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Into the Dark & Emptying Field
Poetry. INTO THE DARK & EMPTYING FIELD is an interrogation of loneliness and its many masks. The book explores innocence as the price of knowledge in a host of voices that share an emotional truth. McKibbens offers a monument of understanding for even the bleakest pieces of our human conundrum.
100 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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292 people want to read
About the author
Rachel McKibbens
14 books154 followersPoet, activist, playwright and essayist Rachel McKibbens is the author of the poetry collections Into the Dark and Emptying Field (2013) and Pink Elephant (2009). The Rumpus wrote of Pink Elephant, “McKibbens awakens and haunts with selfless honesty.” Her poems, short stories, essays and creative non-fiction have been featured in numerous journals and blogs, including Her Kind, The Los Angeles Review, The Best American Poetry Blog, The Nervous Breakdown, The Rumpus, The London Magazine, The Acentos Review, World Literature Today, Radius, and The American Poetry Journal.
McKibbens is a well-known member of the poetry slam community: she is a nine-time National Poetry Slam team member, has appeared on eight NPS final stages, and coached the New York louderARTS poetry slam team to three consecutive final stage appearances, was the 2009 Women of the World Poetry Slam champion and the 2011 National Underground Poetry Slam individual champion. McKibbens appeared on two seasons of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam and was featured in the poetry slam documentary Slam Planet in 2006 at SXSW. In 2011, McKibbens was commissioned by The Getty Center in Los Angeles to write and perform an ekphrastic poem for their multi-media poetry event Dark Blushing.
McKibbens is a well-known member of the poetry slam community: she is a nine-time National Poetry Slam team member, has appeared on eight NPS final stages, and coached the New York louderARTS poetry slam team to three consecutive final stage appearances, was the 2009 Women of the World Poetry Slam champion and the 2011 National Underground Poetry Slam individual champion. McKibbens appeared on two seasons of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam and was featured in the poetry slam documentary Slam Planet in 2006 at SXSW. In 2011, McKibbens was commissioned by The Getty Center in Los Angeles to write and perform an ekphrastic poem for their multi-media poetry event Dark Blushing.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 6, 2019
NOTE: This review still in-progress. I'll update with particular poems and lines referenced. For now, here's a review from memory. - KB
Years ago, I attended a poetry reading headlined by Rachel. After the show I asked her which of her books I should read if I was going to end a hurtful relationship. She recommended this one. It was more of a prescription, really, and exactly what I needed.
I read it hungrily. I cried. I felt less alone.
A few days later, I sat across from the man who had slowly started to make me shrink myself until I felt small enough to fit inside a shot glass. We were at dinner. I was at a loss for words. I pulled this book from my purse and borrowed lines. (I'll find the bookmarked poems for reference.)
Poetry like this is a generous gift to a reader in need.
It can serve as an apothecary, hosting stocked shelves of line after potent line. To speak them aloud with intention is to cast an incantation, and I don't say that lightly. In her work I find an entry point to both accountability and forgiveness, to a primal snarl and a luscious compassion.
Years later I had the opportunity to witness Rachel read again, to hear her on panels, to read more of her work and to even take a workshop led by her. Into the Dark & Emptying Field is the first of her books that I read and I'm so grateful for this introduction to her poetry.
I hope you find this book at exactly the moment you need it most.
Years ago, I attended a poetry reading headlined by Rachel. After the show I asked her which of her books I should read if I was going to end a hurtful relationship. She recommended this one. It was more of a prescription, really, and exactly what I needed.
I read it hungrily. I cried. I felt less alone.
A few days later, I sat across from the man who had slowly started to make me shrink myself until I felt small enough to fit inside a shot glass. We were at dinner. I was at a loss for words. I pulled this book from my purse and borrowed lines. (I'll find the bookmarked poems for reference.)
Poetry like this is a generous gift to a reader in need.
It can serve as an apothecary, hosting stocked shelves of line after potent line. To speak them aloud with intention is to cast an incantation, and I don't say that lightly. In her work I find an entry point to both accountability and forgiveness, to a primal snarl and a luscious compassion.
Years later I had the opportunity to witness Rachel read again, to hear her on panels, to read more of her work and to even take a workshop led by her. Into the Dark & Emptying Field is the first of her books that I read and I'm so grateful for this introduction to her poetry.
I hope you find this book at exactly the moment you need it most.
November 13, 2017
I became a fan of Rachel's when I saw her on Def Poetry Jam. While reading this, I imagined hearing her recite her poems. Every poem in this book is raw and inspiring.
January 11, 2018
Before I say anything about this, I'd like to point you in the direction of this incredible review because it's written by someone who's way less of a novice to poetry than me and genuinely helped me to appreciate the collection more than I originally did. With that said, at least for me, it was the kind of poetry collection that needed a little outside support to really grasp and value, which I think says something.
McKibbens casts her gaze unflinchingly (and relentlessly) at the darkest corners of the human condition. These are gory, lewd, violent, and brutal, exploring topics of death, incest, assault, deferred dreams, and, most consistently, infidelity and love gone awry. There's no denying that she is a talented, powerful poet. Many, many of these poems pack a punch, but I was often left confused about what the purpose was, and even confident a piece lacked one. Some of these felt like outright dadaism, and while the aforementioned review helped me to see the value in the destabilizing effect that has and the ways it made the more straightforward pieces that much more cutting, I think I would have just preferred more poems with a clear punchline rather than just endeavoring towards a big impact blow.
Unsurprisingly, the more straightforward poems were my favorites here, with "The Widower" being the clear stand-out for me, as well as "They Year of Dead Geese," "The Super," "And Even Smaller Nails," "Love Songs of the Unfaithful," "Chapter Seven," and "Your Best Behavior" (the final three working as a sort of triptych detailing the ways women are both caged and abandoned by their relationships). With that said, I did really love some of the more abstract ones as well, especially "Selachimorpha," but also the titular poem, "Head Above Water," "Pushing Daisies," and "Poem for Three Dead Girls of Last Summer." As a lover of magical realism, these felt right up my ally in a way that balanced the two ends of the genre, indulging in the wonder and weirdness of "magical" while still staying tethered enough to "realism" to tell a story by the end. As a whole, I'm glad to have read it but certainly underwhelmed, although I still have hope for blud.
McKibbens casts her gaze unflinchingly (and relentlessly) at the darkest corners of the human condition. These are gory, lewd, violent, and brutal, exploring topics of death, incest, assault, deferred dreams, and, most consistently, infidelity and love gone awry. There's no denying that she is a talented, powerful poet. Many, many of these poems pack a punch, but I was often left confused about what the purpose was, and even confident a piece lacked one. Some of these felt like outright dadaism, and while the aforementioned review helped me to see the value in the destabilizing effect that has and the ways it made the more straightforward pieces that much more cutting, I think I would have just preferred more poems with a clear punchline rather than just endeavoring towards a big impact blow.
Unsurprisingly, the more straightforward poems were my favorites here, with "The Widower" being the clear stand-out for me, as well as "They Year of Dead Geese," "The Super," "And Even Smaller Nails," "Love Songs of the Unfaithful," "Chapter Seven," and "Your Best Behavior" (the final three working as a sort of triptych detailing the ways women are both caged and abandoned by their relationships). With that said, I did really love some of the more abstract ones as well, especially "Selachimorpha," but also the titular poem, "Head Above Water," "Pushing Daisies," and "Poem for Three Dead Girls of Last Summer." As a lover of magical realism, these felt right up my ally in a way that balanced the two ends of the genre, indulging in the wonder and weirdness of "magical" while still staying tethered enough to "realism" to tell a story by the end. As a whole, I'm glad to have read it but certainly underwhelmed, although I still have hope for blud.
January 28, 2018
The language and how McKibbens approached difficult emotional topics was fantastic. There was no hesitation in being raw and upfront, though some poems stood out and made others feel lost in the field of a pretty darn good collection. Definitely worth reading at least once.
January 6, 2025
Passing out 5 star reviews like candy at a parade at the moment but it's warranted--this collection is gory, dark, visceral, and haunting. It digs deep and it doesn't let up. I hope I write something even have as impactful someday.
March 18, 2025
I loved this book. It was at times macabre, at times heart wrenching. A fun, quick read, that may echo in your mind later. I've gone back a couple of times since I read it.
October 12, 2025
Another tear-jerker.
June 30, 2019
I’ve never felt so exposed and beaten while reading a book of poems. What a success at honesty and pain.
Should we be successful at pain? Worth reading with a guarded heart.
Should we be successful at pain? Worth reading with a guarded heart.
May 12, 2014
Can I rate this six stars? One of the most powerful books of poetry I have ever read. Amazing.
April 16, 2015
Beautiful and haunting. McKibbens is a master in crafting images and making me care.
August 10, 2017
No other poet reaches me this way.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews