The Size of a Bird

by Clementine Morrigan

The Size of a Bird is an invocation of desire in times of violence and trauma. Refusing to shy away from difficult topics the poet tackles addiction, abuse, suicide, and sexual violence while infusing each word with a relentless drive for life. Seeking pleasure, these poems navigate dangerous terrain, staying with ambivalence and probing its depths. Queer femininity seeks heterosexual masculinity with varying results. First dates and one-night-stands, alleyways and coffee shops, forest floors and skateparks, these poems reveal a world pulsating with want and rife with pain. Holding both the reality of violence and the persistence of desire, these poems shine light on the pleasures and terrors of navigating sexuality from a space of femininity.

"Can poetry hold /the anxious thoughts of lovers?" This is only one of the many complex and gorgeous inquiries Clementine Morrigan asks in The Size of A Bird. Morrigan's own poetry decidedly holds anxious thoughts, yes, but also desire, and trauma and healing, uncertainty and wanting, undoing and becoming—her second collection of poetry holds all of these and more."

—Amber Dawn, author of Where the Words End and My Body Begins and How Poetry Saved My Life

Genres: Poetry

102 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2017

About the author

Clementine Morrigan is a writer. She is the writer behind the zines Love Without Emergency, Fuck the Police Means We Don't Act Like Cops to Each Other, Fucking Crazy, and Fucking Girls. She also wrote the books Sexting, Fucking Magic, Trauma Magic, You Can't Own the Fucking Stars, The Size of a Bird, and Rupture. She has been writing and publishing for more than 20 years and has many more projects on the way. They are also a podcaster as one half of the podcast Fucking Cancelled and they're the creator of the popular Trauma Informed Polyamory workshop. They also teach other online workshops like Bisexual Girls with Baggage and Disorganized Attachment Is a Fucking Trip. She is an ecosocialist, an anarchist, an abolitionist, an opposer of cancel culture, a trauma educator, a sex educator, a person living with complex ptsd, a sober alcoholic, a polyamorous bisexual dyke, and a proud dog mom to Clover “the dog” Morrigan.

Reviews

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn, this was a powerful collection of poems about feminism, rape, femininity, trauma, violence, and inner strength. From short works of only a few words to lyrical narrative poems that go on for a few pages, The Size of a Bird is an uncomfortably beautiful text on being a woman.

[comrade mum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect piece to follow 2012's Rupture. Morrigan's voice is still raw and insistant, the subject matter still brave and unfiltered, but the tone has evolved. One can see the strides the author has made in their personal life. Rupture centred trauma; The Size of a Bird transcends it. The beauty of this collection is dwarfed only by its honesty. Mark my words - Clementine Morrigan is an author to watch. With two stunning collections under their belt, their craft only stands to evolve and transcend its own excellence.