Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse

Rate this book
Poems of the Erotic, the Romantic, the Violent, and the Grotesque.

99 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 14, 2018

34 people are currently reading
1573 people want to read

About the author

Wrath James White

125 books1,130 followers
Wrath James White is a badass motherfucker who writes baddasss books for other badass motherfuckers. He is a J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award winner and a Bram Stoker Award nominee with over two dozen books in print.

Wrath is the author of RABBIT HUNT, THE BUG COLLECTOR, and such extreme horror classics as THE RESURRECTIONIST (now a major motion picture titled "Come Back To Me") SUCCULENT PREY, it's sequel PREY DRIVE, 400 DAYS OF OPPRESSION, and many others.

To follow his Substack, purchase books, get the latest updates about upcoming releases, signed books, merchandise, and more, go to:

https://linktr.ee/wrathjameswhite


Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
100 (21%)
4 stars
89 (19%)
3 stars
128 (28%)
2 stars
65 (14%)
1 star
73 (16%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews
Profile Image for silas denver melvin.
Author 4 books617 followers
July 25, 2023
i hate to even call this poetry. i hate that it's under a genre i love & am a part of. why do men think that engaging in any form of BDSM makes them so sick & twisted & outcasted 😭 dude, you're not a vampire or werewolf, you just like spanking & leather pants. if "welcome to my twisted mind" were a collection of "poems", this would be it. so disappointing because i love the grotesque, i love the macabre, i love the perverted & monstrous & horrific, but this is nothing more than a man thinking he's oh so edgy & clever with his words, made all the worse by how highly he thinks of his own sexual ability. bukowski is lucky he's dead because wrath james just might take the cake in the disgusting, disturbing fluffed-up bullshit category that tries so hard to shock the audience. reads like a middle schooler who draws skulls on his notebook, hoping someone notices so he has a reason to indulge them in his "sick" fantasies. horror & erotica is a hard line to straddle. seldom is it written or filmed in a way that's anything other than laughable; this doesn't even come close to making the mark
Profile Image for Janie.
1,172 reviews
February 21, 2018
Poetry and prose, dark and visceral in its need for fulfillment. As implied by the title, the subject matter is raw and ravenous. This is the cry of an unrestrained beast howling in its cycle of loneliness. While hunting the perfect prey, there is an unending cycle of ferocious need which can only be satisfied by an equally matched lover, inside and out. Consuming and intimate.
Profile Image for Sadie Hartmann.
Author 23 books7,626 followers
May 24, 2021
Review originally published in the May/June Issue #66
https://wayopay.com/p/scream-issue-66...

Let’s cut right to the chase: This is a sex book. Excuse me. Correction.
A brutal sex book. A collection of poetry for readers with a specific kink or curious readers who just enjoy peeking in on that lifestyle.

The author starts with an introduction in order to lay down some realistic expectations.
“These are expressions of raw, bleeding, passion. These are poems to make angry, rapturous, sensuous, violent love to.”
Not your typical love poems.
Consider the title, ‘If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse.” A convincing indicator that the words on the pages contained within will not resemble your stereotypical sweet nothings whispered in one’s ear.
Wrath James White tells his audience upfront that these are intimate pieces he wrote to his wife or about their love life in general. And they are exactly that: Intimate. He also explains that he is a horror fiction writer by trade so the nature of the sex is not exactly Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers-it resembles CLOSER by Nine Inch Nails.
“I want to fuck you like an animal. I want to feel you from the inside.”
As someone who enjoys a fair amount of well-written sex scenes in my horror, I thought I would be the perfect audience for this book but after reading several pieces I realized that the sex is better when it’s peppered throughout a story between fictional protagonists that I’m invested in. This clearly feels like voyeurism. You’re forced to imagine the actual author and his wife because they are the subjects and so that knowledge does strip away a bit of the enjoyment. It makes it too personal.
However, if some of these were tucked into a narrative-they would be more alluring. It’s my recommendation that if you’re willing to saturate yourself in White’s personal affairs-this is for you. If you’d rather experience something along those lines but with a little distance between yourself and the author, White does have some novels and short fiction you could try.
Profile Image for Rodney.
Author 5 books72 followers
February 18, 2018
While certainly dark and disturbing, this poetry collection carries passion and sincerity in abundance. Exploring the depths of commitment and trust in ways not fit for the meek, beauty is ultimately conveyed by the imagery within.
Profile Image for exorcismemily.
1,443 reviews354 followers
November 10, 2018
"Through violence and decadence / I became what I am."

If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse was my introduction to Wrath James White and I loved it! This is a book of 46 poems and 2 short stories. Wrath explains in the beginning that many (but not all) of these are love poems to his wife, which sounds lovely, but this book is different. The poems are dark, disturbing, often gross, amusing, and all-around entertaining. These are mostly erotic horror poems (with a focus on BDSM), and they are very intimate and honest. Wrath put his heart into these unsettling poems, and I loved reading them.

My top 5 poems were It's a Rainy Day, Facial, Her Nightmare, Sex & Slaughter, The Murderer You Wanted. I feel like the titles give you a pretty good idea of the content to expect in case you're interested in picking this one up. The writing in this book is gorgeous and it's a brutal read. I enjoyed it very much and can't wait to read more from Wrath James White!
Profile Image for Mike Thorn.
Author 28 books276 followers
February 19, 2018
Full review from my website.

Author Wrath James White’s reputation precedes him. More often than not, when I see mentions of his work, they’re within close proximity to some variation of the same signifiers: “extreme,” “hardcore,” “transgressive” and “disturbing.” His new poetry collection If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse earns every single one of those terms. If the killer in William Lustig’s Maniac (1980) sat in on afternoon Byron seminars before going out for his twisted nighttime excursions, the verses looping through his mind might read something like this book’s contents. For literary comparisons, imagine the protagonist of Hubert Selby Jr.’s The Room (1971) waxing poetic in the midst of his sadistic fantasies, or Poppy Z. Brite’s Exquisite Corpse (1996) written in disciplined metre.

Yes, this book is very much of a specific sensibility, and it’s very much for specific tastes. The first half is especially demanding and confrontational, almost monomaniacal in its emphasis on masculine power, domination and sexual violence. The language is often viciously blunt, and always uncomfortably intimate. I would be lying if I called this thing an easy read.

However, to my mind, the book’s sincere core of intimacy elevates it, preventing it from simply existing as an object of transgression for transgression’s sake. Wrath James White’s use of language is always controlled and efficient, and at times shockingly beautiful, even painful in its precision. To my surprise, I think Corpse is soaring highest when it’s at its least embodied—I’m less moved by its explicit detailing of sexual encounters (although they’re well-written), and more by its stretches of existential angst and vivid abstract imagery. The book’s second half seems to find Wrath James White pulling away a bit from the snarling carnal frenzy that comprises the first half, and that’s when his Romantic heartbeat sounds loudest. Many excerpts from this section achieve their impact by defiling and resisting religious iconography (this book is absolutely boiling with Christian symbolism—mentions of Christ, altars, heaven, hell, angels and demons abound).

The most honest and direct thing I can say about If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse is that it affected me in a rare way, and that I’ve never read anything quite like it. Proceed with caution.
Profile Image for Kiera ☠.
329 reviews124 followers
April 22, 2024
Full transparency, I’m usually not much of a poem fan. You might now be asking, so why did you buy a collection of poems Kiera? Well, to be honest, it was the last thing available by the time I made my way to Wrath’s booth at AuthorCon. However, there was quite simply no way I wasn’t going to buy from him and support him in person when I had the opportunity to meet him.

Not loving poems still didn’t stop me from enjoying these! This collection is sensual, aggressive and to my own personal preference when it comes to kinks if you catch my drift. They might be the horniest poems I’ve ever read, and I loved that about them. Despite this medium not being my favourite, I still enjoyed myself as I read through them. True to Wrath form, these were dark, violent and sexy as fuck. I would definitely recommend picking this up.
Profile Image for Victoria.
82 reviews9 followers
August 8, 2022
Sometimes lacking in the beauty of the consensual give and take of power, the dichotomy of pain and pleasure, and the line between ego and respect. Lacking a balance of confidence versus self obsession. Still includes beautiful depictions of violence, sexuality, and mutual rapture of the pleasure from sexual pain. There are some gems included in this collection. Overall I’m just really not impressed with the authors self obsession…I’m very happy to have a partner who doesn’t use our pain is pleasure moments to boost his own egotistical image of himself. Puts an unhealthy spin on the beauty of domination and submission.
Profile Image for Salem ☥.
439 reviews
December 31, 2024
“I used to look
at the moon and stars
and imagine paradise
Wizened with age
corrupted by lust
I found heaven in vice
I once believed
in love and peace
and the power of prayer
But as I fought
and fucked and bled
I found God was not there
Through violence and decadence
I became what I am
In blood and sex and viscera
I emerged as a man”

I think this collection had the potential to be great, though it fell a little flat for me. I'm not a prude or easily squeamish, but the prose was just... eh.

Men always seem to objectify women in their poetry, even if it's not their intention. In this collection it's under the guise of kink.

When I think of kink, this isn't the type of poetry I would think of. Was hoping for something visceral and more rounded. Something substantial. This wasn't that.

This collection reads like the kind of thing you'd find from a teenager on Reddit, or maybe a 4Chan board about "dark" fantasies.
Profile Image for Michael.
Author 81 books280 followers
September 15, 2019
Wrath at his best: a balance of dark gritty body horror and deep thoughts, rendered poetically through style and cadence that gets at you. This is horror that never flinches, even from sexual topics that'd make a porn star blush, and it will make you writhe. I always enjoy his work.
526 reviews45 followers
April 21, 2021
This book of poetry is awesome...... I didn't know horror poetry existed. If you like violence horror and poetry check this one out
Profile Image for Luu.
37 reviews
July 2, 2023
Wtf did I just read
Profile Image for Jayaprakash Satyamurthy.
Author 43 books516 followers
July 3, 2018
Profane, spiritual, sensual, visceral, lustful and deeply romantic. This collection of poetry and a couple of short prose piece is erotica in the same way Black Sabbath is blues. Throughout even the most sadistic, porn-reminiscent passages here runs a deep thread of what all the frilly old poets used to write about but White clearly has lived, every day of his life - the single minded pursuit of love. A couple of poems veer off theme but share the same intensity and rapturous celebration of darkness. One piece, different from the others yet of a piece, evokes the death of the last satyr. He's not dead. He writes poetry.
A brave, loving fist(ing) of a poetry collection. I loved it.
122 reviews108 followers
August 27, 2019
This is a special kind of poetry. It makes you bleed from body parts and organs you don't have but somehow long for and miss after reading these poems. It's intense and passionate and nasty with love. Not for everyone. It should be kept behind the green door.
Profile Image for Claire.
140 reviews1 follower
December 1, 2024
Not what I expected or hoped at all (but that might be on me for not looking this book up before buying it).

But even then, I just didn’t like any of the poetry. It all felt very “fake deep” to me.
Profile Image for Jen.
671 reviews306 followers
July 18, 2018
After reading No Mercy by Alessandro Manzetti last year {my review}, I've been wanting to read a lot more horror poetry. The only exposure I have to horror poetry these days is the occasional inclusion in an anthology. This year I'm seeking out single author poetry collections so get ready to see more poetry reviews from me.

If You Died Tomorrow I'd Eat Your Corpse was an interesting first selection for me. I am not an erotica reader so I was throwing myself outside of my comfort zone in both format and content.

Overall, I'm extremely glad I read this one.

I've noticed something over the last year in particular: collection introductions can be extremely helpful. I feel like most of my reading life I've skipped over the introduction (give me the stories already!), but the last few collection introductions I've read have really put me in the correct frame of mind heading into the stories.

In the introduction to If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse, Wrath James White comments on the time span in which he wrote these poems. Some of them go back to his "angst-ridden youth". A lot of his comments show in the unevenness of the collection, but I was prepared for it.

Not being an erotica reader and not being a regular reader of poetry, there were a lot of misses for me in the collection, but there were some hits, too.

One "poem" in particular (Perpetual Motion) is one of the greatest things I've read this year. I say "poem" because there is a short poem that leads into basically a short story. I hate to say my favorite thing about this poetry collection is a short story, but it is and it's worth reading the entire collection to just have it framed around that one short story.

3.5 stars
Profile Image for Tracy.
515 reviews155 followers
January 22, 2019
4.5 stars

These poems/short stories are dark (very much so), simultaneously sensual, dirty, and violent. I can honestly say this was unlike anything I have ever read - this is not a collection to breeze through. The material is heavy and extremely personal; not for the faint of heart. White has serious chops and if his other works are anything like this one in terms of skill and depth, I will definitely be picking them up.
Profile Image for Sara Tantlinger.
Author 69 books386 followers
March 29, 2018
A brutal, gorgeous, and stunning collection. Wrath James White beautifully masters each visceral depiction of love, sex, and horror in every line. Too often with erotic horror I start reading it and get bored because writers use the same descriptions of it that I've seen over and over, but not this poet. His willingness to delve into the true depths of blood and romance, of pleasure and pain, is strikingly refreshing and reminded me in several ways of Clive Barker, whom I adore. I can't recommend this collection enough.
Profile Image for Matt (TeamRedmon).
355 reviews64 followers
November 19, 2019
I won this in a giveaway from Bookstagram friends Emily and Tracy. I have been wanting to read more horror poetry recently since reading and loving the work of Stephanie Wytovich and Sara Tantlinger. So this was the perfect opportunity to do that. In the introduction, White talks about how these poems mostly love poems to his wife but these are not your lovey-dovey poems. These are dark poems about desire, love, lust, depravity, sex, and intimacy that are laced with BDSM, violence, abuse, torture, and death. While not for the faint-hearted, these poems are Wrath James White's heart and soul on the page. Once, I started this collection, I could not put it down. Some of my favorites from this collection are One Thousand, The Making of Me, Insomnia, Last Cabbage Patch Doll, Astral Projection, and At the Dinner Table on Christmas Day. If you are into horror poetry, erotic poetry or just want to expand your poetry horizons, I recommend this book to you.

Profile Image for Lisa Lee.
563 reviews42 followers
February 22, 2018
I have long been a devoted fan of Wrath’s unapologetically dark stories, prose, and poems. I thoroughly enjoy the occasional poem inserted into his short story collections, like decadent candies on a buffet.
Now, Wrath James White offers us a collection of dark and visceral poetry in one volume with two short stories inserted in their midst, cupcakes to cleanse the palate.

Taboo passions, obsessive love, graphic violence, and grotesque themes all come together in this raw collection of exquisite poetry. Read the author’s forward, it is a delightful foreplay to the verses that follow. But do not be fooled by the descriptions, for there are incredible depths to the love, lust, and horror of Wrath’s poetry. These poems will shake you to your core, leaving your pure side bleeding and your dark side hungry for more.

This collection contains extreme content and will evoke extreme response.
My personal favorite is “Sex & Slaughter” for it’s dual symbolism and graphic madness.
Which one is your favorite?
Profile Image for Alex.
329 reviews12 followers
May 13, 2024
A collection of poems and a few short stories by Wrath!

I will be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of poetry but I still enjoyed them. The short story where the man blinks is the stand out for me. But if you are a poem-junkie, then this is a must read!

3/5
Profile Image for William Becker.
Author 13 books204 followers
January 7, 2024
If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse is a poetry collection full of dark, erotic musing. Filled to the brim with disturbing, gory, and graphic metaphors about how sexuality and love can make you feel depressed and empty. It's very reminiscent of the themes of The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails where you have a narrator obsessed with losing God/religion and drowning himself in kinky sex and other vices.

That being said, even with all of the striking metaphors and interesting poetic structures, it gets a little repetitive and self-indulgent. Even at just 86 pages of content, White's poetic voice is frequently focused on sex as an escape, an objectification of the person it's being committed upon. It's got this edgy voice that gets tiring after a while: you can only read so many poems about BDSM, primal desire, lust, and sexual cannibalism before you get bored. This might be increased by the introduction stating that many of these are poems to express the author's love for his wife, so when he's talking about how his animalist, kinky sex life is as if it makes him so unique, dark, misunderstood, and artistically intelligent, you can't help but want more substance. The poetry reads as unintentionally self obsessed. The two featured short stories are interesting and deviate a bit from this norm.

That being said, I can tell White is a very talented writer and I'm simply not the target audience for this book.. His other work has received a ton of buzz and I'd like to check it out because he has a really good command of the English language.
Profile Image for Donald Armfield.
Author 67 books176 followers
March 21, 2018
Sexually brutal poetry, a kiss of bondage, slaughter for the loved ones, sick and cuddling death. All of the above explains the love for someone's corpse and why not just eat it too.
Wrath James White is poetry's grim reaper with a sexual desire.
My overall favorites:

- Our Sick Declining Years
- In Passion's Name
- Flowers of Eros
- Her Nightmare
- Untitled #3
- Make Love to Me
- One Thousand

Get yours, Get Lit and eat your corpse too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.