Some Churches

by Tasha Cotter

Churches are fixed structures that enable intangible beliefs. In Some Churches, Tasha Cotter gives words similar power to transform. Each poem in this collection is like a penance, a salve when "we are strangled by the walls," when we feel like only "shell and shadow." Here's a book that fills the spaces between "what we say / aloud" with tight lines and fresh thoughts; a worthy poetic companion as we "drink the galaxy and try to locate an edge." --Nick Ripatrazone

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2013

About the author

Tasha Cotter's third collection of poetry Astonishments was released in 2020 with FutureCycle Press. Her collaboratively written novel Us, in Pieces (with Christopher Green) was released in July 2019. She lives in Coupeville, Washington.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply felt, beautifully rendered poems of loss, solitude, and memory. I was struck by the power of the images. Page after page of fantastically crafted poetry.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first two poems, “Some Churches” and “Blood Orange,” but felt a number of the rest were lacking in artistry. Almost all are written in complete sentences, some in paragraph blocks, and the use of alliteration isn’t always enough to differentiate them from prose. Frequent themes are thorny romances, looking for the right career, and coping with regrets.

Favorite lines, from “Blood Orange”: “no one understands what a blood orange is when they see it. / People think that either the red or the orange should go, because to blend the two / alienates some readers. / … I, too, am having an identity crisis, / just like the blood orange. Now that we’ve peeled back / the artifice, you’re inviting me in anyway”.

[Racquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring collection of poems. I was most captivated by the poems, "Unrequited Love" and "The First-Time Novelist." I'm a sucker for a poem with a somber tone. Well done.