Rooms for the Dead and the Not Yet

by Rhoni Blankenhorn

Winner of the 2024 Trio Award, Rooms for the Dead and the Not Yet explores landscapes of grief, desire, and identity. How does memory collapse time? In what ways do mourning and longing echo each other? What violence persists beneath narrative and aesthetic surfaces, upholding systems of belief and power? This debut poetry collection revolves around imagination as an act of resilience and rebellion. Blankenhorn's speaker communes with dead beloveds while buttering toast, petting dogs, kissing lovers, looking at art, holding hands with friends, and traversing cities and deserts. The beauty and comedy of daily life becomes a provocation into nonlinearity, sexuality, family history, and multiracial selfhood. Slipping between exterior and interior with an unflinching gaze, Rooms for the Dead and the Not Yet invites us to embrace the impossible complexity of human experience.

Genres: Poetry

114 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2025

Reviews

[Elena Macdonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this

[Iara Moure · Rating 3 out of 5]

SIento que este poemario estuvo bueno pero no me acuerdo mucho, pues lo termine hace un par de dias y me lei otros dos en el medio. Pero si le puse tres estrellas es porque estuvo bueno!

[Angry.Sad.Motivated · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the read.