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Blood Sugar
"Alt-rock diva, wise-cracking Blackman is not so much the poetic conscience of Gen X as its caustic avenger."â Village Voice"Blackman has a gift for turning nightmares into revelations."â New York TimesBlood Sugar is a disturbing and evocative collection of new work and selected poems previously featured in Blackman’s enormously popular chapbooks Pretty, Sweet, and Nice. Her work has appeared in five major anthologies including Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Verses That Hurt, and Poetry Nation. Blackman has performed on over twenty recordings, including collaborations with Golden Palominos, Recoil, KMFDM, and Scanner. She has also performed internationally and on NPR, MTV Radio, Spin Radio, and been featured on Salon.com. It is futile to resist her brutal accounts of obsession and beauty. So give in.
150 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
6 people are currently reading
429 people want to read
About the author
Nicole Blackman
16 books109 followersNicole Blackman is a New York City-born performance artist, poet, author, vocalist, teacher, and former music industry publicist. Blackman is involved in the North American goth, spoken word and transgressive literature scenes. Her live shows, either poetry readings or as a vocalist with a variety of musical collaborators, incorporate disturbing elements. Some performances between 2000-2002 involved her drenching herself in blood and cutting her hair.
Blackman self-published three now out-of-print chapbooks: "Pretty," "Sweet," and "Nice," and were collected in Akashic Books' "Blood Sugar," the cover of which features her wearing a white tank top reading "I did it for you" written in blood. Blackman explained in an interview that the book's cover image appeared to her in a dream, but she couldn't read what was written in blood, and emailed a fan-friend in Australia for his suggestions. He wrote back immediately: I DID IT FOR YOU. The 'dream image' was soon re-created for the book cover.
Her work as a performance artist include "Bloodwork" performed at The Kitchen/NYC in 2000, where she debuted her blood performance (and shook hands with the audience, bloodying them too), slipped secret messages into the audience's coat pockets, projected text on the street and created visual/sound installations in the venue's bathrooms. Since then she has performed "Courtesan Tales" at PS122 art space in New York City, at The Andy Warhol Museum/Pittsburgh, and for three years at the Fierce Festival in Birmingham England. The "Courtesan Tales" are "tales of the senses for a blindfolded audience of one," Blackman has said[citation needed]. She debuted "Harm's Way" (a multi-media performance of her email diary of working at Ground Zero) as a work in progress in New York.
She was commissioned by the British Arts Council to create a new work for the Fierce Festival -- an audio tour of the Deritend neighborhood of Birmingham.
Blackman's most recent work is the personal Beloved, also commissioned by the Fierce Festival and British Arts Council as a site-specific performance and installation. Designed as an intimate pilgrimage of memory and kindness for one patron at a time, it was created expressly for the Compton Verney Museum in the British West Midlands in April 2007.
She is also in-demand voiceover performer, heard regularly on a slew of commercials and channels, including major campaigns for Chrysler, Ford, Blockbuster, Lysol, and Verizon, and channels including Turner Classic Movies, Discovery Health Channel, Cartoon Network, Court TV, PBS and Cinemax.Blackman said in an interview that the Golden Palominos album "Dead Inside" led to her auditioning for a Ford campaign in 1997 and resulted in her leaving the music publicity field to work exclusively in voiceovers.
Blackman self-published three now out-of-print chapbooks: "Pretty," "Sweet," and "Nice," and were collected in Akashic Books' "Blood Sugar," the cover of which features her wearing a white tank top reading "I did it for you" written in blood. Blackman explained in an interview that the book's cover image appeared to her in a dream, but she couldn't read what was written in blood, and emailed a fan-friend in Australia for his suggestions. He wrote back immediately: I DID IT FOR YOU. The 'dream image' was soon re-created for the book cover.
Her work as a performance artist include "Bloodwork" performed at The Kitchen/NYC in 2000, where she debuted her blood performance (and shook hands with the audience, bloodying them too), slipped secret messages into the audience's coat pockets, projected text on the street and created visual/sound installations in the venue's bathrooms. Since then she has performed "Courtesan Tales" at PS122 art space in New York City, at The Andy Warhol Museum/Pittsburgh, and for three years at the Fierce Festival in Birmingham England. The "Courtesan Tales" are "tales of the senses for a blindfolded audience of one," Blackman has said[citation needed]. She debuted "Harm's Way" (a multi-media performance of her email diary of working at Ground Zero) as a work in progress in New York.
