What do you think?
Rate this book
Monster Monologues
92 pages, Paperback
Published September 30, 2025
1 person want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 3, 2025
“Oh, the joy that little creatures take/ in longings larger than themselves!”
Quote taken from “A Harpy Warns the Heedless Celebrants”
Monster Monologues by Patricia Nelson is a wonderful little collection of neatly written, vaguely traditional poetry that is all set somewhere between the beats of time and the stories we tell within them. Nelson weaves every poem around and within each other with her words that focus on “monsters.” Both the ones from tales passed down from years prior, and the metaphorical beasts that bury themselves deep within everyday people.
These monsters come from mythologies that Nelson weaves her own way, such as showing the true colors of characters from famous myths, such as Perseus, and the gorgon he slew, Medusa. There are other, many popular, prominent characters from myths anyone can recognize in the collection, but there are also a few I had never heard of before. Tiresias from the Odyssey and Dido from the Aeneid were two that stood out to me. Even though I did not know of these characters and their stories, I love that Nelson always gave small synopses of all the myths so that her readers can better understand the backstory of her poems.
The poems themselves transfer back and forth between first-person adventures and the third-person ideals and observations that can ride along with said explorations. The sky is brought up more than a few times to show the openness of life and the possibilities the characters Nelson utilizes have, or sometimes do not have. And all throughout, there is an intense mixture of the dramatic nature you get from stories of dead lovers, god-born warriors, and the people caught in the crossfire of war. Bad endings and how they shape stories run rampant in all these myths Nelson chose, and those endings bleed into the poems she crafted.
One work that stood out to me in this regard follows Medusa as he awaits her unavoidable death, aptly named “Medusa Foresees Perseus’s Approach,” and this work hit me harshly with the connotation behind the words: “Tonight, my dreaming squirms/ with hate and longing. I see/ my dreadful head begin to fall/ and I wish it to be so.” But, within all of these aching, theatrical moments, there are also some instances of light and hopefulness that are remarkable complements to the otherwise dark tones of the collection. Such as “Entering Paradise,” that can only be inferred as alluding to entering Heaven, or any other joyous afterlife, and finally having the ability to leave behind all that is painful. This poem almost feels like it is talking directly to the reader, especially when Nelson writes, “Let daylight go and grasp/ the sad, marveling regret/ that transformation brings.” There are both spectrums of powerful within the pages of this poetry assortment.
All those adults and teens who love to casually learn about or study history, mythology, philosophy, and ancient Greece and Rome will eat up this collection of poetry by Patricia Nelson. There are multitudes of new stories to discover through Nelson’s work!
Quote taken from “A Harpy Warns the Heedless Celebrants”
Monster Monologues by Patricia Nelson is a wonderful little collection of neatly written, vaguely traditional poetry that is all set somewhere between the beats of time and the stories we tell within them. Nelson weaves every poem around and within each other with her words that focus on “monsters.” Both the ones from tales passed down from years prior, and the metaphorical beasts that bury themselves deep within everyday people.
These monsters come from mythologies that Nelson weaves her own way, such as showing the true colors of characters from famous myths, such as Perseus, and the gorgon he slew, Medusa. There are other, many popular, prominent characters from myths anyone can recognize in the collection, but there are also a few I had never heard of before. Tiresias from the Odyssey and Dido from the Aeneid were two that stood out to me. Even though I did not know of these characters and their stories, I love that Nelson always gave small synopses of all the myths so that her readers can better understand the backstory of her poems.
The poems themselves transfer back and forth between first-person adventures and the third-person ideals and observations that can ride along with said explorations. The sky is brought up more than a few times to show the openness of life and the possibilities the characters Nelson utilizes have, or sometimes do not have. And all throughout, there is an intense mixture of the dramatic nature you get from stories of dead lovers, god-born warriors, and the people caught in the crossfire of war. Bad endings and how they shape stories run rampant in all these myths Nelson chose, and those endings bleed into the poems she crafted.
One work that stood out to me in this regard follows Medusa as he awaits her unavoidable death, aptly named “Medusa Foresees Perseus’s Approach,” and this work hit me harshly with the connotation behind the words: “Tonight, my dreaming squirms/ with hate and longing. I see/ my dreadful head begin to fall/ and I wish it to be so.” But, within all of these aching, theatrical moments, there are also some instances of light and hopefulness that are remarkable complements to the otherwise dark tones of the collection. Such as “Entering Paradise,” that can only be inferred as alluding to entering Heaven, or any other joyous afterlife, and finally having the ability to leave behind all that is painful. This poem almost feels like it is talking directly to the reader, especially when Nelson writes, “Let daylight go and grasp/ the sad, marveling regret/ that transformation brings.” There are both spectrums of powerful within the pages of this poetry assortment.
All those adults and teens who love to casually learn about or study history, mythology, philosophy, and ancient Greece and Rome will eat up this collection of poetry by Patricia Nelson. There are multitudes of new stories to discover through Nelson’s work!
Displaying 1 of 1 review