Misplaced Organs & Various Saints

by Dante Émile

Dante Emilé has no dull edges. Turn Misplaced Organs & Various Saints on any side, you will find something to whet your blade with. This is a collection of asking: an asking of God, an asking of The Self, an asking of The Lover, all of which I recognize as prayer. It begs & demands. It is fantastic & fast. These poems hit hard, rattle the molars in the sockets. These poems pry the skin back. They shock, then delight in that shock. Misplaced Organs & Various Saints is vicious & bewitching. It will haunt you, like a father, like heartbreak, like a God that wants blood & regret. There is no doubt that Dante Emilé has hit the mark. This poetry lingers. Let it root down to the bones & live there.

—silas denver melvin, author of Grit (Sunday Mornings at the River, 2020)

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

58 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2024

Reviews

[silas denver melvin]

honored does not begin to describe how i feel on being asked to write the foreword for this debut

[Hannah D · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many poems in this collection that have left me absolutely breathless!! Some personal favorites are “suburbia judas”, “love of the wolf”, “the last supper”, “after abel”, and “the poet as an autopsy table”! I think I’ll be thinking about “after abel” for the rest of my life. Dante’s poetry is a treasure

[dante]

gee i wonder who wrote this 🤔

[Just Another Final Girl Review (Brittany) Levely-Connolly · Rating 2 out of 5]

“We both have stories to bury & none of us really know how deep we should dig. The dog keeps bringing the bones back home: he wants to play with our dead, he wants us to toss them just to see them come back again.”

Trigger warnings: this collection deals with themes of domestic and psychological abuse, suicidal ideation, domestic violence

Genre:
Poetry
Nonfiction

“So here is a list of all of my sins,
sorted by bloodshed & in alphabetical order.
So here are the names of every person I've tried to replace you [God]with,”

This nonfiction poetry collection is a reflection of Dante’s various failed romantic relationships and his attempts to move on and his relationship with his God. I did enjoy reading most of the first half of the collection’s poems but I couldn’t relate to many of the second half, specifically those referencing biblical stories. I am not Christian, nor do I come from a Christian family therefore I don’t understand many of the references or comparisons nor could I relate to or connect with those poems on an emotional level.

The poems are raw and filled with emotion, one can feel and understand the pain that the writer felt during these toxic relationships with both himself and his various partners. It is an LGBTQIA+ collection - the author describes his various same sex partners and I think he initially starts with a position of wanting god back in his life because of the lack he experienced due to the religious position that Christianity has on same sex partnerships and the development of his own new relationship with God. One in which he doesn’t see himself as a monster.

“screaming take me as I am or kill me screaming peel my skin off like a blindfold screaming love me despite the horror screaming please, God, love me because of it.

My favourite poem: Monster theory
Would I buy this book:not for myself but who knows in future it could make a wonderful gift
Do I recommend this book: it’s not fair of me to say whether others should or shouldn’t read this collection. As a cisgender woman who isn’t Christian it’s hard for me to relate to this collection. But a Christian LGBTQIA person will probably have more to connect with in terms of similar experiences and viewpoints.

“One of my faces wants to say here you go, here's the key, have a look around. There's a chest next to the haunted dolls with every version of me I've tried to drown on the inside
Nowhere help me make a choice.
I will drag this out in the open, but you have to tell me there's still some road ahead of us.”

Themes:
god (Christian)
Toxic relationship
Stories/storytelling/writing down
Ghosts
Haunted house
Breaking up/leaving significant other
Love in exchange for pain
Woods
Wolf devouring and the gentle lamb ( this reference I know and understand thanks to William Blake)
Monstrous self

Thank you Querencia and Netgalley for my ebook review copy of this poetry collection.

[Charley Thomasin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually 4.5 stars.

I love every poem in this collection. The writing is gorgeous and, aside from a very select few sentences that I had to reread a couple times over to make sense of, it all flows so beautifully and seamlessly. A great collection.

[Kristiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. While Misplaced Organs & Various Saints at first felt little unoriginal, Émile soon found their feet and poetic strength in the poems focusing on religious trauma and the trans experience. This collection has a searing end and Émile exudes potential.

[Óscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. I think I did, for the most part. Émile has some poems up on tumblr that really spoke to me, which is why I bought this collection. I was very disappointed at the first few poems, to me they read exactly like that one parody post, with confused religious metaphors that are internally inconsistent and pile on top of each other in such short bursts it completely undermines the weight they might've had. Some of these poems could've benefited from being shorter and a lot more tailored. (Experimenting with different metres, rather than defaulting to free verse, for example, might help.) They're really passional, which I enjoy, but they read more like polished up rants than dedicated poetry; where there is an attempt to develop on a metaphor, it becomes heavy-handed, and inevitably splinters into a thousand other metaphors. And there's really no care paid to the language used other than picking whatever sits the gravest on the mouth, with no real balance. The images are evocative, but they're hastily thrown togheter and disorganised.

The second part is certainly an improvement on the complaints I had for the first. These poems feel a lot more thematically structured and intentional, which makes me fear the order of this collection is chronological rather than thematic. Overall I am somewhat disappointed, but there are some poems I enjoyed, chiefly among them;

monster theory
a ritual
john sleeps
gethsemane
true love is kept in a shoebox under your bed

[Riven · Rating 5 out of 5]

First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude to NetGalley, the publishers, and Dante Émile for providing me with an ARC copy of "Misplaced Organs & Various Saints" in exchange for an honest review.

From the moment I started this collection of poetry, I was enraptured by Émile's work. Each poem felt like a journey into the depths of the soul, an exploration of the human and religious experiences that left me breathless and longing for more. Among the many gems in this collection, "The Poet as an Autopsy Table" and "The Last Supper" stood out as personal favorites, resonating with me on a profound level.

I found myself utterly hooked from the very first page, unable to tear myself away until I had devoured every word. There's a raw power to Émile's writing that is both visceral and haunting, leaving an indelible impression long after the last page is turned. One line in particular, "If God cares he's leaving open-mouthed kisses on both of our crooked spines," has stayed with me, haunting my thoughts and stirring my emotions.

Émile possesses an incredibly powerful voice that demands to be heard, and I eagerly await more work from them in the future. Their ability to evoke such intense emotions and provoke deep introspection is a testament to their talent as a poet.

As "Misplaced Organs & Various Saints" prepares to make its debut tomorrow, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Dante Émile on this remarkable achievement. This collection is a testament to their skill as a poet and a true gift to readers everywhere.

[Nick Aucoin · Rating 5 out of 5]

"If God cares he's leaving open-mouthed kisses on both of our crooked spines."

I'm not someone who reads poetry super often. I should, because I usually enjoy it when I do. This though? This was a bit more than that. I was enraptured by the words on each page. I sat down and read it all. Then I sat down two days later and read it all again. There's a gorgeous rawness to each piece. The imagery is vivid but the emotions they bring out are more powerful. I'm very glad that I stumbled across this collection.

[Kala Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher for giving me an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.


5 stars.
THESE. WERE. BEAUTIFUL.
It only took me 2 days to read it and this collection was amazing. I haven’t read poetry this good in a long time.
Part one is fast-paced and passionate, it feels like a fever dream in the best way.
Part two is slower and thought out, softer almost.
However, the two parts balance each other out perfectly.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

“Kiss my cheek or split my skull in two,
the outcome is still the same.”

This collection was raw, sometimes in a good way, sometimes not.

CW: religious trauma, abuse, suicidal ideation, domestic violence

[Chloe Winstanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderful debut, and i really loved "love of the wolf"

[is there blood? · Rating 5 out of 5]

copious amounts of blood

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite poems from the collection:

love song of two vampires
a ritual
about the eternal resentment of being put together
holy week
psalm
(untitled)

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author is a suicide baiter, and has documented instances of wishing death upon people publicly.

[Eihpos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is a quality teaser, and has documented instances of wishing a very good read upon people publicly.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are strikingly strong, unabashedly unashamed poems written with searing truth and knife-edged, piercing conviction.. Although they do not lack artistry, they are not for me.