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Scarecrone
Poetry. Melissa Broder deepens the explorations of hunger and mystery and laughter that she began in Meat Heart (Publishing Genius Press, 2012). The poems in Scarecrone are consumed by universal questions, directed unapologetically back to the universe. The poet didn't ask to exist, but since she's here, she's not taking anything for granted.
93 pages, ebook
First published February 25, 2014
About the author
Melissa Broder
24 books6,473 followersMelissa Broder is the author of the novels DEATH VALLEY, MILK FED and THE PISCES, the essay collection SO SAD TODAY, and five collections of poems including SUPERDOOM: Selected Poems and LAST SEXT.
Her books have been translated in over ten languages.
She lives in Los Angeles.
www.melissabroder.com
Her books have been translated in over ten languages.
She lives in Los Angeles.
www.melissabroder.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
April 15, 2014
There's something really contrary about these poems. They're completely selfish, but incredibly giving and generous; they're hopeless but find a way to see hope; they are godless but filled with "god"; they are scary but comforting; they tell you you're on your own but are nurturing; they will rip your heart out but love you as well as--if not better than--anyone else; they want nothing and they want it all. Your "soft dick" is shit to them, "holy shit;" they will help "your softshitdick / reach a miracle dimension."
This, for me, makes it very easy to conflate the speaker with the poet. But that's part of what's so amazing about them. Like life itself, you can't tell where the fiction ends and the reality begins (or vice versa). It's like that thing Whitman said, except updated: "this is no book;/ Who touches this touches a [woman]."
Wait. That sounded kinda rapey. Sorry. What I mean is, read this book. It will be good to you. It will fuck with your head. It will "make your heart loud." Shit don't get any realer than that.
This, for me, makes it very easy to conflate the speaker with the poet. But that's part of what's so amazing about them. Like life itself, you can't tell where the fiction ends and the reality begins (or vice versa). It's like that thing Whitman said, except updated: "this is no book;/ Who touches this touches a [woman]."
Wait. That sounded kinda rapey. Sorry. What I mean is, read this book. It will be good to you. It will fuck with your head. It will "make your heart loud." Shit don't get any realer than that.
February 23, 2014
I loved the sounds and cadence of these poems. Lots of interesting, raw imagery. Very inscrutable but engaging nonetheless.
February 11, 2014
Melissa Broder changes your world by showing you hers.
February 23, 2014
When I read Broder's new book, I tried to stay curious: what she does here is not so different than what my undergrads do, which is to write seriously internal, inscrutable but still emotional statements, one per line, where the intent seems to be to be dramatic more than poetic, to get something out there instead of to craft much of anything. But when Broder does it, it's awesome, exciting and strange, even though there's not, often, the kind of thing I look for from poetry. There's imagery, sure, but it's the imagery of verbal dynamite, more flash than insight, and not much else.
Maybe it's because it's so gonzo that Broder works, her decision to shock not only with sexual references (lots of poems here about filling her holes, more than a few about blow jobs) but also with just outside-the-box weirdness, like the eskimos who jump in later in the book. Kind of like she should be a character in Anchorman 3, Ron Burgundy's sister or something.
A visceral, often shocking but pretty awesome book of poems. Again.
Maybe it's because it's so gonzo that Broder works, her decision to shock not only with sexual references (lots of poems here about filling her holes, more than a few about blow jobs) but also with just outside-the-box weirdness, like the eskimos who jump in later in the book. Kind of like she should be a character in Anchorman 3, Ron Burgundy's sister or something.
A visceral, often shocking but pretty awesome book of poems. Again.
June 11, 2014
There’s a weird brand of inner loathing mashed with inner haunting lurking here, but what I like best about Broder, oddly, is her morality. As coal-black as her imagery gets, and as overriding as the sadness in her ongoing personal desolation might be there is an unrelenting sense that there’s a reason for it. That humans, perhaps, carry hell because they are hell, and that really the self is just a vessel toward something no one really has a name for.
That Broder wields this, and isn’t just pumping out poems full of wry cartoon loathing and social exuberance, shifts the center of the book not onto the self but onto something larger, undefined. I don’t know what a book is if not a latch to elsewhere, and Scarecrone has pressed its skull against the hidden door. It is neither drunk nor ecstatic to be here-it is a state unto itself.
That Broder wields this, and isn’t just pumping out poems full of wry cartoon loathing and social exuberance, shifts the center of the book not onto the self but onto something larger, undefined. I don’t know what a book is if not a latch to elsewhere, and Scarecrone has pressed its skull against the hidden door. It is neither drunk nor ecstatic to be here-it is a state unto itself.
July 29, 2015
“Nobody believes you when you say you are bad”
I’m crazy about this book – I want to swallow this book and never let it leave my body. I want to send this book to every living person I know (but I cannot afford that). I would sell my house for this book – if the house was in my name alone and I didn’t have a child who depended me – I would even burn down my house. I could live inside this book but I don’t want to because it makes me so crazy. I’ve lost my head over this book – it has ruined all other books for me because now all other books must measure up to this book (and I’m not kidding about that). If you are reading another book STOP and read this book. (I’m not kidding about that either.) I'm in LOVE with this book. I now must go forth and read Broder's other books.
I’m crazy about this book – I want to swallow this book and never let it leave my body. I want to send this book to every living person I know (but I cannot afford that). I would sell my house for this book – if the house was in my name alone and I didn’t have a child who depended me – I would even burn down my house. I could live inside this book but I don’t want to because it makes me so crazy. I’ve lost my head over this book – it has ruined all other books for me because now all other books must measure up to this book (and I’m not kidding about that). If you are reading another book STOP and read this book. (I’m not kidding about that either.) I'm in LOVE with this book. I now must go forth and read Broder's other books.
October 24, 2016
I was baffled by Melissa Broder's book of essays - indulgent, juvenile and attention-seeking in the extreme. So put off by it I needed more...weird, right? I had to find out if her poetry was as bad. It's worse. Should have read this first, would have saved me the time spend on the essays. Here's a tip for you Melissa - find a way to rhyme: inscrutable doggerel. Then you could define your poetry's key strengths/weaknesses in a poem of your own.
June 30, 2014
It's like the third album of an indie rock band, but they decided to record a metal album. "I bang/my forehead/on a thing/then go oops." Also: "Dark piano enters as ode/to maggots. Maggots/rise with streamers/to my skull."
January 30, 2018
I’m so in love with this book. I was actually surprised how good it was. I loved the way of writing SO MUCH. It was somewhat cynical and selfish, but it didn’t stop me for falling for this book even more. I would highlight my favorite parts, then I gave up because all the lines that came after were just too fucking good. This was a good recovery from the last horrendous poetry book I read. THIS IS REAL POETRY AND IT DESERVES MORE RECOGNITION. A new favorite for 2018.
May 6, 2015
The third book I've read by Melissa Broder and my favorite so far. It has a little more weight/heft to it than her earlier work, for me. I like all three, but this one feels like it goes deeper and has more resonance.
February 26, 2014
Terrific stuff: surreal and visceral and abounding with irreverent religious imagery.
June 24, 2014
"Dark piano enters as ode/ to maggots. Maggots/ rise with streamers/ to my skull."
April 23, 2020
A perfect book of poetry, combining the sacred and the profane until the reader simultaneously transcends and drowns in both.
March 16, 2024
I don't know if I totally understand poetry but I think I liked this
Read
July 26, 2024i’m extremely tired writing this after a very long work day but all i can say is… she ate
May 1, 2025
broders style is extremely grating to me until it’s extremely resonate for all of about two seconds
February 17, 2016
"dark and slimy charms"
"I have wanted many unfair things"
"I have a pretty mouth meet me at the black clock"
"I tried/I'm tired"
"I waver because you shouldn't just fill one space with the unclarity of another"
"There is no need to be pink when another woman is already pink"
"dead meat"
"So boring boring and full of black instruments."
"I want bodies packed around my body. A layer is missing."
"Moonlight mushrooms"
"I can't even make new language for it. I am tired of want so I use old language. Old language is old and mine to use."
"Do you want to have dinner? We can eat in a hallway or in the cigarette bed."
"I say the body is a coat. It is a very dark and heavy coat but worthless."
"I have wanted many unfair things"
"I have a pretty mouth meet me at the black clock"
"I tried/I'm tired"
"I waver because you shouldn't just fill one space with the unclarity of another"
"There is no need to be pink when another woman is already pink"
"dead meat"
"So boring boring and full of black instruments."
"I want bodies packed around my body. A layer is missing."
"Moonlight mushrooms"
"I can't even make new language for it. I am tired of want so I use old language. Old language is old and mine to use."
"Do you want to have dinner? We can eat in a hallway or in the cigarette bed."
"I say the body is a coat. It is a very dark and heavy coat but worthless."
Read
May 12, 2025Well, I'm not sure Melissa Broder's poetry and I will ever become friends…
I liked this better than "When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother" and I especially enjoyed the beginning but thought it went down from there.
I only recommend this if you enjoyed The Pisces or So Sad Today, otherwise I don't think you would get along with this one.
My favorite Poems:
-Satisfy the Desolate
-Power Nothing
-The Nature of Concerns
-Transcendental Critique
-Ultimate Giver
I liked this better than "When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother" and I especially enjoyed the beginning but thought it went down from there.
I only recommend this if you enjoyed The Pisces or So Sad Today, otherwise I don't think you would get along with this one.
My favorite Poems:
-Satisfy the Desolate
-Power Nothing
-The Nature of Concerns
-Transcendental Critique
-Ultimate Giver
March 16, 2014
Melissa Broder on existence.
Bodies make everything complicated.
What is the point of a body.
From "Satisfy the Desolate:"
What is most unfair
is that they Earth is still okay
with me being here
I think, and even
encourages it.
Hello ocean
you have asked me
not to die, but I swim
in neon pools
that are happy
to kill me.
Bodies make everything complicated.
What is the point of a body.
From "Satisfy the Desolate:"
What is most unfair
is that they Earth is still okay
with me being here
I think, and even
encourages it.
Hello ocean
you have asked me
not to die, but I swim
in neon pools
that are happy
to kill me.
October 14, 2014
Poetry that always seemed to propel me onward through the book, I felt like I really wanted to read the whole thing in one sitting. Every poem seemed to be internal, focused on thoughts and inspirations of the subject (the author?). Lots of really good poems in here. Right up there among my favorite poetry books that I've read.
May 10, 2024
Probably my all time favorite book of poems.
September 22, 2014
I liked this book but I docked it a star for not being quite as amazing as Broder's Twitter.
August 20, 2014
Id still cut 12 poems you dork
January 26, 2016
I already knew how it felt to be alive and sad and angry. Now I know how it sounds. It sounds like Scarecrone and it feels kind of good to feel kind of sad.
June 28, 2016
sassy, smart, very special
July 10, 2014
One of my two favorite poetry books 2014.
June 22, 2016
Great harsh imagery and motifs. I suspect I will get more from this some other time in life.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews