Hive

by Christina Stoddard

Hive is a remarkable debut collection of poems about brutality, exaltation, rebellion, and allegiance. Written in the voice of a teenage Mormon girl, these poems chronicle an inheritance of daily violence and closely guarded secrets. A conflicting cast of recurring characters—best friends, sisters, serial killers, and the ominous Elders—move through these poems as the speaker begins to struggle with the widening gulf between her impulse toward faith and her growing doubts about the people who claim to know God’s will. Ultimately she must confront what it means to believe and what it costs to save ourselves.

Winner, Poetry, Association for Mormon Letters Awards

Finalist, da Vinci Eye Book Design Award

Finalist, Washington State Book Award for Poetry, Washington Center for the Book

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2015

Reviews

[Anwen Hayward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this much more on the second read. I still think that a degree of biblical knowledge, specifically Mormon theology, would help a reader get more out of it, but there's a lot of interesting thoughts here on growing up in a very religious community, and how that religion is used to subjugate women, often by other women. I'm sure I'll reread this again and like it even more.

[Samuel Snoek-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've read your Keats, you might think that "beauty is truth, truth beauty." Stoddard's powerful, riveting debut reminds us that often, truth can instead be terrifying to behold. And yet she frequently finds a kind of beauty in the urban nightmares she describes, and the result is very much like a meditation, not in the sense of relaxation (quite the opposite!) but in the sense of stark insight. This book is unlike any other collection of poems I've read, and it's stunning in what it dares to do on the page. As profound a book of poetry as I've read.

[Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful collection of poems that are often disturbing and occasionally humorous. The collection tackles her upbringing in a strict Mormon environment and poverty, all while facing some especially traumatic events. Rather than indulging in Sylvia Plath's depressing themes of self-pity, there is much more resilience shown here.

Stand out poems include:
1. How to Make Up for Unhealthy Habits-- works stylistically as a tweet, top 10 list, or short blog post.
2. High School Yearbook-- very powerful story of seeking connectedness, with unexpected ending.
3. Antigone Inverse-- a bold and witty musing on suicide from an unexpected perspective.
4. Fifteen Girls-- ever wondered what cruelty and public humiliation feel like? This poem captures it.
5. Grandmother Educates Her Darlings-- for aspiring poets and storytellers, learn from the device Stoddard uses for this poem. The anticipated trope ends with an unexpected twist.
6. On the Dance Floor A Chaperone-- a brief story with twists and turns, all along defying expectations.

The poems that worked least well for me were the ones in which Stoddard stands up to her Mormon upbringing. I do not have enough baseline knowledge of the Mormon tradition to understand her reference points.

[Laurel Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book after the Ailey O'Toole plagiarism debacle more on this here(https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/poetr...) I wanted to experience the work of the poets that had been stolen from. And this, fuck I was broken by page 8.

This project is so well done. Stoddard has managed to pull readers in, and hold tight through every page. I couldn't put this collection down. Every time I though she couldn't drop another line or couplet that would take my breath, she did. The meditations on a Mormon upbringing are heartbreaking, and yet dramatic, which it could be very easy to fall into. Please add this collection to your poetry stack ASAP, you will not be disappointing.

[Mary Ardery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing to get a look into Mormon girlhood. The book is divided into three sections but I’m not certain as to the thought/strategy behind these divisions—there seems to be a child speaker and a more reflective narrator present within all sections. The book begins with a short 8-line poem called “Bodies of Two Girls Found in Woods.” What I admired about this collection is the texture of the world. It’s about a Mormon community, but it’s also tied into a specific place. The setting of Washington provides rich poetic material, like the poem “I Am Thinking of Salmon.” In addition to the natural landscape, Stoddard also makes use of the area’s history/lore, as seen in her poem “Abby’s Mother Shows Us Where Ted Bundy Signed Her Yearbook.”

[Amie Whittemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this fierce, sad, and beautiful collection. It deals candidly and poignantly with the trials of sexual violence, of familial strife, of questioning one's religion and community. It is a coming of age collection, the lyrical exploration of a young woman trying to gather a sense of herself from her experience, from her friends, from her family, from her Mormon heritage, from salmons and whales.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A devastating collection about a strict Mormon upbringing and its aftermath. The poems here do not shrink away from the horrors, but still find beauty and hope in their midst. Highly recommended.

[Caveat: I know Christina personally, but I've always been amazed and impressed by her talent.]

[Patrick]

Stand in for Worm web serial part

[Dargan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was brilliant. Several of the poems in here knocked the breath out of me. They were full of violence, and rage and shame and loss of innocence. I made several people read the poem "Abby's Mother Shows Us Where Ted Bundy Signed Her Yearbook" because it was so deliciously creepy and well done. I didn't get all the references to things from the author's experience growing up Morman, but I understood the sentiment of the poems. Highly recommend!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing debut collection of poetry, one that yokes together many of my obsessions: the coming-of-age narrative (this one contextualized within a Mormon adolescence), the violence/redemption narratives in oppressive religious tropes, and the gendered exploration of God and self.

I had so many goosebumps when reading these poems because of the resonance Stoddard evoked in her disparate experiences within a tight-knit yet suspicious community. These poems are about salmon and the question of whether or not to have children, elders who baptize the living to save the dead, the brutality of youth group leaders and chaperones, God and rape and violence and saints.

My heart is strangely warmed...and shaken.

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars narrative drive & haunting environment. admittedly, my areligious background makes me miss things that others will catch & enjoy.

[Erica Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote a review for this terrific collection over at Chapter 16: http://www.chapter16.org/content/her-...

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably a 3.7 for me.

It's a brave collection with a fierce narrative thread running through it.