She was commissioned by the British Arts Council to create a new work for the Fierce Festival -- an audio tour of the Deritend neighborhood of Birmingham.
Blackman's most recent work is the personal Beloved, also commissioned by the Fierce Festival and British Arts Council as a site-specific performance and installation. Designed as an intimate pilgrimage of memory and kindness for one patron at a time, it was created expressly for the Compton Verney Museum in the British West Midlands in April 2007.
She is also in-demand voiceover performer, heard regularly on a slew of commercials and channels, including major campaigns for Chrysler, Ford, Blockbuster, Lysol, and Verizon, and channels including Turner Classic Movies, Discovery Health Channel, Cartoon Network, Court TV, PBS and Cinemax.Blackman said in an interview that the Golden Palominos album "Dead Inside" led to her auditioning for a Ford campaign in 1997 and resulted in her leaving the music publicity field to work exclusively in voiceovers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
December 31, 2012
Never liked poetry. Actually, I despised it. Ignored it. Then a few things happened in my life, I started to really listen to music and it`s lyrics and discovered Charles Bukowski and Nicole Blackman. They touched me. She touched me in places that I am afraid to reveal. Her hand penetrated my skull and wrote life in my brain by cutting into it with her nails as sharp as razorblades. Nicole Blackman draws us into her world and we are all at home because it is our world too. Our fears, our mistakes, our hopes, our innocence, our hates, our loves...it is all there. And it is beautifully ugly. Until now this is the only edition of it, you can get it second hand for a hefty price or you can badger the author and her editor to bring this pearl back into circulation. Search the internet for her poems and you will realize it is even worth the price most people ask for used copies of it.
September 11, 2007
I’m not normally a poetry fan, because I find it usually uses imagery, and flowering language to beat around the bush. Never quite getting to the point.
Not so here. So brutally honest, it almost hurts. Like watching someone slit her wrists open, then describe every single event in her life, which lead her to it. Absolutely lovely.
Not so here. So brutally honest, it almost hurts. Like watching someone slit her wrists open, then describe every single event in her life, which lead her to it. Absolutely lovely.
November 26, 2014
'You can't divorce your family so you divorce your thighs.
You're startled they're shocked. It should be no surprise' -from Honey Half
Nicole Blackman is the real deal. It's a shame for anyone to compare Nicole's work or this book to anyone else's poetry. I don't compare poets. Some waste my time. And some win more of my time. Nicole does not let me down.
You're startled they're shocked. It should be no surprise' -from Honey Half
Nicole Blackman is the real deal. It's a shame for anyone to compare Nicole's work or this book to anyone else's poetry. I don't compare poets. Some waste my time. And some win more of my time. Nicole does not let me down.
October 18, 2007
I heard Nicole Blackman's voice before I ever saw it on paper... the poems she recorded with The Golden Palominos are frightening in their beauty.
I found the book as soon as I could and have purchased countless copies to give to friends over the years. Blackman's words are dangerous, vicious, and unflinchingly gorgeous. Truly poetry to die for.
I found the book as soon as I could and have purchased countless copies to give to friends over the years. Blackman's words are dangerous, vicious, and unflinchingly gorgeous. Truly poetry to die for.
December 30, 2018
Great poetry.
They're dark & edgy yet beautiful.
“Daughter” is my favourite. -
“Daughter”
by Nicole Blackman
One day I’ll give birth to a tiny baby girl
and when she’s born she’ll scream
and I’ll tell her to never stop
I will kiss her before I lay her down at night
and will tell her a story so she knows
how it is and how it must be for her to survive
I’ll tell her to set things on fire
and keep them burning
I’ll teach her that fire will not consume her
that she must use it
I’ll tell her that people must earn the right
to use her nickname
that forced intimacy is an ugly thing
I’ll help her to see that she will not find God
or salvation in a dark brick building
built by dead men
I’ll make sure she always carries a pen
so she can take down evidence
If she has no paper, I’ll teach her to
write everything down with her tongue,
write it on her thighs
I’ll make her keep reinventing herself and run fast
I’ll teach her to write her manifestos
on cocktail napkins
I’ll say she should make men lick her ambition
I’ll make her understand that she is worth more
with her clothes on
I’ll teach her to talk hard
I’ll tell her that when the words come too fast
and she has no use for a pen
that she must quit her job
run out of the house in her bathrobe
leave the door open
I’ll teach her to follow the words
They will try to make her stay
comfort her, let her sleep, bathe her in a television blue glow
I will cut her hair, tell her to light the house on fire
kill the kittens
When nothing is there
nothing will keep her
and she is not to be kept
I’ll say that everything she has done seen spoken
has brought her to the here this now
This is no time for tenderness
no time to stand, waiting for them to find her
There are nations within her skin
Queendoms come without keys you can carry
I’ll teach her that she has an army inside her
that can save her life
I’ll teach her to be whole, to be holy
I’ll teach her how to live,
to be so much that she doesn’t even
need me anymore
I’ll teach her to go quickly and never come back
Things get broken fast here
I’ll make her stronger
than I ever was
Turned at twenty she’ll break into bits of star and throw herself against the sky
I will not let them
destroy her life
the way they destroyed
mine
I’ll tell her to never forget
what they did to you
and never let them know
you remember
Never forget
what they did to you
and never let them know
you remember
Never forget
what they did to you
and never let them know
you remember
They're dark & edgy yet beautiful.
“Daughter” is my favourite. -
“Daughter”
by Nicole Blackman
One day I’ll give birth to a tiny baby girl
and when she’s born she’ll scream
and I’ll tell her to never stop
I will kiss her before I lay her down at night
and will tell her a story so she knows
how it is and how it must be for her to survive
I’ll tell her to set things on fire
and keep them burning
I’ll teach her that fire will not consume her
that she must use it
I’ll tell her that people must earn the right
to use her nickname
that forced intimacy is an ugly thing
I’ll help her to see that she will not find God
or salvation in a dark brick building
built by dead men
I’ll make sure she always carries a pen
so she can take down evidence
If she has no paper, I’ll teach her to
write everything down with her tongue,
write it on her thighs
I’ll make her keep reinventing herself and run fast
I’ll teach her to write her manifestos
on cocktail napkins
I’ll say she should make men lick her ambition
I’ll make her understand that she is worth more
with her clothes on
I’ll teach her to talk hard
I’ll tell her that when the words come too fast
and she has no use for a pen
that she must quit her job
run out of the house in her bathrobe
leave the door open
I’ll teach her to follow the words
They will try to make her stay
comfort her, let her sleep, bathe her in a television blue glow
I will cut her hair, tell her to light the house on fire
kill the kittens
When nothing is there
nothing will keep her
and she is not to be kept
I’ll say that everything she has done seen spoken
has brought her to the here this now
This is no time for tenderness
no time to stand, waiting for them to find her
There are nations within her skin
Queendoms come without keys you can carry
I’ll teach her that she has an army inside her
that can save her life
I’ll teach her to be whole, to be holy
I’ll teach her how to live,
to be so much that she doesn’t even
need me anymore
I’ll teach her to go quickly and never come back
Things get broken fast here
I’ll make her stronger
than I ever was
Turned at twenty she’ll break into bits of star and throw herself against the sky
I will not let them
destroy her life
the way they destroyed
mine
I’ll tell her to never forget
what they did to you
and never let them know
you remember
Never forget
what they did to you
and never let them know
you remember
Never forget
what they did to you
and never let them know
you remember
January 14, 2009
When I first read Blood Sugar I was fifteen or sixteen years old and my exposure to the subjects covered within it was extremely limited. This collection of poetry made a strong, positive impression upon me simply because I was unfamiliar with other poetry about topics such as eating disorders and Matthew Shepard. However, reading Blood Sugar at age twenty-two left me feeling embarrassed for having previously rated it so high. I'm now aware that angry, feminist poets aren't as rare as I once believed--I was raised in the Bible Belt so the misconception is slightly understandable--and most of them write with far more skill than exhibited in Blood Sugar.
(I have recently read Why Things Burn Poems by Daphne Gottlieb, which covers most of the same subjects, and was overall much better written. I would recommend it in place of Blood Sugar.)
(I have recently read Why Things Burn Poems by Daphne Gottlieb, which covers most of the same subjects, and was overall much better written. I would recommend it in place of Blood Sugar.)
August 24, 2011
My favourite book.
I carry this everywhere, and call it my bible. I very, very rarely read - because I read incredibly slow and enjoy reading outloud instead (which doesn't bode well in public places!), although I write. Constantly. I have read this book hundreds of times, I bought it back when I was 18, in DisneyWorld no less, my sister is obsessed with reading and would spend the first morning of vacation stocking up on books for the beach, literally reading more than I have read in my life on a short trip.
This one day, I was particularly bored of waiting, and started looking around. Instantly this book caught my eye, I was drawn in by the cover, and of course I thought, "don't judge a book by it's cover" so I flipped through to a random page and read the first lines "you don't trade money here, you trade information and skin" from that I was hooked.
I read the last poem first (we all want to know how it ends) "At Fifteen, She Learns" and fell in love, this was the first time I had ever felt like I wasn't completely alone.
Safe to say I bought the book, and read the rest of it (and keep reading it).
Some of the most amazing words I have ever read. Daughter; At Fifteen, She Learns; Sessions; The God of Sleep - my favourites, but I love them all, everyword.
I carry this everywhere, and call it my bible. I very, very rarely read - because I read incredibly slow and enjoy reading outloud instead (which doesn't bode well in public places!), although I write. Constantly. I have read this book hundreds of times, I bought it back when I was 18, in DisneyWorld no less, my sister is obsessed with reading and would spend the first morning of vacation stocking up on books for the beach, literally reading more than I have read in my life on a short trip.
This one day, I was particularly bored of waiting, and started looking around. Instantly this book caught my eye, I was drawn in by the cover, and of course I thought, "don't judge a book by it's cover" so I flipped through to a random page and read the first lines "you don't trade money here, you trade information and skin" from that I was hooked.
I read the last poem first (we all want to know how it ends) "At Fifteen, She Learns" and fell in love, this was the first time I had ever felt like I wasn't completely alone.
Safe to say I bought the book, and read the rest of it (and keep reading it).
Some of the most amazing words I have ever read. Daughter; At Fifteen, She Learns; Sessions; The God of Sleep - my favourites, but I love them all, everyword.
April 7, 2019
She has this way about her poetry that just hits me like a brick. I find journals from years ago with quotes from her poems scribbled in to them, like a tattoo, so I wouldn't forget. I remember reading a few particular ones to anyone who would listen. Every few years I Google her to see if perhaps she put another manifesto in to print, but alas, this seems to be it. Most poetry books there is one, maybe two that you buy the book for, that may catch your attention. But every single one gets you hooked.
'' do not hold me down, I'm not doing anything.
I'm just thinking.''
'' do not hold me down, I'm not doing anything.
I'm just thinking.''
October 1, 2021
This is easily one of my favorite poetry collections of all time. I found a copy of Blood Sugar a few years back at a used bookstore and fell in love with Ms. Blackman right then and there. She's an amazing poet full of more raw power and prose than most people would know what to do with. I make it a point to reread this collection a few times a year just to remind myself what good poetry really is.
July 1, 2019
Fantastic, funny, sad, lyrical, cheeky, crazy, sexy and cool. Every poem sticks to you like gum on a shoe. it's not that overly ernest, trying-way-too-hard hipster love crap. It's exciting and makes you want to write poetry and tell people what you really think about them. To their faces, even.
June 3, 2007
I must mention that Ryan is solely responsible for familiarizing me with this one (thank goodness). If it werent for him I wouldnt know anything about Nicole Blackman, this book, or her work with The Golden Palominos. she is simply the bee's knees.
