#becky

by Marisa Silva-Dunbar

Chapbook

Published July 5, 2019

Reviews

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little chapbook is deceptive. "It's just a little book of poems," you think. "I'll sit down for a minute and whip right through them." Hardly poems to be rushed through, these are substantial, thought-provoking, multilayered works of art. It's a stunning collection.

[Hank Baubles · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is the last book I read by Marisa Silva-Dunbar but it turns out this was her first published collection, I think. All I can say is WOW#! These lines in particular from the poem "Ode to a #becky": "Please post more hashtags / that contradict each other. / Don't create anything of worth. / If the same theme appears in your life-- / you've failed to analyze it properly; / your lessons are on repeat1-- / play them when you're in the bar / dancing alone or taking mirror selfies." My god! I've never taken a mirror selfie but we've all danced alone in a bar with the lessons we've failed to learn on repeat1 (I recognized this and loved it, how clever!). I don't think I'm a #becky but I think my ex-wife was. What a waste of a life, and isn't that the whole point of this collection--how we deceive ourselves and others but to no good end. Highly recommend. (This collection, not my ex, I mean.) As always, kudos to the author, signed sincerely, your biggest newest fan.

[Sara Treaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you pass this up, you're a fool! It's been a long time since I've read something so multi-faceted and magnificent in it's entirety. I've procrastinated writing my review because it's hard to put into words how deftly the author captures her subject - biting, subversively feminist, achingly beautiful prose burning with reproach before plunging into the waters of self-healing and if not forgiveness, at least acceptance. This book is an intimate, bitter-sweet celebratory tale of love, loss and survival on all fronts.