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Vertigo & Ghost
**WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2019**
**WINNER OF THE ROEHAMPTON PRIZE FOR BEST POETRY COLLECTION 2019**
Violence hangs over this book like an electric storm. Beginning with a poem about the teenage dawning of sexuality, Vertigo & Ghost pitches quickly into a long sequence of graphic, stunning pieces about Zeus as a serial rapist, for whom woman are prey and sex is weaponised. These are frank, brilliant, devastating poems of vulnerability and rage, and as Zeus is confronted with aggressions both personal and historical, his house comes crumbling down. A disturbing contemporary world is exposed, in which violent acts against women continue to be perpetrated on a daily – hourly – basis.
The book shifts, in its second half, to an intimate and lyrical document of depression and family life. It sounds out the complex and ambivalent terrain of early motherhood – its anxieties and claustrophobias as well as its gifts of tenderness and love – reclaiming the sanctuary of domestic private life, and the right to raise children in peace and safety.
Vertigo & Ghost is an important, necessary book, hugely impressive in its range and risk, and dramatic in its currency: a collection that speaks out with clarity, grace and bravery against the abuse of power.
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 T. S. ELIOT PRIZE**
‘Misogynistic violence, ancient myth and modern rage confront each other in moving and dynamic verse’ Financial Times
**WINNER OF THE ROEHAMPTON PRIZE FOR BEST POETRY COLLECTION 2019**
Violence hangs over this book like an electric storm. Beginning with a poem about the teenage dawning of sexuality, Vertigo & Ghost pitches quickly into a long sequence of graphic, stunning pieces about Zeus as a serial rapist, for whom woman are prey and sex is weaponised. These are frank, brilliant, devastating poems of vulnerability and rage, and as Zeus is confronted with aggressions both personal and historical, his house comes crumbling down. A disturbing contemporary world is exposed, in which violent acts against women continue to be perpetrated on a daily – hourly – basis.
The book shifts, in its second half, to an intimate and lyrical document of depression and family life. It sounds out the complex and ambivalent terrain of early motherhood – its anxieties and claustrophobias as well as its gifts of tenderness and love – reclaiming the sanctuary of domestic private life, and the right to raise children in peace and safety.
Vertigo & Ghost is an important, necessary book, hugely impressive in its range and risk, and dramatic in its currency: a collection that speaks out with clarity, grace and bravery against the abuse of power.
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 T. S. ELIOT PRIZE**
‘Misogynistic violence, ancient myth and modern rage confront each other in moving and dynamic verse’ Financial Times
94 pages, Paperback
First published January 3, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
May 17, 2019
Benson’s impassioned collection of poetry draws on mythology to explore the perils of womanhood in a toxic masculine society. The first section places Zeus in the modern world, a serial abuser full of brazen self-importance. In these pieces, Benson fuses the personal with the historical to show how sex is weaponised, victims demonised, and oppressors excused. In the second section, the poet shifts her attention to motherhood, exploring the physical and mental strain of pregnancy, birth, and caring for a child. The themes of both sections coalesce in the closing pieces, in which Benson muses on the simmering panic of raising daughters in a world still unsafe for girls; the horror of modern warfare reflected in the war on women’s bodies and autonomy.
Benson’s use of imagery is bold and impactful. There is depth and nuance to explore in the language she employs, but the meaning behind her words always shines through with punch. As such, I think this is the kind of collection that has something to offer both relative newcomers and seasoned poetry readers alike. I, for one, will certainly be reading more of Benson’s work.
Benson’s use of imagery is bold and impactful. There is depth and nuance to explore in the language she employs, but the meaning behind her words always shines through with punch. As such, I think this is the kind of collection that has something to offer both relative newcomers and seasoned poetry readers alike. I, for one, will certainly be reading more of Benson’s work.
December 21, 2019
(4.5)
Many exceptionally powerful pieces here - including the best poem I've read in a while ('Fly'). Vertigo and Ghost is pretty unmissable for anyone even vaguely interested in contemporary poetry.
Beauty fails. Here's the aftermath--
Autumn's slump, all the berries summer
left on the thorn shriveled, and grown
a fur pelisse like tiny mice;
under the hedge, that smell of shit.
You chose this. Each walk is damp and slick.
And yes, there will be frost, its crisp white hoar's
bright diamond; but first, mucky skies
the sulks, the year's downturn as winter shuts
like a trap, its narrow light, and you are caught
by sadness. What would you do, would you fly
with the swallows, summer's Bedouins,
moving their tents between the constellations?
Get on your knees. Remember that you chose.
Many exceptionally powerful pieces here - including the best poem I've read in a while ('Fly'). Vertigo and Ghost is pretty unmissable for anyone even vaguely interested in contemporary poetry.
Beauty fails. Here's the aftermath--
Autumn's slump, all the berries summer
left on the thorn shriveled, and grown
a fur pelisse like tiny mice;
under the hedge, that smell of shit.
You chose this. Each walk is damp and slick.
And yes, there will be frost, its crisp white hoar's
bright diamond; but first, mucky skies
the sulks, the year's downturn as winter shuts
like a trap, its narrow light, and you are caught
by sadness. What would you do, would you fly
with the swallows, summer's Bedouins,
moving their tents between the constellations?
Get on your knees. Remember that you chose.
December 28, 2018
Vertigo & Ghost, by Fiona Benson, is the second full poetry collection from this multi-award winning poet. It is divided into two parts. The first is a sequence of poems featuring Zeus as a being who regards sex as his right, and women as objects existing to satisfy his often brutal urges. The second part explores motherhood and the challenges of birthing and and then keeping daughters safe in a world filled with multiple dangers. The themes explored are visceral, powerful, disturbing in their authenticity.
The collection opens with Ace of Bass which is, perhaps, the best depiction of young females on the cusp of becoming sexually active that I have ever read. It brings to the fore their natural desires inhibited by fear born of societal expectation. There is an innocence to the girls’ chatter about boys and music, their dreams of love as a follow-up to sexual satiation.
“and sex wasn’t there yet, but it was coming,
and we were running towards it,
its gorgeous euphoric mist”
This opener is all the more affecting given what comes next. Zeus the abuser, the rapist, the taker of young girls for his own warped and savage pleasure. He is caught and imprisoned but incarceration is temporary in a hat-tip to real life examples of the treatment of rapists.
“The judge delivers
that he is an exemplary member
of the swimming squad;
look at his muscular shoulders,
the way he forges through water;
as for the girl”
Zeus is the hunter and women the prey, yet the hounds are everywhere. The hares can run until they drop exhausted, tormented, broken. Zeus represents the worst of men who lust after pretty women, young girls, even babies. They feel entitled to sexual gratification, uncaring of damage inflicted on their disposable victims. And they are allowed to get away with it.
“I came to understand
rape is cultural,
pervasive;
that in this world
the woman is blamed.”
One of the most terrifying pieces suggested that, if there is life after death, women would remain powerless and abused, surviving in fear – that death may not bring the relief of an ending.
Part two has a very different feel although continues with dark themes. After a few introspective pieces, Haruspex turns a corner and the focus changes.
“my mind has been wrong
for a long long time.
Here is its fruit.
It is true,
I hear voices
and talk to myself.
I am done with shame.”
The author writes of a failed pregnancy and then a successful one leading to the birth of a second daughter, and the effects of motherhood on body and mind. Daughter Drowning is an excellent depiction of the changes inflicted on a previously born child.
“Now she’s trying to get me to look,
and I almost can’t do it, some weird switch flipped
that means I watch the new-born like a hawk
afraid she’ll forget to breathe, or her heart will stop
or she’ll choke on her own tongue if I look away,
even for a second. Meanwhile here’s the first-born
fighting for attention, as if it were oxygen
and she were drowning”
With Termite Queen the poems revert to wider issues facing women, now from a mother’s perspective.
Illness is explored alongside conflict, where women are powerless to protect their offspring.
In Hide and Seek the author muses on the game her daughters play, on how to keep them safe in a world of war and men.
“I don’t know who
I’m teaching you to hide from, but look
how eagerly you learn.”
The final poem in the collection, Eurofighter Typhoon, has the two daughters happily playing in their garden when a fighter jet flies overhead terrifying them both before they can be reached and hugged close by their mother.
“always some woman is running to catch up her children,
we dig them out of the rubble in parts like plastic dolls”
There is an empathy with those who suffer in war zones – their helplessness in the face of man’s selfish, greedy games.
This is a raging, powerful collection that pierces the armour we build to allow us to ignore what goes on in plain sight around the world. The voices are evocative and often painful. They demand and deserve to be heard.
The collection opens with Ace of Bass which is, perhaps, the best depiction of young females on the cusp of becoming sexually active that I have ever read. It brings to the fore their natural desires inhibited by fear born of societal expectation. There is an innocence to the girls’ chatter about boys and music, their dreams of love as a follow-up to sexual satiation.
“and sex wasn’t there yet, but it was coming,
and we were running towards it,
its gorgeous euphoric mist”
This opener is all the more affecting given what comes next. Zeus the abuser, the rapist, the taker of young girls for his own warped and savage pleasure. He is caught and imprisoned but incarceration is temporary in a hat-tip to real life examples of the treatment of rapists.
“The judge delivers
that he is an exemplary member
of the swimming squad;
look at his muscular shoulders,
the way he forges through water;
as for the girl”
Zeus is the hunter and women the prey, yet the hounds are everywhere. The hares can run until they drop exhausted, tormented, broken. Zeus represents the worst of men who lust after pretty women, young girls, even babies. They feel entitled to sexual gratification, uncaring of damage inflicted on their disposable victims. And they are allowed to get away with it.
“I came to understand
rape is cultural,
pervasive;
that in this world
the woman is blamed.”
One of the most terrifying pieces suggested that, if there is life after death, women would remain powerless and abused, surviving in fear – that death may not bring the relief of an ending.
Part two has a very different feel although continues with dark themes. After a few introspective pieces, Haruspex turns a corner and the focus changes.
“my mind has been wrong
for a long long time.
Here is its fruit.
It is true,
I hear voices
and talk to myself.
I am done with shame.”
The author writes of a failed pregnancy and then a successful one leading to the birth of a second daughter, and the effects of motherhood on body and mind. Daughter Drowning is an excellent depiction of the changes inflicted on a previously born child.
“Now she’s trying to get me to look,
and I almost can’t do it, some weird switch flipped
that means I watch the new-born like a hawk
afraid she’ll forget to breathe, or her heart will stop
or she’ll choke on her own tongue if I look away,
even for a second. Meanwhile here’s the first-born
fighting for attention, as if it were oxygen
and she were drowning”
With Termite Queen the poems revert to wider issues facing women, now from a mother’s perspective.
Illness is explored alongside conflict, where women are powerless to protect their offspring.
In Hide and Seek the author muses on the game her daughters play, on how to keep them safe in a world of war and men.
“I don’t know who
I’m teaching you to hide from, but look
how eagerly you learn.”
The final poem in the collection, Eurofighter Typhoon, has the two daughters happily playing in their garden when a fighter jet flies overhead terrifying them both before they can be reached and hugged close by their mother.
“always some woman is running to catch up her children,
we dig them out of the rubble in parts like plastic dolls”
There is an empathy with those who suffer in war zones – their helplessness in the face of man’s selfish, greedy games.
This is a raging, powerful collection that pierces the armour we build to allow us to ignore what goes on in plain sight around the world. The voices are evocative and often painful. They demand and deserve to be heard.
August 14, 2024
Rereading this in 2024, after my initial reading in 2019, shows how differently books can impact on me at different times. I'm surprised by reading my 2019 review to discover I was dismissive of the first section of the book, and that I only rated this three stars. Rereading it now, I was completely captivated by the intelligence, subtlety and emotional resonance of the both sections of the book. The first part deals with intimate partner violence through immediate and powerful statements of witness, alongside heartbreaking poems from the perspective of women raped by Zeus. I found all of them very effective, but I was particularly moved and heartbroken by the poem "Callisto", which explores the women-into-bear transformation following the birth of a baby that was the result of rape. The poems are visceral and startling, and Zeus's constant presence gives a sense of the ubiquity of rape and of men's power over women. Truly moving and groundbreaking work from one of the most important poets of our generation.
Review from 2019:
Winner of the 2019 Forward Prize, this is a bold and vivid collection. The first section delves into mythology by focusing on Zeus and his history as a serial rapist, ultimately ending with his imprisonment. Zeus speaks in italics and all-caps, giving his sections of the narrative a sense that he is shouting over everyone else and is impervious to the people he hurts. His voice consistently disrupts the flow of the poems and creates tension in the reader: a clever way of depicting his negative impact on the lives around him. Benson is interested in writing about rape as an endemic, consistently disruptive aspect of our society, and I applaud her for doing this. At times, however, I'd criticise for using the mythological device: it creates a distance, and makes rape feel unreal or allegorical, rather than a constant violence within society.
The second half of the book is a lot stronger: these poems are wider-ranging in their scope and contain a depth of emotion and passion that was missing from the first half. Benson writes about depression, about the physicality and fear of childbirth, about environmental destruction, motherhood, and daughters. I found her poems about birth particularly effective: she makes the reader profoundly aware of the physical impact of birth and the way our bodies work. She also writes tender, contemplative pieces about the body after it has given birth, and the way our animal natures respond to our children. Her work around depression is also subtle and moving; I was less convinced by her poems about motherhood in times of war, as these, like the Zeus poems, felt more allegorical, even though they were depicting real situations (e.g. mothers in Syria). Her poems are strongest when they focus on the internal experience, or aspects of the natural world. For me, this was an uneven collection with some real gems. She is clearly a skilled poet with a genuine passion for what she is saying.
Review from 2019:
Winner of the 2019 Forward Prize, this is a bold and vivid collection. The first section delves into mythology by focusing on Zeus and his history as a serial rapist, ultimately ending with his imprisonment. Zeus speaks in italics and all-caps, giving his sections of the narrative a sense that he is shouting over everyone else and is impervious to the people he hurts. His voice consistently disrupts the flow of the poems and creates tension in the reader: a clever way of depicting his negative impact on the lives around him. Benson is interested in writing about rape as an endemic, consistently disruptive aspect of our society, and I applaud her for doing this. At times, however, I'd criticise for using the mythological device: it creates a distance, and makes rape feel unreal or allegorical, rather than a constant violence within society.
The second half of the book is a lot stronger: these poems are wider-ranging in their scope and contain a depth of emotion and passion that was missing from the first half. Benson writes about depression, about the physicality and fear of childbirth, about environmental destruction, motherhood, and daughters. I found her poems about birth particularly effective: she makes the reader profoundly aware of the physical impact of birth and the way our bodies work. She also writes tender, contemplative pieces about the body after it has given birth, and the way our animal natures respond to our children. Her work around depression is also subtle and moving; I was less convinced by her poems about motherhood in times of war, as these, like the Zeus poems, felt more allegorical, even though they were depicting real situations (e.g. mothers in Syria). Her poems are strongest when they focus on the internal experience, or aspects of the natural world. For me, this was an uneven collection with some real gems. She is clearly a skilled poet with a genuine passion for what she is saying.
May 2, 2022
Beauty fails. Here's the aftermath.
Who let her do this why was this allowed
Who let her do this why was this allowed
January 27, 2019
Almost all of the poetry I had read up until now has been contemplative and meditative on landscape, life and other matters that have trouble the poet in question. Vertigo & Ghost is utterly different to anything I have read poetry-wise. Fiona Benson's new collection is divided into two parts, but before that begins with a poem called Ace of Bass. This concerns some girls on a tennis court who can feel the hormones coursing through themselves as they awaken sexually.
Hormones poured into me
Like an incredible chemical cocktail
The first part consists of 30 odd poems about Zeus. These are powerful, visceral prose that portrays him as a serial rapist, where woman are prey and sex is weaponised. The anger in these poems is quite something, but it is a response to the modern world where women are still subject to personal attacks on a daily basis.
The second half of the book is a much more personal reflection on her life, with poems on family, depression and the delights and fears of motherhood. It is a much slower pace unlike the first part that had a great sense of urgency to it,
For we are tracks in the dew
Vanishing at dawn,
We are mist, we are rain,
We are gone
This is not the easiest read for anyone who, like me, hasn't read much poetry, but these things need to be read. I really liked what they had done with the physical layout of the words for some of the poems, it added a certain amount of dynamics to the page that added to the fieriness of the prose. I much preferred the second half of the book to the first, but it is a book I will be keeping and will read again.
My three favourite poems were:
Wood Song
Almond Blossom
Blue Heron
Hormones poured into me
Like an incredible chemical cocktail
The first part consists of 30 odd poems about Zeus. These are powerful, visceral prose that portrays him as a serial rapist, where woman are prey and sex is weaponised. The anger in these poems is quite something, but it is a response to the modern world where women are still subject to personal attacks on a daily basis.
The second half of the book is a much more personal reflection on her life, with poems on family, depression and the delights and fears of motherhood. It is a much slower pace unlike the first part that had a great sense of urgency to it,
For we are tracks in the dew
Vanishing at dawn,
We are mist, we are rain,
We are gone
This is not the easiest read for anyone who, like me, hasn't read much poetry, but these things need to be read. I really liked what they had done with the physical layout of the words for some of the poems, it added a certain amount of dynamics to the page that added to the fieriness of the prose. I much preferred the second half of the book to the first, but it is a book I will be keeping and will read again.
My three favourite poems were:
Wood Song
Almond Blossom
Blue Heron
May 13, 2020
Cracking stuff this - the first half is a furious deadly explosion, had me gripped and queasy the whole way through, then what follows is the fallout, a long deep and mournful echo which at times looks like it might fade into something brighter, but in the end proves just as devastating as the bang. I did miss the formal experimentation in the second half - the unadorned free verse does fit the sober/somber tone, but also makes this part of the collection a little bit anticlimactic. I've never come across a book before that do decisively changes the speed you read it at - the whiplash from crashing into the mournful second half is in a weird way v exciting, but once this fades (esp with a few longer poems towards the end which all get at very similar things) the book's grip starts to loosen. But these are minor things, it's an incredibly potent and fearless collection and defo one I'd recommend!
November 21, 2019
The first half of this book contains some of my new favourite poems. The Zeus poems, particularly, are full of a justified rage and eloquence with it, and if I were to teach a poetry class, they'd be right on the course.
For me, the later poems about motherhood were competent but the overarching tone was mild worry within a bath of contentedness, which didn't appeal to me (so read that how you will - in this case my tastes are most definitely standing between me and enjoyment.)
Read this book for those first poems and their terrible fire.
For me, the later poems about motherhood were competent but the overarching tone was mild worry within a bath of contentedness, which didn't appeal to me (so read that how you will - in this case my tastes are most definitely standing between me and enjoyment.)
Read this book for those first poems and their terrible fire.
January 27, 2019
I really thought I was going to love these poems. The combination of social and political issues, in a framework of classical mythology, is exactly my sort of thing. Unfortunately, most of this collection fell flat for me, failing to trigger the emotional response that I look for from poetry. There were two that I particularly enjoyed, ‘Ace of Bass’ and ‘Dear Comrade of the Boarding House’, but the others were entirely forgettable.
January 12, 2019
Wow, wow, wow. What a stunning and intelligent sets of poems that speaks volumes! The first part of the book is urgent, riveting and evocative; second part of the book is moving, heartfelt and emotional. I really enjoyed it!
June 28, 2021
There are stylistic decisions in the first half reminiscent of tragedy plays, except that instead of a chorus, we get Zeus's rage and bluster intruding into witness accounts of various Greek figures. Zeus's voice is distinguished in all-caps, signifying his larger than life persona and the abrasive manner in which he excuses his wrongdoings. These are intriguing poems, no doubt, but the poems are only as accessible as your familiarity with Greek myth and minutiae. More questionable is whether the extended conceit of Greek myth aids the book's exploration of toxic masculinity/rape culture. While there are tempting ambiguities in Zeus's voice, his high-octane confidence belying immortal fascination with human nature ("I LIKE THAT MOMENT / OF EXTINGUISHMENT"), the nature of Zeus as the divine god on trial invites a disturbing parallel bargain with readers: does one equivocate divine immorality with man's nonchalance? Are readers led to excuse toxic masculinity because Zeus is indeed so proto-masculine, so removed from reality? Do we, rather than reject the behavior on display, simply acquiesce to it (for the wrong reasons)?
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), the collection swings away from this Greek trial and tragedy in its second half. While there are some commonalities between the two, the poems of the second half are more lyrical and less experimental. They also move away from examining masculinity to focus on childhood, motherhood, and depression. Overrall, the second half is finely crafted and not saddled with preconceptions of myth, and I see myself returning to poems like "Almond Blossom", "Love Poem, Lucca" and "Meningitis" in the future. It is evident that Benson knows her writing through these poems on display. Nevertheless, I do wonder about how the collection could have come together in another universe -- one where Benson commits to the Greek conceit and addresses those nigglingly loose thematic strands.
A book split by lightning, left with the unusual echoes of thunder. 4 stars.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), the collection swings away from this Greek trial and tragedy in its second half. While there are some commonalities between the two, the poems of the second half are more lyrical and less experimental. They also move away from examining masculinity to focus on childhood, motherhood, and depression. Overrall, the second half is finely crafted and not saddled with preconceptions of myth, and I see myself returning to poems like "Almond Blossom", "Love Poem, Lucca" and "Meningitis" in the future. It is evident that Benson knows her writing through these poems on display. Nevertheless, I do wonder about how the collection could have come together in another universe -- one where Benson commits to the Greek conceit and addresses those nigglingly loose thematic strands.
A book split by lightning, left with the unusual echoes of thunder. 4 stars.
May 10, 2020
Loved the merge of Greek myth and rape culture from the first half - puts a lot into perspective. The second half is also amazing, and heartbreaking. Incredible talent!
July 18, 2021
Absolutely brilliant. Made me rethink poetry.
August 3, 2023
“Beauty fails. Here's the aftermath.”
Vertigo & Ghost by Fiona Benson is a striking collection of poetry for our time. In the first half, Benson lights the pages afire with fury and indignation. These poems are violent and graphic because that is the world women still must face. She brings mythology, particularly that of the god of gods Zeus, into the modern world. Zeus was a serial abuser. He still is. He roams among us. The inability to escape him and his kind is suffocating. But as Benson also shows, these gods, so revered, are nothing more than pathetic bastards bulging out of their Speedos.
After the fire has raged and all that is left are the ashes, still shouldering, but a calmness has set it. Here we get a more introspective and lyrical set of poems around motherhood and the burdens both physically and mentally of bringing a child into a world of war and men.
“Spring broke out but my soul did not”
“For we are tracks in the dew
Vanishing at dawn,
We are mist, we are rain,
We are gone “
4.5*
Vertigo & Ghost by Fiona Benson is a striking collection of poetry for our time. In the first half, Benson lights the pages afire with fury and indignation. These poems are violent and graphic because that is the world women still must face. She brings mythology, particularly that of the god of gods Zeus, into the modern world. Zeus was a serial abuser. He still is. He roams among us. The inability to escape him and his kind is suffocating. But as Benson also shows, these gods, so revered, are nothing more than pathetic bastards bulging out of their Speedos.
After the fire has raged and all that is left are the ashes, still shouldering, but a calmness has set it. Here we get a more introspective and lyrical set of poems around motherhood and the burdens both physically and mentally of bringing a child into a world of war and men.
“Spring broke out but my soul did not”
“For we are tracks in the dew
Vanishing at dawn,
We are mist, we are rain,
We are gone “
4.5*
Read
July 9, 2022Some really really stunning poetry combining the power of Zeus and the uncertainty and confusion that comes with motherhood in a world stacked against you.
May 20, 2025
billing her for my therapy after this one
December 16, 2019
A very lopsided collection where I feel like the two halves have more of a connection on paper, in the blurb for the collection, than they do when you actually read them. As a result, it felt like two smaller collections nestled into one that don't really work. Even Benson's tone and style changes drastically, so does the pacing and the amount and strength of the emotional punches she's throwing.
I really enjoyed the first part and would give that one a 4, because there is no end to my anger at Greek mythology. Benson does a great job at unpacking them and showing that there isn't one single way of talking about rape and emotional and physical abuse of women in poetry, transporting Zeus into a more contemporary time frame. Part two, on the other hand, was a 2 by itself. It had a very sluggish start and I liked a few of the nature poems, but I found Benson's repetition and emphasis on the act of giving birth, to the point of writing a poem about the placenta, to be very difficult to stomach. Maybe one day, if I decide to become a mother, I'll be looking back at these poems and relating to them much more than I do now, when I still don't understand the fascination with all of the little things that children do.
"Ace of Bass" is an amazing poem and the perfect opening, but it's a sadly misleading beginning for the collection. "Vertigo & Ghost" is a patchwork collection that never quite reaches that same level of power and excitement as the opening poem. Yes, part one was powerful and made me feel a lot of visceral emotions, but I don't think I'll remember them as much as I'll remember my general, ongoing anger at Greek mythology and patriarchal society. And part two was slow and unmemorable to the point where I had to read some poems over a few times because my eyes just glazed over while reading them. I was hoping for more out of "Vertigo & Ghost" and am quite disappointed. I think Benson is a good poet - maybe it's just the content that didn't stick with me?
