Head Girl

by Freya Daly Sadgrove

'The first time I read Freya’s work I thought . . . uh oh. And then I thought, you have got to be kidding me. And then I thought, God fucking dammit. And then I walked around the house shaking my head thinking . . . OK – alright. And then – finally – I thought, well well well – like a smug policeman. Listen – she’s just the best. I’m going to say this so seriously. She is, unfortunately, the absolute best. Trying to write a clever blurb for her feels like an insult to how right and true and deadly this collection is. God, she’s just so good. She’s the best. She kills me always, every time, and forever.’ —Hera Lindsay Bird

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2020

Reviews

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

freya is a genius

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m new to, like, poetry collections? as opposed to just individual poems, but I heard Freya Daly Sadgrove read one of the poems from this book on the Auckland Writers Festival podcast (it was AAAHH!!! REAL DEPRESSION) and it was so clever and funny and I enjoyed the rest of her talk so much that I impulsively bought this. No regrets! I had to, as one of the other reviewers has suggested, dip in and out of it a few times rather than reading it all at once, because while the poet’s voice is hilarious throughout it’s also a lot, and there’s some intense subject matter here. There were one or two poems I didn’t really get, or didn’t connect with as well as the rest. But I loved it. Funny, sly, gut wrenching writing. I kept a little list of my faves as I was reading but the last one, Turducken, is the one that’s really going to stick with me.

[Lauren]

twenty-somethings are just deformed teenagers with rent to pay
old people aren't wise they've just got more context

Frenetic and funny, reactions and stream of consciousness interior monologues. Some parts made me laugh and others shocked. Doesn't hold a single thing back!

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiwis rly do poetry right

[Carolyn DeCarlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to begin by saying Freya Daly Sadgrove is an incredible poet, performer, person, and friend. She is emotional in a way that is rare, she can be disgusting but also sexy, she is loyal and she gets shit done. This is her first book and I back it 100%. I love to see her read, I love the group of poets she's put together called Show Ponies, and I just think she's tremendous. Holding a copy of Head Girl in my hands makes me feel giddy. Freya has a way of making everyone feel special and as though they're in on a secret with her, even when they're totally not. This is an incredible gift from someone who is not always well herself. Freya's poems are personal but cheeky, much like the poet. It is so exciting to see these poems together on the page, after hearing her perform them for years. Yet, reading Head Girl didn't quite give me the fully three dimensional sense of Freya I expected, as a poet or a person. The book contains the building blocks for a developed poet with their own style and sensibility - but there is an appreciable lack of diversity between the poems. And after a while, I found the negative tone weighs on the reader. Perhaps this is a collection for dipping in and out of rather than reading cover to cover as I did. But having read this and Freya's early poetry, I did wish some of those sweeter, more naive tones might make a reappearance here in moderation. Freya has her own voice and she is using it here, I just wondered if this is its full capacity at present and whether in the future we might get a collection where her dark humor plays alongside other facets of her personality that this collection missed. That said, it all boils down to two things: Freya is brilliant and I want more.

[Tama · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first time I’ve read a poetry collection from front to back. These poems are easy to read while still saying something. The something is more or less the consistent voice of the collection - self-deprecating youth kinda deal. Not sure what to say about the books division into three parts but I followed them by reading in three sittings over three days. The first third was the best, a genuinely harrowing half an hour, thanks for that.

I didn’t like the three poems from p45-47, and “Like Donkey Kong” in ‘Loser’ annoyed me. The last third was a little more iffy overall but nothing smelt bad.

This will stay in my bookshelf for good.

Buy book! Buy wellingtonian books!

I send a proper big f-word to Allen Ginsberg for being annoying, and unlike this.

[ursula · Rating 5 out of 5]

look,

[Juliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

“it’s not like no one’s ever referred to their dick as vitamin D before / but it worked embarrassingly well on me / like mmm yeah alleviate my depression baby / give me that simple solution”, writes Freya Daly Sadgrove in ‘One Less Place I Can Put My Dick Into’, a brilliant and brilliantly titled poem from her ingenious debut collection of poetry, Head Girl. Not since Hera Lindsay Bird’s debut have I had to take multiple breathing breaks in each poem, but Daly Sadgrove’s humour ruins me, and her clever, stealthy, emotional insights had me gasping, raging, raving. Plumbing the disgusting beautiful depths of interpersonal relationships, love, nostalgia and coming of age, Daly Sadgrove unearths new soil in familiar territory, idiosyncratic flourishes and slights defining her singular style. “Death is a pervert / but I’m a pervert too”, she remarks in ‘Wide Garden’, and two stanzas later, “the other day I passed a lady driving a van / she was pulled up at a red light and she was just screaming / she was just screaming and screaming”; somehow Daly Sadgrove is constantly reaching out to the most extreme parts of your emotional state, stoking fires with her boldness, then comforting with her wry humanity.

[ns510reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

”I swear I do enjoy my life I do dig / my sentience / I enjoy.......spending time / and I am trying to tell myself there are some things / that are worth some....thing / such as a prize / can I have a prize / I’m serious can I have a prize”

This collection! All the rawness of navigating life and love and relationships, depression and suicidal thoughts. It’s loud in an interior sort of way, and casual in an idgaf sort of way, until you come across a killer line or three that just devastates. Breath-hitching and stops you in your tracks kinda killer. But also hilarious! And poignant. And there’s the Backstreet Boys, which to me is high school all over. Then there’s that title, which to me perfectly captures all of the above.

Let Hera Lindsay Bird convince you: ”Listen - she’s just the best. I’m going to say this so seriously. She is, unfortunately, the absolute best. Trying to write a clever blurb for her feels like an insult to how right and true and deadly this collection is. God, she’s just so good. She’s the best. She kills me always, every time, and forever.”

[Nara · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I want to be loved by someone who is doing it
purely to fulfil a self-destructive impulse "

The style is very stream-of-consciousness, kinda quirky, with an unfiltered and very personal vibe.
For me, it was a bit hit-and-miss, though I think I would have liked it a lot more when I was a bit younger.
Some of the poems I liked were Human Evolution, Thin Air, Timeless Classic Of Children's Literature, Pack My Ass Full Of Weed, Light It And Smoke It Trough My Mouth and Heron.

[James Daly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gold stars on the back cover are actually made of gold. I sold them to buy a new liver after I developed alcoholism from reading this. If a crazy cat lady developed clairvoyant powers, she would have written this book. It's ugly hilarious, I felt bad sputtering coffee over all of its pages from laughing too hard.
Awesome poems, a really good read. Didn't stop me from selling my new liver to buy more booze with.

[Janaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not everyone can be so joyous to watch on stage they single-handedly convince you improv is cool and in turn you join an improv company. Freya is that. I love her poetry, it feels so personal, like reading a diary, like a little bit forbidden almost to read. I don’t know heaps about poetry, but I do know that I loved this book. My personal fav is ‘Georgie Porgie.’

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not contributing to my round the world read challenge but man I have been on the waiting list for this book since March 2020 and I wasn’t passing the opportunity to read it .

Amazing collection of poems
“Your bones arnt impressive, they’re just arranged that way” - I need this on a t-shirt

[Ella Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book of poems last year and sent it to a friend from WGC to read (who loved it ) and then promptly forgot about it. What a joy it was to spot it on my bookshelf and get stuck in. I LOVED it, some very funny and sad and beautiful poetry. And some wonderful Karori vibes. Freya is one of the coolest people I know. Go buy this book!

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some amazing stuff here - and here's a wee best-line spoiler, "I have this folder in my computer/of selfies I took just before I overdosed/I think they're cool but I never get to show anyone". That line has stayed with me for days.

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first ever poetry collection experience and boy was it a goo one. Every poem I related so deeply to that I was reading through tears the entire time. Freya connects to my very soul wit every line and I will continue to pick this up whenever I need a moment with my feelings.

[Tobias Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this. Funny, sad and impossibly true. I was immediately in awe and a little bit jealous of the talent, taking something like poetry which is so intimidating and making it fresh and new and relevent and not self-indulgent. I might read this every year.

[Dorothy Dentata · Rating 5 out of 5]

She's fucking talented and every third poem hit me right in my gut, but every second poem made me laugh out loud.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Freya. So talented. All of these poems make me want to hug her more and harder than I already wanted to. Such a sweetheart.

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expansive, weird, sad and funny - this book is in a world of its own.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Hilarious. I'm going to go read it again.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Ellie]

I don’t know how to read or review poetry but this seemed clever.

[Aria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This reads like a novel. So good I felt like this book ate into the bits of my brain I never want to voice out loud.

[Jordan Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

She's so fucking funny and smart with her words<33

[Charlie Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s kinda like the chaotic ramblings of Bukowski meets the witty hot-girl energy of Fern Brady.
I mean this as the highest possible compliment - I absolutely LOVED this book.

[Daphne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like a kiwi Frances Ha who's learnt from the mistakes that Lang leav made.

There's a particular subcategory of contemporary poetry that deals with modern day living that's very...distinct. being extremely self-aware and consequently weaponising it to prick at the self aware reader, but defusing it in the same vein with humour. The use of colloquialisms, stream of consciousness word association, everyday scenes and objects, a certain...disjunct between the poet and the words they put on paper. Like a distance, or an insurmountable barrier. It actually reminds me of the meme in which a dog sits in a burning room and says "this is fine".

I also have a point to make about experiencing poetry and experiencing spoken word, and how they can be quite different but I have a headache and so this will have to be just a note (for now).

It's not bad, not like Tumblr poets Lang leav/rupi Kaur bad, not nearly like them thank god. I have no preference for this style of poetry, so this is merely an observation.

Edit: actually this also reminds me of Miranda July, except she doesn't write poetry. I suppose it's the observations of daily life in minutiae that makes me draw that parallel... But unlike Sadgrove (what an excellent name), Miranda July often shines the spotlight on people who have fallen through the cracks, the little people, the people society wants to forget. And this makes all the difference (to me at least), because the focus on the lives of poets like Sadgrove (or Tao Lin, but bad bad example, I hate him), makes it almost...self indulgent?

[Always Becominging · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me think about performance. Freya is a talented actor and performer on the stage and she continues that practice in this book. Through these poems Freya embodies a character: a bold, sexual, depressed, chaotic, young woman. This character is a version of Freya no doubt but not exactly her, not all of her. Freya performs this character with complete commitment, never slipping into her natural accent. During the first section of the book (which follows the classic VUP three part structure) I was a bit worried that all of these poems shouting in the same voice would begin to drag, but then the second section shifted subject matter from sexuality to love, rejection, and depression; and the third section took us even to even more intimate places. I realised that while maintaining the same voice, each poem showed us a different facet of the character Freya plays (and plays with) here. There are some exceptional poems in this collection, my favourite being Wide Garden, but the most impressive is the way the book works as a whole. I look forward to reading more books by Freya, books that present different versions of her.

[Devon Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can tell I reread this in both March 2024 & August 2022 because my poetry from the subsequent periods has a lot of ...............ums................... & really long ellipses................ & HORNY ENERGY ALL IN CAPITALS anyway Freya Daly Sadgrove is to me what Hera Lindsay Bird is to other people, I think she's the true metamodernist genius of our generation & I will read everything she ever writes like a proper little fanatic

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good. A bit jarring in parts.