Moods

by Rachel B. Glaser

Poetry.

"MOODS is amazing."—Heather Christle

"Rachel, these poems are awesome."—Blake Butler

"I have many mood rings!"—Dorothea Lasky

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Mark Cugini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel's poems are the punchlines to the weird jokes you couldn't finish. They're the hypotheticals you bake up when you're baked, except they're right here, haha-ing at themselves before you've even had the chance to figure out what's so funny.

[Mike Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's like inventing a dance with your friend who never threw away her puffy lighted sneakers. Also it's like sneaking away from the party to eat cotton candy in the bathroom and tell the truth about everybody back in the party with your teeth all pink.

[Christopher DeWeese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review forthcoming!

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to run suicides over these stanzas and envision the images. Moods. It's so distinctive in the way it sits with you. Sometimes I worry that I'm not getting it ( by some deficiency of my own) but I console myself in thinking that maybe it's not made to be got. Like that's just a naively capitalistic way of seeing. It could always just be the damnable, elusive nature of poetry, which can't be my fault.
I love having talks with the poet because when you engage her in long conversations it's like you can see her gears turning, like she's winding them back up with each twist of her ringlets. I'm always floored by her work and the way her uniqueness hovers around it. She doesn't seem scared of not making sense. Her non sequiturs feel ethereal; she's learned to pluck thoughts from an entirely different plane. It's really something to witness.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be really entertaining while still having something to say. It's not exactly a joke-y book, but it's far from glum and written with a consistently unique voice. There is a note of longing or heartbreak, particularly in the great parts where the speaker discusses God's relations with bosoms and such, that is both earnest and fantastical. Super good and recommended, as I always love to do, EVEN FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY DON'T LIKE POETRY!.

[jenelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars only compared to other RBG, & because nothing could be better than a short story.

[Tyler Crumrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good poems to evolve your personality to.

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A weird book of weird poems that don't always make sense but you still keep reading.

from Thanksgiving didn't happen: "let's breed your family dog with my family dog / your religious beliefs with mine / we can say Jesus existed / he was good looking, charismatic, / and once did a magic trick"

from My common lover: ""the eyes of the common lover grew glassy / when he stepped foot in my castle / so I redid one of the wings in a more understated style // nights we lay in bed and he told me of his modest life / no, I told him gently, tell me again of mine"

from Side love: "most people can't help but have a side love / that runs a weak stream by their main love"

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boy, do these poems sing! A great introduction into the work of Glaser. Surreal, funny, caffeinated, and wobbly. I grabbed 'Hairdo' at the same time, and plan on reading that one as soon as this sentence is over.

[Raj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Moods" by Rachel Glaser has an interesting and dive in approach to the world around her that she depicts as and weird and inviting. Glaser has such an interesting voice towards her subjects. She comes back to the topics of love, drugs, humor, sex, gender, and religion often in her poems. She does so in a fashion that demands complete regard and involvement. In this, Glaser forces her audience to see through the voice of the poem in an abstract and winding way. I view each poem as an experience, an experience that cannot be fully appreciated until the experience is over and reflected upon. Each poem captures an overall picture that is constructed of smaller pieces that all fit together to make the larger image, like a collage.
Glaser’s word choice and craft throughout her book allow for interesting creations that support her ideas and presented images. Some of which include: “rainbow-enthusiasts,” “buying money,” “fate smell,” and “an Industrial song is anti-romance.”
At times Glaser will sarcastically and inventively explore and share her thoughts, experiences, and perceptions of the things she has experienced, which is part of the reason that her voice is so unique and original.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy, fun stuff. Fans of Melissa Broder and Jennifer L. Knox would dig this collection (which even features weird cover art from the author). Rachel's poems are constantly going off the rails in this collection and sometimes you crash with them or sometimes you might want to jump off and scratch your knees to hell. There are similes and declarative sentences galore here ("Sarah is hella lonely/butts are like babies/writing is like boring") and my fave pieces are "Every time my pills fall, I feel very much like an addict" and "Grand Variety" ("some girls can only have JCrew orgasms").

[BetweenLinesAndLife]

Well... this was interesting? Most of the poems felt like they were taking place in a very weird dream while you‘re on drugs and I‘m not really sure that‘s the kind of poetry I enjoy
The poem „your soul, barely“ however was absolutely brilliant and moved me, definitely my favorite in this.
Other favorites:
-Playing pink-pong on the Wii, it‘s hard not to channel the McEnroe/Borg HBO documentary
-Two girls can talk about two boys and make it sound like a conversation
-Should I learn a new language?
-Grand Variety
-New Movement blah blah
-It is human to love houses

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these poems were funny, some poignant, and Glaser is obviously talented (she also designed the Gauguin-inspired cover), but in general the poems felt like grab bags of images that didn't quite cohere for me. Maybe that's just my bias toward narrative speaking.

[Carrie Chappell · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite poems were "Best nose," "Camp," and "Feminine in water."

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel Glaser gets what it is like to be human and in a weird world.

"What is feminine?
a towel baked in the sun
a monument with carved hair
a wild animal's cursive handwriting"

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

i don't usually go in for poetry, but I always go in for Rachel B.!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally jawesome: I am going to read it again, again.