Underworld

by Melissa Jennings

In their second full-length poetry collection, Melissa Jennings illuminates what lies beneath the skin and the things that we carry with us in our daily lives. Underworld explores mental illness, identity, and the unspoken.

Praise for Underworld:

"Melissa Jennings drags us into an ‘underworld’ darker than Dante’s circles of hell, one that is present in real day to day life. There is clever and thought-provoking poetry here, woven from suffering, bravely put together to form a haunting and powerful read."
- M. F. Yasmin, author of 'A Wolf in Mask'

"Melissa's poetry takes you on a journey. The poems are full of strong imagery and emotion. It's heartbreaking. You are able to understand what anxiety is. You are able to feel and visualize with the author. There are glimpses of hope and love."
- Fida Islaih, author of 'Wilting Mind'

"I felt every emotion possible while reading Underworld. There is power, strength, and growth in every line. Jennings' passion for words is captivating and their talent for various styles of poetry shines through the darkness. This is Melissa Jennings' best collection yet."
- Shelby Leigh, author of 'It Starts Like This

Content Warnings: anxiety, blood, death, depression, difficult parental relationships, dissociation, injury detail, panic attacks, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, trauma flashbacks, occasional strong language, occasional reference to misgendering and transphobia, occasional poem about misotheism.

Please see appendix for detailed page number content warnings.
Also, there is a list of organisations, charities, and helplines which provide mental health support. Please practice self-care while reading this collection.

Also available for download on Payhip: https://payhip.com/b/bEU3

Genres: Poetry, Mental Health, LGBT

122 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2018

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dare you to rip the sunlight out of my skin. you will see what the darkness does to the light.

I received a free PDF copy of this book in exchange for an honest review – thank you so much to Melissa for sending this to me!

I will also be reviewing this book on my Youtube channel soon, so keep an eye out for my video review!

Underworld is a collection which focuses primarily on mental illness, particularly the author’s experiences with anxiety and depression. I want to preface this review by saying that this is a very dark collection; Melissa makes no attempt to sugar-coat their feelings, and at times, the poems were uncomfortable to read. There is a sense of almost painful honesty throughout the book which at times made me feel the need to turn away. However, Melissa’s writing is so wonderful that I feel it was worth the moments of discomfort. By no means does this collection romanticise the reality of mental illness, but it manages to find beauty in the darkness, transforming painful feelings into some truly breathtaking images.

One of the first things I noticed about this collection was its sense of variety. Melissa experiments with different forms throughout this collection, particularly concrete poetry, which incorporates visual elements. For example, some of the poems were scattered across the page, which seemed to represent the author’s scattered thought processes, whilst others were arranged in shapes such as a heart. This made the book really visually interesting, and it was a nice change; a lot of poets prefer to stick to one style that they feel comfortable with, but Melissa proves that they aren’t afraid to try new things. Some of the poems did feel a little disjointed and hard to read, but I feel like that was kind of the point – so although there were times when a simpler layout would have been nice, I do understand the reasoning behind the formatting.

Overall this collection is just so clever. The way Melissa plays with words just fascinates me, and there were so many instances where I kind of had to sit and let things sink in. There are so many twists and double meanings, it’s clear that these poems have been really well thought-out. Whilst there’s a certain power in letting raw emotions loose on the page, I feel as though it’s very evident that a lot of time has gone into these poems. There are so many beautiful metaphors and images in this book, particularly in the last few sections.

the night wanders // carelessly slashing at stars // opening the moon like a carcass.

On a final note, I want to say that Underworld is a collection which follows fairly set themes. Whilst this helps it to flow, there is a certain amount of repetition of certain ideas and images throughout the book. This leads some of the poems to feel quite similar. However, I feel like this would be less noticeable if you read the book more slowly; I did read Underworld several times, but certainly during the first read I was more aware of the recurring images.

Overall, this is a dark collection and I would recommend readers to be very mindful of the trigger warnings included by the author – but although it deals in darkness, it is interspersed with wonderful moments of light. Melissa continues to grow as a writer and I look forward to reading more of their work in the future.

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original review

This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Melissa Jennings!

but what I did learn is that you never know who people really are.
I never wanted to find x, I wanted to find why.
I wanted to know why I was never good enough for people.

Underworld is a poetry collection about mental health, identity and the unspoken. This poetry collection has poems about anxiety, depression, difficult parental relationships, self-harm, dissociation, suicide, …

I end every night
tears tearing me open,
sewing me back together.

Underworld is the first poetry collection I read written by Melissa Jennings and I really liked. The poems were so beautiful and you can definitely tell that Melissa put their heart into this collection. I also really like that they made a content warning page because I’ve never read such a page before and I think it’s really helpful for people who don’t like to read about a certain topic.

I felt like a hostage in my own body,
depression gagging me with tears,
and anxiety dragging me across my floor

I cannot wait to read more of Melissa’s work and here are my favourite poems:
Around We Go
How to Find x + y
Hear Me
We Suck at Goodbyes
This House is Not a Home
Lethal
The Thorns of the Heart
I Couldn’t Heart the Train Coming
Hades
Every Day is Father’s Day Because You Weren’t There
Cops and Robbers
Different Kinds of Light
Do You Still Burn?
This Sun Will Never Rise Again
A Rare Love Poem From Hell
I Will Drive My Own Hearse

[Fida Islaih · Rating 3 out of 5]

Melissa's poetry takes you on a journey. The poems are full of strong imagery and emotion. It's heartbreaking. You are able to understand what anxiety is. You are able to feel and visualize with the author. There are glimpses of hope and love.

[Kirsty Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As in previous works, Jennings' use of metaphor and simile create vivid images that envelop the reader into their world. That this particular one is a journey through Dante-esque circles of hell as a parallel to their relationship with their mental illnesses makes this a raw and occasionally painful read, but an excellent one nonetheless. I could feel the loud vibration of their building anxiety and the swoops their emotions took on each page with beautiful clarity. If you're looking for insight into this kind of world, you've come to the right place.

A deeply engaging and personal read that I'm looking forward to adding to my bookshelf soon!

Thanks to Melissa for the PDF version for review :)

[Abdul Rafay · Rating 2 out of 5]

''2.5 stars''
Read it in a hurry and still felt a connection and a sense of relatability because I had depression, still have anxiety, and so on. The whole metaphorical theme and the relativity that has been used in this collection is something that puts it off for me because at certain parts in the collection it just doesn't sit well with the emotions and sentiments that have been jotted down!

[Shelby Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt every emotion possible while reading Underworld. There is power, strength, and growth in every line. Jennings' passion for words is captivating and their talent for various styles of poetry shines through the darkness. This is their best collection yet!

[Crizz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad I found Melissa's work during a day where I actually needed to feel a little understood.
Her poetry is captivatingly honest and raw, my favorite was the Math poem and I hate math.
I'm actually planning on spending the night reading all her collection.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

I gotta admit I’m not the biggest reader of poetry, but I’ve been giving it more opportunities lately and I’m not regretting it at all. Underworld is undoubtly the one that I’ve enjoyed the most so far.

I found it through some aesthetics the author posted on their Twitter and I thought I could like it because of all the mythologycal references and topics explored. Turns out it didn’t let me down. There are slight variations of the myths, but there’s a theme going on, and I -with my not so extent knowledge, even though I absolutely adore greek mythology- could figure out most of the myths the poems were related to. I also could indeed relate to the feelings in most of the poems, and I created a deeper connection with these, so that’s probably behind why I liked it. Obviously, I didn’t relate to all of them, but, overall, they’re all very strong poems. I mean in the terms that they all portray intense emotions that sometimes become so raw and so vivid, we can imagine everything through the poet’s eyes. It’s noticeable how much work and heart Melissa has put into their collection.

I also found an admirable addition the page of mental health resources, as well as the content warning appendix. The collection gets really emotionally overwhelming sometimes, so it is recommended you check that out first.

[Becca Barrett]

This book would be a good book to teach students about the elements of poetry such as imagery with can definitely be seen through out these poems.