I really enjoyed the first part and would give that one a 4, because there is no end to my anger at Greek mythology. Benson does a great job at unpacking them and showing that there isn't one single way of talking about rape and emotional and physical abuse of women in poetry, transporting Zeus into a more contemporary time frame. Part two, on the other hand, was a 2 by itself. It had a very sluggish start and I liked a few of the nature poems, but I found Benson's repetition and emphasis on the act of giving birth, to the point of writing a poem about the placenta, to be very difficult to stomach. Maybe one day, if I decide to become a mother, I'll be looking back at these poems and relating to them much more than I do now, when I still don't understand the fascination with all of the little things that children do.
"Ace of Bass" is an amazing poem and the perfect opening, but it's a sadly misleading beginning for the collection. "Vertigo & Ghost" is a patchwork collection that never quite reaches that same level of power and excitement as the opening poem. Yes, part one was powerful and made me feel a lot of visceral emotions, but I don't think I'll remember them as much as I'll remember my general, ongoing anger at Greek mythology and patriarchal society. And part two was slow and unmemorable to the point where I had to read some poems over a few times because my eyes just glazed over while reading them. I was hoping for more out of "Vertigo & Ghost" and am quite disappointed. I think Benson is a good poet - maybe it's just the content that didn't stick with me?
December 30, 2022
the reworking we all needed. dry comment to say i love and appreciate more than i can say!!!!! INCREDIBLY BRILLIANT!!! INCREDIBLY EXCRUCIATING!!! INCREDIBLY GRAPHIC!!! incredibly perfect to channel own rage & things, intellectual aside.
am missing other perspectives than 'protectiveness etc' on the foetus-aftermath situation though. maybe i'm just on a very different personal/ political stance about that but o well.
am missing other perspectives than 'protectiveness etc' on the foetus-aftermath situation though. maybe i'm just on a very different personal/ political stance about that but o well.
December 2, 2022
mixed feelings on this one: while i loved some of the poems, lots of them just didn’t hit, particularly in the first half which was centred on zeus and greek mythology but for me, completely fell flat
November 10, 2024
Thanks go to Jemima on this one. Felt deeply moved, quite shaken by the poems about depression and nature in Part 2 of the collection. Special mention, for it almost made me cry: ECTOPIC/YELLOW SEAHORSE.
*
“and we talked about who'd done what with whom
and how it felt, all of us quickening,
and sex wasn't here yet, but it was coming,
and we were running towards it,
its gorgeous euphoric mist;”
p.1
“She's dancing
on the tight leash of his attention,
like a little yellow vixen
caught by her throat in a snare,
writhing like a flame of pale yellow fire -
she'll break her mouth
trying to chew through
that ferrous loop of love and sorrow -“
p.38
“Beauty fails. Here's the aftermath -
Autumn's slump, all the berries summer
left on the thorn shrivelled, and grown
a fur pelisse like tiny mice;
under the hedge, that smell of shit.
You chose this. Each walk is damp and slick.
And yes, there will be frost, its crisp white hoar's
bright diamond; but first, mucky skies
the sulks, the year's downturn as winter shuts
like a trap, its narrow light, and you are caught
by sadness. What would you do, would you fly
with the swallows, summer's Bedouins,
moving their tents between the constellations?
Get on your knees. Remember that you chose.”
p.48
“you chose all this, you chose to immerse yourself
in green, to go where people rarely come,
its yours, you rich and shivering hedge-tramp, Queen.”
p.48
“the blue heron doesn't move
though you pass almost close enough to touch;
he's bound in his blood
to the slow, hunched river-work of grief”
p.59
“Dusk at the hedge and the doe
inches out of her nest.
Her horseshoe womb is a sharp new moon,
seven kits are ripening in seven rooms
The buck's lean meat
with its dark placental taste of roots,
is iron on the tongue,
a quick thing gone, beginning.”
pp.61-2
*
“and we talked about who'd done what with whom
and how it felt, all of us quickening,
and sex wasn't here yet, but it was coming,
and we were running towards it,
its gorgeous euphoric mist;”
p.1
“She's dancing
on the tight leash of his attention,
like a little yellow vixen
caught by her throat in a snare,
writhing like a flame of pale yellow fire -
she'll break her mouth
trying to chew through
that ferrous loop of love and sorrow -“
p.38
“Beauty fails. Here's the aftermath -
Autumn's slump, all the berries summer
left on the thorn shrivelled, and grown
a fur pelisse like tiny mice;
under the hedge, that smell of shit.
You chose this. Each walk is damp and slick.
And yes, there will be frost, its crisp white hoar's
bright diamond; but first, mucky skies
the sulks, the year's downturn as winter shuts
like a trap, its narrow light, and you are caught
by sadness. What would you do, would you fly
with the swallows, summer's Bedouins,
moving their tents between the constellations?
Get on your knees. Remember that you chose.”
p.48
“you chose all this, you chose to immerse yourself
in green, to go where people rarely come,
its yours, you rich and shivering hedge-tramp, Queen.”
p.48
“the blue heron doesn't move
though you pass almost close enough to touch;
he's bound in his blood
to the slow, hunched river-work of grief”
p.59
“Dusk at the hedge and the doe
inches out of her nest.
Her horseshoe womb is a sharp new moon,
seven kits are ripening in seven rooms
The buck's lean meat
with its dark placental taste of roots,
is iron on the tongue,
a quick thing gone, beginning.”
pp.61-2
May 26, 2021
I really should stop trying to read an entire poetry collection in one day but here we are, not learning, not growing.
To summarise how I feel, I think there's value in re-reading this collection, as the more I read it, the more the pieces began to fit together.
I deeply prefer the first half simply for the themes it covers and I like the comparisons between mythology and present day, as well as the use of Zeus as both a real person and an archetype for male violence.
The second half was only somewhat relatable to me as a teenager - I have no experience with childbirth or children, but I liked the healing elements that really struck cords with me.
I don't feel as though I would go and and recommend buying it, nor would I buy it full price, but for the way I got my hands on it, I would say it was enjoyable.
Poems I liked in no particular order:
Part one:
* [Zeus: anatomical dolls]
* [Forensics]
* [not-Zeus: Medusa 2]
* [not-Zeus: Medusa 3]
* [Screenplay]
* [Daughter of Zeus: Pallas Athena]
* [Votive]
Part Two:
* Marcela Sonnets 3&4
* Fly
* Beatitude (ah! Bright wings!)
* Ruins
* Hide and Seek
To summarise how I feel, I think there's value in re-reading this collection, as the more I read it, the more the pieces began to fit together.
I deeply prefer the first half simply for the themes it covers and I like the comparisons between mythology and present day, as well as the use of Zeus as both a real person and an archetype for male violence.
The second half was only somewhat relatable to me as a teenager - I have no experience with childbirth or children, but I liked the healing elements that really struck cords with me.
I don't feel as though I would go and and recommend buying it, nor would I buy it full price, but for the way I got my hands on it, I would say it was enjoyable.
Poems I liked in no particular order:
Part one:
* [Zeus: anatomical dolls]
* [Forensics]
* [not-Zeus: Medusa 2]
* [not-Zeus: Medusa 3]
* [Screenplay]
* [Daughter of Zeus: Pallas Athena]
* [Votive]
Part Two:
* Marcela Sonnets 3&4
* Fly
* Beatitude (ah! Bright wings!)
* Ruins
* Hide and Seek
September 18, 2024
Billy recommendation 1. Ectopic / Yellow Seahorse rocked my world and made me cry. 'like a rare fish grown in a city drainpipe' with 'tiny, scripted architecture' and a 'fluted snout', 'the ornate slipknot of your tail'. So did the whole of part II. Loved Benson being carried by the river 'a compass to the currents', and the description of the fat toad with its 'beaded, bitter skin' and 'toxic braille', 'dead but for the bubble at her throat'. The moon is a thin rind that grows back 'luminous and full ... as if a whole orange grew from a slice of peel'. The butcher back at his shop 'eases each corpse out of its coat like a lover' the 'oatmeal-coloured buck'. Cells are 'gluey tapioca'; Benson births 'some fierce, Taurean star spoked at the rim, thorned like the sun'. It emerges 'a 'slick little wildebeest', a 'half-born calf unfolding like sharp origami'. There is a 'wind-pruned beech' in the village, 'each dipped illuminated leaf twisting', and lanes are 'thoroughfare to the immortal geometries of flies, scribbling their pentagrams and signs invisibly on air'.
Finished it a few days ago but don't want to lose the book or lose the words. Want to reread forever
Finished it a few days ago but don't want to lose the book or lose the words. Want to reread forever
October 12, 2019
Benson is a rare and potent talent. Her collection, divided into two opposing parts, is visceral, powerful and disturbing.
In the first part, the mythical elements bare resemblance to the works of Robin Robertson in his book Sailing the Forest. Both poets push the boundaries of conventional writing, drawing upon the power of nature seeped in mythology to capture their messages and thematic stances. Portraying the Greek God Zeus as a serial rapist, Benson’s poems and poetic fragments are jagged, staccato and jerky, making it quite a thrilling yet also sickening experience.
In the second part, she moves from nature to humanity, via the animalistic act of childbirth - it’s quite out of this world. She almost talks as if she’s trapped in a void, focusing on damage done, consequences and ruin. Yet, you also hear a lyrical love song with the idea of breaking through to some kind of other heaven.
This book was immediately memorable, bold and extraordinarily moving. Probably the most unsettling collection of poetry I have ever read.
In the first part, the mythical elements bare resemblance to the works of Robin Robertson in his book Sailing the Forest. Both poets push the boundaries of conventional writing, drawing upon the power of nature seeped in mythology to capture their messages and thematic stances. Portraying the Greek God Zeus as a serial rapist, Benson’s poems and poetic fragments are jagged, staccato and jerky, making it quite a thrilling yet also sickening experience.
In the second part, she moves from nature to humanity, via the animalistic act of childbirth - it’s quite out of this world. She almost talks as if she’s trapped in a void, focusing on damage done, consequences and ruin. Yet, you also hear a lyrical love song with the idea of breaking through to some kind of other heaven.
This book was immediately memorable, bold and extraordinarily moving. Probably the most unsettling collection of poetry I have ever read.
July 2, 2021
The first half of Fiona Benson's second collection of poems draws on Greek mythology to talk about violence committed by men against women. Zeus - unshackled from time and appearing in speedos on the beach; behind the glass in a prison; on the concourse at Marylebone station - becomes a symbol of this violence, a despicable Everyman. He is a predator and a bonehead, screaming from the page in all caps. The sequence is ambitious in form and uncompromising in intent, propelled by justifiable rage.
The second half is more personal, with Fiona Benson talking about her daughters and her husband and, vividly, about depression: personal, but equally ambitious, equally daring, strengthened by moments of genuine sweetness ('In the Milk Days of Your Sister' is lovely).
All of these themes come together near the end of the book with 'Hide and Seek', a poem which stopped me in my tracks. Seek it out.
The second half is more personal, with Fiona Benson talking about her daughters and her husband and, vividly, about depression: personal, but equally ambitious, equally daring, strengthened by moments of genuine sweetness ('In the Milk Days of Your Sister' is lovely).
All of these themes come together near the end of the book with 'Hide and Seek', a poem which stopped me in my tracks. Seek it out.
October 21, 2025
so so so good omg every single one of these poems felt like being stabbed but pleasantly like by a very sharp but lovely blade of crystal
the entire saga here in the first half where she uses zeus to work through her feelings about her SA really blew me away especially with how the form shifts to accommodate her changes in thought as she tries to wrap her head around it all omgggg just so good and haunting
my other favorites:
- ace of bass
- dear comrade of the boarding house
- wildebeest
- in the milk days of your sister
- eurofighter typhoon
the entire saga here in the first half where she uses zeus to work through her feelings about her SA really blew me away especially with how the form shifts to accommodate her changes in thought as she tries to wrap her head around it all omgggg just so good and haunting
my other favorites:
- ace of bass
- dear comrade of the boarding house
- wildebeest
- in the milk days of your sister
- eurofighter typhoon
August 1, 2021
Whew, this shit is sad. The first part illustrates the parallels between rape in Greek mythology and rape culture today and the second part is like straight up depression and motherhood. Very good, but it is a downer.
March 1, 2024
“when each day is a cold stone
you must push,
and there is no jewel.
Still you persist.
Spring could be
a sunlit, green,
effervescent swim
through weed
and spawn.
Perhaps this is only
purgatory, sister,
and beyond it, bliss.”
you must push,
and there is no jewel.
Still you persist.
Spring could be
a sunlit, green,
effervescent swim
through weed
and spawn.
Perhaps this is only
purgatory, sister,
and beyond it, bliss.”
June 10, 2023
The second section of this collection isn’t as striking, but the first is good beyond words- an absolute gut punch that’s perfectly executed.
December 29, 2018
The first part of this collection is an intelligent, hard hitting examination of rape culture through the lens of mythology, particularly the figure of Zeus who is the physical embodiment of that culture, and the way in which the system fails and abuses women and young girls. Many of the poems were gut-wrenching, the language violent and barbed, blending ancient mythology with modern day issues (e.g. cases such as Brock Turner are referenced, as well as Trump himself).
The second half is a look at women and nature, both reclaimed from 'Zeus', who abused both (Zeus disguised himself as animals, most famously a bull and a white swan), and discusses depression, the violence and grief that resides within nature, and women's relationship with motherhood and what it does to their bodies/minds.
Initially, the shift was jarring. I loved dissecting and analysing the first half--and then the tone drastically shifted, and it became more of an experience for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the first part but the second part meant more to me and impacted me the most. The final poem (Eurofighter Typhoon) especially moved me, and made this collection a firm favourite.
Favourite Poems*
Ace of Bass
[transformation: Daphne]
[transformation: Callisto]
[translation from the annals: Ganymede]
Marcela Sonnets 3 & 4
Blue Heron
Song for the Rabbit Man
Ruins
Meningitis
Heavenly Bodies
Hide and Seek
Eurofighter Typhoon
*As you can see, I loved this collection a lot
The second half is a look at women and nature, both reclaimed from 'Zeus', who abused both (Zeus disguised himself as animals, most famously a bull and a white swan), and discusses depression, the violence and grief that resides within nature, and women's relationship with motherhood and what it does to their bodies/minds.
Initially, the shift was jarring. I loved dissecting and analysing the first half--and then the tone drastically shifted, and it became more of an experience for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the first part but the second part meant more to me and impacted me the most. The final poem (Eurofighter Typhoon) especially moved me, and made this collection a firm favourite.
Favourite Poems*
Ace of Bass
[transformation: Daphne]
[transformation: Callisto]
[translation from the annals: Ganymede]
Marcela Sonnets 3 & 4
Blue Heron
Song for the Rabbit Man
Ruins
Meningitis
Heavenly Bodies
Hide and Seek
Eurofighter Typhoon
*As you can see, I loved this collection a lot
February 9, 2020
I find poetry hard, but particularly like part one of this collection.
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