this collection.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.


This was a truly unique collection of poems. It was unlike anything I've ever read, which is great.

I'd defiintely check out others by this author.

Wow! What an amazing book!!
Would love to read more from the author.
Thankyou netgalley for the Arc!

This book is gorgeous
This book and its contents belongs in a poetry curriculum. This would be a book great to get younger people to see poetry, structure, and how poetry is a beautiful way to communicate things that are hard to communicate.
This book does an amazing job of using lyrical, poetry and abstract concepts and fantastical images to create a narrative that is both relatable, and also one that keeps you captivated and wanting to keep reading. There’s something about this kind of poetry that allows you to both imagine and experience the emotion, but in a way that also allows you to distance yourself, due to the fantastical nature of the writing. There’s something to be said about being able to distance yourself from this level of emotion, but also be able to relate to it on the spiritual level.

I am not the biggest poetry person but this collection was just incredible. I barely have the words to convey how incredible this was. I'd read each poem, think that was going to be favourite, then move on to the next poem and love that one just as much (if not more). Particular favourites were: Changelings (Migratory Legend Type 5805), Trauma Is For People Who Fear Death, the universe and all others, Death Is A Lesbian And She Can Pick Me Up and all of the rose ghost poems. I just loved the weaving of fantasy and sci-fi themes and concepts in with real experiences of living with a disability. I also think the author's note is definitely worth a read is this one, it definitely added to all the poetry. All in all, just a beautiful masterpiece that I cannot recommend enough.

Will post my review to Goodreads and Instagram profiles on publish day June 5, 2023.

Beautiful Malady
By: Ennis Rook Bashe
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Description:
A siren song of queerness, disability, and myth, these poems reinvent love, life, and death. BEAUTIFUL MALADY is an exploration of pain, weaving speculative poems about fairy tales, folklore, fantasy, and the supernatural with the reality of chronic illness and disability. Ennis Rook Bashe deftly creates a world where the broken body is beautiful.

Review:
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful. To the point. I loved this collection of poems. The author does a great job weaving disability and sci-fi/fantasy themes together. The poems were understandable and relatable. The author did an amazing job with this and I am excited and curious to check out their other works. I’ll leave you with a couple quotes I highlighted during my read: “Have you got a name for the way you don’t feel anything” and “I want to be dying for, not dying of.” Check this out for sure!