July 19, 2007
I really love Nicole Blackman's style of poetry. Raw, unhindered, emotional and descriptive. I felt like I was looking at someone cut open in front of me, forcing me to face what was inside. She is has become my favorite poet.
Want to read
February 3, 2012Read a few poems from this one since I heard a lot about it.The moment I read them,I was totally in love with this book.I am so much looking forward to buy a copy asap and read all the poems.
P.S I love Nicole Blackman.Huge fan of hers.
P.S I love Nicole Blackman.Huge fan of hers.
January 1, 2020
One of my favorites, one I keep coming back to again and again. The perfect book for 90's goth kids looking for a good cry - full of beautiful words and beautiful rhythms and a nonstop reminder that we all live in a broken world and are the worse for it.
June 28, 2017
I enjoyed the first poems of this book the most, but felt compelled to finish the rest because I wanted to understand Nicole Blackman and her experiences were to be a lesson. Very well-written verses.
June 15, 2007
I've been toting the same copy around the country with me for 5 years
Enough said!
Enough said!
January 22, 2008
I psychotically loved this book for years. Now I just like it.
March 11, 2018
Visceral, brave, unapologetic.
August 27, 2023
nicole blackman is the coolest girl in the world.
that being said, i was expecting a lot more. there are some great lines and poems that stand out in this collection and it was all very relatable, but i felt like it was lacking. some poems just felt like unedited poems that i'd scrawl down in my journal at 2am.
that being said, i was expecting a lot more. there are some great lines and poems that stand out in this collection and it was all very relatable, but i felt like it was lacking. some poems just felt like unedited poems that i'd scrawl down in my journal at 2am.
September 30, 2025
It seems correct to
Leave a blood trail on a page
My own word added
Leave a blood trail on a page
My own word added
August 8, 2011
A compelling and dark look into sometimes controversial subject matter that ranges from sex, drugs, & Rock and Roll, to eating disorders, love, and relationships. Blackman uses her poetry to sting the reader into submission with her bruising but always memorable words.
I initially read this book many years ago, and it had very different meaning to me then than it does now. With a greater amount of emotional baggage and probably a heightened levels of maturity, many of her pieces have new meaning to me than they once did. The "wah wah wah" days of adolescent complaining have been replaced with new issues to overcome, causing 'old favorite' poems to become more "eh", and poems that were once unclear in meaning to become burning re-caps of battles I've faced in my own life!
For those who haven't read this in a while, it may be worth a second (or third or fourth) read.
I initially read this book many years ago, and it had very different meaning to me then than it does now. With a greater amount of emotional baggage and probably a heightened levels of maturity, many of her pieces have new meaning to me than they once did. The "wah wah wah" days of adolescent complaining have been replaced with new issues to overcome, causing 'old favorite' poems to become more "eh", and poems that were once unclear in meaning to become burning re-caps of battles I've faced in my own life!
For those who haven't read this in a while, it may be worth a second (or third or fourth) read.
December 10, 2025
Blood Sugar is sharp, unsettling, and weirdly beautiful. Blackman writes like she’s peeling something back layer by layer, and the mix of vulnerability and brutality really sticks with you. Some pieces hit like a punch, others feel almost tender, but all of them have this electric honesty that’s hard to shake.
Want to read
August 17, 2025Cutting is for Missing Natalie and Victim By Nicole Blackman
Another cutting is for Dark Daughter By Nicole Blackman
Still another cutting is for How Far We’ve Come – A Collection By William Butler Yeats and Nicole Blackman
Another cutting is for Dark Daughter By Nicole Blackman
Still another cutting is for How Far We’ve Come – A Collection By William Butler Yeats and Nicole Blackman
October 12, 2008
The most fantastic poetry in ever.
October 28, 2008
I DID IT FOR YOU
January 5, 2010
A very inspiring book, simply beautiful!
September 11, 2011
Reread.
November 15, 2011
An amazing and harsh book of poetry. Similar to my own writings and very well done. I enjoyed this book thoroughly. The darkness and pain is presented quite clearly in each poem.
February 13, 2019
Some wonderful pieces in here for oral interp. Blackman's words are powerful on or off the page
May 11, 2011
Love it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews