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Maiden
- GenresPoetry
Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
1 person is currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Karina Bush
13 books27 followers"More iconic than Caesar."
- Vogue Italia
FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION SLUT: https://rumble.com/v402ucg-fourth-ind...
"Karina Bush is a bright new talent. Keep your eye on her . . . she's one to watch."
- James Frey, author of "A Million Little Pieces" and "Bright Shiny Morning"
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/karinabushxx/
- Vogue Italia
FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION SLUT: https://rumble.com/v402ucg-fourth-ind...
"Karina Bush is a bright new talent. Keep your eye on her . . . she's one to watch."
- James Frey, author of "A Million Little Pieces" and "Bright Shiny Morning"
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/karinabushxx/
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 13, 2017
Dark, carnal, vulnerable stuff. In short, good poetry. Bush is much more honest than some of the other animals I've read.
February 9, 2017
With “Maiden”, Karina Bush offers the reader a unique opportunity to explore female sexuality in short thrusting bursts that gore the reader like a drunken rookie matador. And like a bull horn, these poems will stick in you. My personal favorites are “Bitch Is Thirsty”, “Take my hair,” and “Daddy.” Karina is a breath of fresh air in the world of small presses. Her work is unpretentious, unapologetic, and beautifully vulgar.
January 14, 2017
I could not disagree more with another review here, that states that creativity somehow comes with responsibility, in a way it does, but only in regards to the artist. The reader can decide what they like and the poet/artist should never get between herself/himself and their art/writing as Hubert Selby said. With that being said, Karina Bush writes with a punch to the gut, that would make Bukowski and perhaps Caligua blush. No subject is really given a second thought, but in only what Karina is trying to convey in this collection of poems. Maiden is a breath of fresh air caught in the streets of filth and forbidden on Rue Bourbon and the haze of the red light district in Amsterdam. It's dangerous. It's real. It's gritty. It's perfect. Go ahead if you want dumbed down fluff scroll Instagram quotes, but if you want real then you must buy this yesterday.
January 16, 2017
MAIDEN: Karina Bush
I have read and re-read 'MAIDEN' by Karina Bush; Initially I felt that it was an extraordinary debut collection and I still do.
Initially, I was drawn by the sensuality, the eloquence and the starkness of the work; but there is a lot more to be said: The language has been finely crafted and constructed, finely tuned and engineer'd into something that all poets strive for, 'a uniqueness of voice': poems like 'A Flower' 'Daddy' 'Fairy Tale' 'Prowl' 'First Night' reinforce this; there is also a sense and depth of maturity that holds the work aloft in a light and darkness of its own;
Like I said, 'MAIDEN' is an extraordinary and strinking debut collection;
We can only stand back, brace ouselves and eagerly await future works by Karina Bush;
John D Robinson
Poet & Publisher : Holy&intoxicated Publications:UK.
I have read and re-read 'MAIDEN' by Karina Bush; Initially I felt that it was an extraordinary debut collection and I still do.
Initially, I was drawn by the sensuality, the eloquence and the starkness of the work; but there is a lot more to be said: The language has been finely crafted and constructed, finely tuned and engineer'd into something that all poets strive for, 'a uniqueness of voice': poems like 'A Flower' 'Daddy' 'Fairy Tale' 'Prowl' 'First Night' reinforce this; there is also a sense and depth of maturity that holds the work aloft in a light and darkness of its own;
Like I said, 'MAIDEN' is an extraordinary and strinking debut collection;
We can only stand back, brace ouselves and eagerly await future works by Karina Bush;
John D Robinson
Poet & Publisher : Holy&intoxicated Publications:UK.
January 29, 2017
The subject matter is tough and complex yet easily readable and a pleasure to digest. I only wish it were longer. Dirty, rough, pretty, vulnerable and yet a power comes through, all the emotions only a strong woman who has survived this rotten world could write so vividly about. and we're lucky she has shown us all the scars.
February 24, 2017
Karina Bush is a poet who doesn't restrain her emotions when she spawns her pieces. If the mood of a poem travels to an extremely dark place or is consumed with light she will follow her muse – regardless of subject matter until her desired piece is written. I find that quality quite brave about her – because it genuinely means that there is no subject -- no matter how awkward that she will not scribe.
Karina also pushes the boundaries in terms of the content from her works – hopefully global exposure to her Karina's poems will break more barriers and make way for more female authors to genuinely be able to express themselves fully without prejudice with regards to the content.
Karina also pushes the boundaries in terms of the content from her works – hopefully global exposure to her Karina's poems will break more barriers and make way for more female authors to genuinely be able to express themselves fully without prejudice with regards to the content.
January 14, 2017
Karina Bush taps into the archetypal experience of humankind. This is primal stuff and high art. The poetess as sibyl, conjurer and shaman in touch with the unconscious, with desire, lust, the animal within us...language usage compact and precise, not a word wasted...The work has some affinity with the work of Dorothea Lasky (THUNDERBIRD, ROME) in that both poets are uncompromisingly honest and both know how to use the language like a cudgel. Beautiful work.
April 11, 2017
This is an emotionally complex and graphic collection that reads very easily. I would absolutely read more work by this poet.
January 14, 2017
"The value in this work is the author’s ability to present lust at its genesis, as it manifests itself within the subconscious. That is to say, none of the base instinct is filtered out through the writer’s conscious process. Consequently, there is an unfastening of moral constraint, which results in an unholy animalistic regression."
To read the full review of Maiden as it appears at Screaming with Brevity, click here: http://wp.me/p3tad2-AN
To read the full review of Maiden as it appears at Screaming with Brevity, click here: http://wp.me/p3tad2-AN
January 17, 2017
Karina Bush’s work is unashamed, vital, and refreshingly dark. Highlights within Maiden include “This Morning” and “Tender Night,” poems of rapturous connection. A strong first collection. Looking forward to reading future work.
February 10, 2017
Best debut book of poetry I have ever read.
January 13, 2017
THIS REVIEW FIRST APPEARED IN THE COMPULSIVE READER
You might not want to read Karina Bush’s Maiden unless you like lewd literature. She presents poetry in a frank way. This moves away from the subtleness that some have come to expect and appreciate in the art of poetry. This is not a case for the censoring of Karina’s work or works like hers. In some ways, her writing reminds us that the world is not monolithic when it comes to the subject of sex. If you search long enough, you will find that the poems revolve around other matters like the human need to connect with the self and other human beings, and notions like survival in a world that is spiraling out of control in a perverted manner.
Nevertheless, I am afraid that Karina trivializes sexual misconduct to the degree that it is repulsive. There is the possibility that she does this on purpose, that she is writing for a specific audience who “gets” what she says.
I want to stop his ability to think
Turn him into a primitive
Powered only by instinct
Give him back my obsession
Turn him into my rapist (Red Blood, 1)
Is Karina glorifying rape and rape culture here? A look at her website, and other things she has written, argue that she is exercising the freedom of her imagination as a creative type. However, in creating, the artist needs to keep in mind the effects of her work, both good and bad, on others and the world. With creativity comes responsibility.
Karina hints at a goal of her work, that of the support of iconoclasm, in the poem Unchristian. She writes, “You want it dirty/My prince/You’ll get it/Uncleanable/Unchristian” (14). However, her argument is faulty due to the notion that Christianity, or any other religion for that matter, is clean. One can make the same conclusion regarding the rest of her work as presented in the collection. Something is off-putting. It is too dirty. But light shines in darkness, and not to be totally negative about it, I would like to highlight some themes that give the collection some strength.
For one, Karina sees sex as a powerful weapon and most of us can agree with this. There is a staunch resiliency in the characters as depicted in some of the poems, “I submit to myself/There is nothing else” (Just Me, 12). Similarly, desire is normalized and not ashamed of. In Beast, a lover classified as a brute is painted as “breaking things to get to me” (28). But this small book is without a big punch. And it is for adults only.
You might not want to read Karina Bush’s Maiden unless you like lewd literature. She presents poetry in a frank way. This moves away from the subtleness that some have come to expect and appreciate in the art of poetry. This is not a case for the censoring of Karina’s work or works like hers. In some ways, her writing reminds us that the world is not monolithic when it comes to the subject of sex. If you search long enough, you will find that the poems revolve around other matters like the human need to connect with the self and other human beings, and notions like survival in a world that is spiraling out of control in a perverted manner.
Nevertheless, I am afraid that Karina trivializes sexual misconduct to the degree that it is repulsive. There is the possibility that she does this on purpose, that she is writing for a specific audience who “gets” what she says.
I want to stop his ability to think
Turn him into a primitive
Powered only by instinct
Give him back my obsession
Turn him into my rapist (Red Blood, 1)
Is Karina glorifying rape and rape culture here? A look at her website, and other things she has written, argue that she is exercising the freedom of her imagination as a creative type. However, in creating, the artist needs to keep in mind the effects of her work, both good and bad, on others and the world. With creativity comes responsibility.
Karina hints at a goal of her work, that of the support of iconoclasm, in the poem Unchristian. She writes, “You want it dirty/My prince/You’ll get it/Uncleanable/Unchristian” (14). However, her argument is faulty due to the notion that Christianity, or any other religion for that matter, is clean. One can make the same conclusion regarding the rest of her work as presented in the collection. Something is off-putting. It is too dirty. But light shines in darkness, and not to be totally negative about it, I would like to highlight some themes that give the collection some strength.
For one, Karina sees sex as a powerful weapon and most of us can agree with this. There is a staunch resiliency in the characters as depicted in some of the poems, “I submit to myself/There is nothing else” (Just Me, 12). Similarly, desire is normalized and not ashamed of. In Beast, a lover classified as a brute is painted as “breaking things to get to me” (28). But this small book is without a big punch. And it is for adults only.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews