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C+nto and Othered Poems
Winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize 2021.
The female body is a political space. C+nto enters the private lives of characters from the butch counterculture, telling the inside story of the protests these women led to reclaim their bodies as their own - for self-expression and against hatred. History, magic, rebellion, party and sermon vibrate through Joelle Taylor's cantos, which celebrate these underground communities throughout the '90s.
The female body is a political space. C+nto enters the private lives of characters from the butch counterculture, telling the inside story of the protests these women led to reclaim their bodies as their own - for self-expression and against hatred. History, magic, rebellion, party and sermon vibrate through Joelle Taylor's cantos, which celebrate these underground communities throughout the '90s.
128 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2021
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About the author
Joelle Taylor
21 books77 followersJoelle Taylor is an award-winning poet, playwright, author, and editor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
January 15, 2022
This week, Joelle Taylor won the T.S. Eliot Prize for her fourth collection, “C+nto & Othered Poems.” The annual poetry award, worth about $34,000, recognizes the best new collection published in the U.K. and Ireland.
The T.S. Eliot judges praised “C+nto” as “a blazing book of rage and light, a grand opera of liberation from the shadows of indifference and oppression.”
In her preface, Taylor writes, “While this book is set in what is now thought of as the ‘golden age of the gay,’ we have regressed as a community. Our meeting places, clubs and bars have closed, and we gather in distinct flocks across social media, each flock speaking a different language. We inhabit separate rooms in the same club. If we were to regain the real-life meeting grounds, if we were to be in the same room, then perhaps we would remember our commonality.”
The T.S. Eliot judges praised “C+nto” as “a blazing book of rage and light, a grand opera of liberation from the shadows of indifference and oppression.”
In her preface, Taylor writes, “While this book is set in what is now thought of as the ‘golden age of the gay,’ we have regressed as a community. Our meeting places, clubs and bars have closed, and we gather in distinct flocks across social media, each flock speaking a different language. We inhabit separate rooms in the same club. If we were to regain the real-life meeting grounds, if we were to be in the same room, then perhaps we would remember our commonality.”
August 24, 2024
I really like this on lots of levels - the words and form, the time and place, the characters who inhibit them both. the expression of body and experience.
I felt like we probably overlapped/frequented some of the same spaces back in the somewhen.
I really appreciate the history telling and preserving, awa the mourning of it.
I cried at the end of it, possibly mourning the loss of some part of myself, in these spaces and places. does one of us carry all of us, and do all of us carry at least one of us?
immersed as I was in the butches, bois and femmes of the Maryville, the poems Black Triangle, December, and Eulogy stood out even more.
I felt like we probably overlapped/frequented some of the same spaces back in the somewhen.
I really appreciate the history telling and preserving, awa the mourning of it.
I cried at the end of it, possibly mourning the loss of some part of myself, in these spaces and places. does one of us carry all of us, and do all of us carry at least one of us?
immersed as I was in the butches, bois and femmes of the Maryville, the poems Black Triangle, December, and Eulogy stood out even more.
December 3, 2021
"light loses interest
& none are aware
of the silhouette of the man
approaching tossing
a loose stone between hands. "
from Butch Proverb No 3
C+unto and Othered Poems is a fantastic collection. It is part protest, part elegy. It is the perfect demonstration of politics as personal and the personal as politics. It is also a fine example of the poet as witness. If you read my reviews I often quote Anna Akhmatova's 'Requiem' when she is asked, "Can you describe this" by a nameless woman queuing with her outside a Leningrad prison. Akhmatova says, "I can". Joelle Taylor here describes this here. The this being the culture of butch lesbians in the 90s.
It is part tribute, part memoir, part an attempt to translate their experience and part a call for unity in a world where the LBTQ community is increasingly under threat. Indeed, for me the most moving part of this collection are three poems towards the end: "Black Triangle", which refers to the Black Triangle lesbians were made to wear in Nazi Germany; "December", which starts with Chechnya but extrapolates her own disappearance and "Eulogy". All three are moving and all three remind us of the price some people pay for just wanting to be themselves.
In her preface Taylor says, "This is a book of silences."
And it is. Silences and absences.
"the last part of me to disappear
my absence."
from December
I bang on in my reviews that for me poetry isn't about technique. Partly because I don't think I have the knowledge or vocabulary to explain that technique. For me poetry is visceral and emotional. I love the poetry that makes me feel something or that makes me get close to understanding something at a more emotional level, which makes me sound like some kind of emotional vampire living vicariously on other people's grief and misery. But that's not what I mean.
I can't know what it is like to be a butch lesbian in the 90s but I can bloody try to understand. Now Joelle Taylor might not give a toss about whether I understand, but I'm still going to try.
I think this is a fantastic collection. I thought so as soon as I began to read it. It pulls you in and the language and images do a job on you. On the basis of how I judge poetry this is a five star smash. There you go.
& none are aware
of the silhouette of the man
approaching tossing
a loose stone between hands. "
from Butch Proverb No 3
C+unto and Othered Poems is a fantastic collection. It is part protest, part elegy. It is the perfect demonstration of politics as personal and the personal as politics. It is also a fine example of the poet as witness. If you read my reviews I often quote Anna Akhmatova's 'Requiem' when she is asked, "Can you describe this" by a nameless woman queuing with her outside a Leningrad prison. Akhmatova says, "I can". Joelle Taylor here describes this here. The this being the culture of butch lesbians in the 90s.
It is part tribute, part memoir, part an attempt to translate their experience and part a call for unity in a world where the LBTQ community is increasingly under threat. Indeed, for me the most moving part of this collection are three poems towards the end: "Black Triangle", which refers to the Black Triangle lesbians were made to wear in Nazi Germany; "December", which starts with Chechnya but extrapolates her own disappearance and "Eulogy". All three are moving and all three remind us of the price some people pay for just wanting to be themselves.
In her preface Taylor says, "This is a book of silences."
And it is. Silences and absences.
"the last part of me to disappear
my absence."
from December
I bang on in my reviews that for me poetry isn't about technique. Partly because I don't think I have the knowledge or vocabulary to explain that technique. For me poetry is visceral and emotional. I love the poetry that makes me feel something or that makes me get close to understanding something at a more emotional level, which makes me sound like some kind of emotional vampire living vicariously on other people's grief and misery. But that's not what I mean.
I can't know what it is like to be a butch lesbian in the 90s but I can bloody try to understand. Now Joelle Taylor might not give a toss about whether I understand, but I'm still going to try.
I think this is a fantastic collection. I thought so as soon as I began to read it. It pulls you in and the language and images do a job on you. On the basis of how I judge poetry this is a five star smash. There you go.
Read
July 25, 2023joelle taylor actually invented poetry
April 27, 2025
“But the price of freedom / is the knowledge you are trapped.” “what if there is a place for us/ some country/ a land in parenthesis.” Beautiful.
A friend at work passed this collection to me, which won the TS Eliot prize in 2021; from the title alone, I knew I’d love it. This collection is based on the history of lesbians and queer women; the poet mentions in the preface that it is a crime to be a queer woman in almost a quarter of the world’s countries, and in the author’s own youth (and mine), being a suspected, or out, gay woman invited violence, ridicule, state sponsored homophobic language and laws, homelessness. Just the other day, I was out with a friend- a brilliant woman- who asked me if LGBTQIA+ youth deserved to be in a protected class, and it was a question born of curiosity, not malice, but it saddened me that the very real oppression and risks that young queer kids face is not more recognized. My queer students would have much to respond to with that question, I imagine. All this to say: this is a wonderful, necessary, visceral history in poem form, and people of all orientations should read more books by queer authors.
Thank you, Alex! 💗
A friend at work passed this collection to me, which won the TS Eliot prize in 2021; from the title alone, I knew I’d love it. This collection is based on the history of lesbians and queer women; the poet mentions in the preface that it is a crime to be a queer woman in almost a quarter of the world’s countries, and in the author’s own youth (and mine), being a suspected, or out, gay woman invited violence, ridicule, state sponsored homophobic language and laws, homelessness. Just the other day, I was out with a friend- a brilliant woman- who asked me if LGBTQIA+ youth deserved to be in a protected class, and it was a question born of curiosity, not malice, but it saddened me that the very real oppression and risks that young queer kids face is not more recognized. My queer students would have much to respond to with that question, I imagine. All this to say: this is a wonderful, necessary, visceral history in poem form, and people of all orientations should read more books by queer authors.
Thank you, Alex! 💗
March 16, 2022
[...] / let us leave our faces / on the back seat
of night buses / let someone take a photograph
not of us / but because of us / let our limbs grow
impeccable concept of an imagined gay bar and its patrons, and text that alternates between a play script layout that reads as prose poetry to set scenes, and more traditionally recognisable poems, including multiple for each 'character' inhabiting the collection. the preface emphasises the importance of physical spaces for queer communities, and presents this book as both a recollection of the past, including a scene of historical protests organised by lesbians in london, and a manifesto for the importance of unity now and in the future.
some pieces worked better for me than others, and more than once i got caught up by the style of increasingly abstract imagery strung together by run-on sentences and had to backtrack (i do think the author's background in slam poetry is often very obvious, which is simply an observation).
of night buses / let someone take a photograph
not of us / but because of us / let our limbs grow
impeccable concept of an imagined gay bar and its patrons, and text that alternates between a play script layout that reads as prose poetry to set scenes, and more traditionally recognisable poems, including multiple for each 'character' inhabiting the collection. the preface emphasises the importance of physical spaces for queer communities, and presents this book as both a recollection of the past, including a scene of historical protests organised by lesbians in london, and a manifesto for the importance of unity now and in the future.
some pieces worked better for me than others, and more than once i got caught up by the style of increasingly abstract imagery strung together by run-on sentences and had to backtrack (i do think the author's background in slam poetry is often very obvious, which is simply an observation).
June 30, 2023
In this outstanding poetry collection, Taylor traces the butch experience in 1980s Britain. She explores matters of performativity, gender and sexuality. This provides an evocative reading experience in which the poet’s performance is central. I personally think the title poem is the best, however the other poems work together as a whole.
October 19, 2022
angry, strident and uplifting poetry about womanhood, in the form of cantos.
January 11, 2022
:/:/// yeah anyway i’ve come to the conclusion that i don’t like this style of poetry. i’m sorry nisha i kno there’s symbolism in the structure but i cannot with the pauses i cannot
January 15, 2022
What to say? Marvellous. Powerful. Devastating and uplifting. This is a fabulous collection of brilliant, raw poetry. I genuinely can’t praise this collection enough.
February 22, 2023
absolutely incredible, powerful and utterly moving
October 17, 2023
Lesbians writing about sex, bodies, gender and mixing literary genres altogether as a big "f you" to how things """""""should be written"""""" are my new favourite thing
December 30, 2025
« i am my mother in my fathers suit »
« because dead names haunt living rooms »
i loved this. such moving and vivid dyke poetry. i really enjoyed the night alphabet but thid surpassed it, so so stunning. wonderful to be so seen and understood, and perfectly summed up in by joelle in the acknowledgments « This is who we are. »
« the heaviest part of us is the part that is missing »
« want to write a book / in which I live / a story where the girl / gets the girl / & the girl is herself / a novel where I return / to find a six year old child opening a bedroom door/ and I shotgun / don’t do that / stop all that opera / there is still so much to learn »
« because dead names haunt living rooms »
i loved this. such moving and vivid dyke poetry. i really enjoyed the night alphabet but thid surpassed it, so so stunning. wonderful to be so seen and understood, and perfectly summed up in by joelle in the acknowledgments « This is who we are. »
« the heaviest part of us is the part that is missing »
« want to write a book / in which I live / a story where the girl / gets the girl / & the girl is herself / a novel where I return / to find a six year old child opening a bedroom door/ and I shotgun / don’t do that / stop all that opera / there is still so much to learn »
March 1, 2025
this is a book of silences.
vitrines en pauzes en lichamen en geweld en kracht en zorg en
vitrines en pauzes en lichamen en geweld en kracht en zorg en
July 3, 2025
Read this alongside Stone Butch Blues!
June 30, 2023
4.25 ⭐️
I love the way this poetry collection starts with Taylor’s preface opening ‘This is a book of silences’ perfectly setting the tone for what C+nto will be. I found the preface (and glossary) very helpful in understanding both the order of the poems and she gives insight to what each section contains - some of the poems were maybe a little abstract and tangential losing my focus at times - so I highly recommend reading this first. The book is spilt into three distinct sections: the collections namesake ‘C+nto’ (2) is the second, sandwiched between ‘Vitrine’ and ‘Vitrine Reprise’ (1) which is its continuation, and the largest last is titled ‘O, Maryville’ (3) - the (no) is how I’ll address each section.
In (1), Taylor tells the stories of scenes within glass display cases which have replaced/be placed next to certain queer sites. From the preface, ‘Each case holds a different scene: first loves, bar fights, arrests, explosions, serpentine Pride marches, an old drag queen, a woman circling a boxing ring, and the old Maryville, a fictious dyke dive bar.’ Following its stated this will be a ‘… walk through the maze of vitrines, one consistent narrative told in separate parts’ and on the whole I did like these sections where the reoccurring notion of absence and loss is explored.
This is expanded on in (2) which acts as part memoir at times, which ‘focus[es] on the loss of my friends, and of my exile as a consequence of my sexuality’ talking about the author growing up queer in the 1980s with a quote that’s stuck with me: ‘First, they take your mouth. Then the whole of your body… I wear the abuse as a suit.’ In this part, there are seven poems taking us though Taylor’s life in essence, each titled ‘the body as battleground / protest / trespass / cemetery / backroom / haunted house / uprising’ and all of these I didn’t necessarily enjoy given their content but understood, I took my time rereading parts to truly grapple with the meaning. One of my favourite parts of the book comes at the end of the last poem here - in the following quote I’ve used ‘/‘ to demarcate where an extended space is (‘ ‘)
‘I can't remember / the names / of all my dead friends but / they are here now / our grief / a leather jacket / our laughter / static / as we / fade to a sepia / the colour
of blood mixed to water / disappearing down a plug hole much like the meeting / of our legs’
From the preface, something else is very much a part of the (2) section in how the idea of ‘butch’ lesbians have been and still are marginalised within the queer community. Taylor states ‘this book is set in what is now thought of as the 'golden age of the gay', we have regressed as a community. Our meeting places, clubs and bars have closed… We inhabit separate rooms in the same club.’ adding ‘If we were to regain the real-life meeting grounds, if we were to be in the same room, then perhaps we would remember our commonality.’ Speaking to both the loss of certain queer spaces where lesbians felt community and safety and the growing infighting within the queer movement.
This is also touched and expanded on in (3) which tells the tale of one night at ‘Maryville’ a fictitious dyke bar in the mid/late 1990s. There are four ‘characters’ whom turn up here based on people Taylor knew in some sense, called ‘Dudizile, Angel, Valentine, and Jack Catch’ who are there to make sure patrons and the bar are kept safe, examining their lives and that of butch lesbians at the time. This section is based on the authors own experiences at such bars but she’s also done research which together ‘construct[ed] a simple story: exile, friendship, grief, love, courage and threat’ and whilst I cannot know what it’s like to be someone in this situation, Taylor paints a vivid picture of such a narrative and it does flow. There are thirty two poems spilt into twelve scenes which make use of stage directions, all the poems vary in form and understanding but I did enjoy the majority. I underlined at least something in each, some more then others but I think my favourites were ‘Legend of the First Butch’ which I was really taken aback by and then the three towards the end which created an emotional response in me. These were ‘Black Triangle’ about the badges lesbians were focused to wear in nazi Germany, ‘Eulogy’ where the main character of the poem (Taylor herself I believe) is ‘carrying’ queer women from places where they’re under attack or already been killed and this is mentioned in the preface about how in nearly a quarter of the world, it’s illegal to be a lesbian. My ultimate favourite poem is that in between these last two entitled ‘December’ which starts with the final social media post by a Chechnya LGBT group in 2017 and what follows is an emotional first person account of a queer woman caught up in a raid or arrest and brings it round to other cases of discrimination, it’s really really good.
So as a whole I did enjoy reading this poetry collection, I do have a lot of praise and totally recommend giving it a read. I haven’t yet read much lesbian literature unfortunately so am happy to have read this. Like I said some parts maybe went over my head and I’d like to give this a reread again some time but overall it was good.
I love the way this poetry collection starts with Taylor’s preface opening ‘This is a book of silences’ perfectly setting the tone for what C+nto will be. I found the preface (and glossary) very helpful in understanding both the order of the poems and she gives insight to what each section contains - some of the poems were maybe a little abstract and tangential losing my focus at times - so I highly recommend reading this first. The book is spilt into three distinct sections: the collections namesake ‘C+nto’ (2) is the second, sandwiched between ‘Vitrine’ and ‘Vitrine Reprise’ (1) which is its continuation, and the largest last is titled ‘O, Maryville’ (3) - the (no) is how I’ll address each section.
In (1), Taylor tells the stories of scenes within glass display cases which have replaced/be placed next to certain queer sites. From the preface, ‘Each case holds a different scene: first loves, bar fights, arrests, explosions, serpentine Pride marches, an old drag queen, a woman circling a boxing ring, and the old Maryville, a fictious dyke dive bar.’ Following its stated this will be a ‘… walk through the maze of vitrines, one consistent narrative told in separate parts’ and on the whole I did like these sections where the reoccurring notion of absence and loss is explored.
This is expanded on in (2) which acts as part memoir at times, which ‘focus[es] on the loss of my friends, and of my exile as a consequence of my sexuality’ talking about the author growing up queer in the 1980s with a quote that’s stuck with me: ‘First, they take your mouth. Then the whole of your body… I wear the abuse as a suit.’ In this part, there are seven poems taking us though Taylor’s life in essence, each titled ‘the body as battleground / protest / trespass / cemetery / backroom / haunted house / uprising’ and all of these I didn’t necessarily enjoy given their content but understood, I took my time rereading parts to truly grapple with the meaning. One of my favourite parts of the book comes at the end of the last poem here - in the following quote I’ve used ‘/‘ to demarcate where an extended space is (‘ ‘)
‘I can't remember / the names / of all my dead friends but / they are here now / our grief / a leather jacket / our laughter / static / as we / fade to a sepia / the colour
of blood mixed to water / disappearing down a plug hole much like the meeting / of our legs’
From the preface, something else is very much a part of the (2) section in how the idea of ‘butch’ lesbians have been and still are marginalised within the queer community. Taylor states ‘this book is set in what is now thought of as the 'golden age of the gay', we have regressed as a community. Our meeting places, clubs and bars have closed… We inhabit separate rooms in the same club.’ adding ‘If we were to regain the real-life meeting grounds, if we were to be in the same room, then perhaps we would remember our commonality.’ Speaking to both the loss of certain queer spaces where lesbians felt community and safety and the growing infighting within the queer movement.
This is also touched and expanded on in (3) which tells the tale of one night at ‘Maryville’ a fictitious dyke bar in the mid/late 1990s. There are four ‘characters’ whom turn up here based on people Taylor knew in some sense, called ‘Dudizile, Angel, Valentine, and Jack Catch’ who are there to make sure patrons and the bar are kept safe, examining their lives and that of butch lesbians at the time. This section is based on the authors own experiences at such bars but she’s also done research which together ‘construct[ed] a simple story: exile, friendship, grief, love, courage and threat’ and whilst I cannot know what it’s like to be someone in this situation, Taylor paints a vivid picture of such a narrative and it does flow. There are thirty two poems spilt into twelve scenes which make use of stage directions, all the poems vary in form and understanding but I did enjoy the majority. I underlined at least something in each, some more then others but I think my favourites were ‘Legend of the First Butch’ which I was really taken aback by and then the three towards the end which created an emotional response in me. These were ‘Black Triangle’ about the badges lesbians were focused to wear in nazi Germany, ‘Eulogy’ where the main character of the poem (Taylor herself I believe) is ‘carrying’ queer women from places where they’re under attack or already been killed and this is mentioned in the preface about how in nearly a quarter of the world, it’s illegal to be a lesbian. My ultimate favourite poem is that in between these last two entitled ‘December’ which starts with the final social media post by a Chechnya LGBT group in 2017 and what follows is an emotional first person account of a queer woman caught up in a raid or arrest and brings it round to other cases of discrimination, it’s really really good.
So as a whole I did enjoy reading this poetry collection, I do have a lot of praise and totally recommend giving it a read. I haven’t yet read much lesbian literature unfortunately so am happy to have read this. Like I said some parts maybe went over my head and I’d like to give this a reread again some time but overall it was good.
August 20, 2024
ga dit nog 100 keer lezen
February 10, 2022
Joelle Taylor recently won the TS Eliot prize for poetry, and I don’t think there could have been a more deserving winner.
C+nto is truly the most powerful book a queer person will read this year. A similarly mournful but celebratory insight to the lesbian bars of the 80s and 90s which are no longer in existence, Joelle recounts meeting fellow butch identifying people at these venues and the constant fight against society to simply exist as a non-femme person on the streets outside.
This poetry isn’t just a book, it is an experience. The passion and pain from each piece highlights the dangers of presenting as butch and the memories of men trying to teach butch people their own bodies, as a response to their homophobic anger at butch people for simply existing. This is contrasted with the loving connection between butches and how they survive society together.
Many venues for queer women do not exist anymore, but the ghosts of the people who once entered them remain. Joelle’s jaw-dropping use of language, to personify the weather and the buildings and describe the breath of something as ordinary as a snooker table will have you believing in the magic of humanity once again.
Because Joelle Taylor exists, so does the concept of excellence.
The Others gain their voice in this collection, and I want them to be shouting from the rooftops for the rest of time.
C+nto is truly the most powerful book a queer person will read this year. A similarly mournful but celebratory insight to the lesbian bars of the 80s and 90s which are no longer in existence, Joelle recounts meeting fellow butch identifying people at these venues and the constant fight against society to simply exist as a non-femme person on the streets outside.
This poetry isn’t just a book, it is an experience. The passion and pain from each piece highlights the dangers of presenting as butch and the memories of men trying to teach butch people their own bodies, as a response to their homophobic anger at butch people for simply existing. This is contrasted with the loving connection between butches and how they survive society together.
Many venues for queer women do not exist anymore, but the ghosts of the people who once entered them remain. Joelle’s jaw-dropping use of language, to personify the weather and the buildings and describe the breath of something as ordinary as a snooker table will have you believing in the magic of humanity once again.
Because Joelle Taylor exists, so does the concept of excellence.
The Others gain their voice in this collection, and I want them to be shouting from the rooftops for the rest of time.
January 17, 2022
I need to take a deep breath after reading this one. It seethes! Sometimes, all you need is the right words, and Joelle Taylor finds the right words for this visceral exploration. As I was reading through this collection, I was often transported to moments in my own life or memories of experiences long forgotten bubbled to the surface. It was a liberating, yet often saddening read.
Some people might be put off by the structure, but don't be. Poetry is meant to he heard. At the end of the book are a couple of QR codes you can scan to take you to readings and performances by the poet. So if your eyeballs freak out at the spacing or back slashes, don't fret.
I am not surprised in the least this won the T S Eliot Prize. It is a grand collection well worth the read and something to be pulled out to go over again in moments of reflection.
Some people might be put off by the structure, but don't be. Poetry is meant to he heard. At the end of the book are a couple of QR codes you can scan to take you to readings and performances by the poet. So if your eyeballs freak out at the spacing or back slashes, don't fret.
I am not surprised in the least this won the T S Eliot Prize. It is a grand collection well worth the read and something to be pulled out to go over again in moments of reflection.
August 29, 2025
C+nto and Othered poems. The title is a play on the word cunt but the word comes from the Latin cuntare—to narrate, tell, or recount a story—as she explains. The poet writes about the body, the bars, and even the horrible persecution of queers in Chechnya. This book of poetry about the butch culture also has play like scenes of lesbian history. Let this not be forgotten:
“From 1940-1960s US police arrested lesbians who were wearing than three pieces of traditional women’s clothing. They were often publicly stripped.”
In the intro she writes: “There is no part of a butch lesbian that is welcome in this world.”
It’s a courageous and forthright book. Joelle Taylor’s spoken word can be found on YouTube.
I will be coming back to this book after my first read. I appreciate Joelle Taylor’s work.
“From 1940-1960s US police arrested lesbians who were wearing than three pieces of traditional women’s clothing. They were often publicly stripped.”
In the intro she writes: “There is no part of a butch lesbian that is welcome in this world.”
It’s a courageous and forthright book. Joelle Taylor’s spoken word can be found on YouTube.
I will be coming back to this book after my first read. I appreciate Joelle Taylor’s work.
November 21, 2022
genuinely just a celebratory, tender joy to read. i don’t think this is for everyone but i liked how it was structured overall as a text as well as how each poem was laid out. i think joelle’s background in slam really helps in the arrangement of the words being very accessible to the brain yet still had the depth
December 31, 2022
3.5/5 (FOR ME)
the form that taylor employs in this book is really quite intruiging but i personally found it kinda hard to follow through with it (but maybe because i have the attention span of an amoeba or smth). the writing is very raw and ~feels~ kinda writing though and i would still love to see this performed!
the form that taylor employs in this book is really quite intruiging but i personally found it kinda hard to follow through with it (but maybe because i have the attention span of an amoeba or smth). the writing is very raw and ~feels~ kinda writing though and i would still love to see this performed!
March 13, 2023
The best section by far was ‘C+nto’, wow I will be going back to that over and over! Not sure I enjoyed ‘O, Maryville’ as much, it just lost me a little on structure, particularly the use of slashes, and it felt quite dense. Definitely just a preference thing though, still very much enjoyed this collection.
October 3, 2022
Excerpts:
I was a girl who had grabbed her body / from the wrong coat hook
(from “Homosapien”)
we have saved / each other’s lives so many times / she says to the bois / we have become lighthouses / sweeping the dark gossiping seas / the crowded head bobbing under / all our girls / adrift on the dance floor / we have pulled each other / out of the wreckage of our own bodies / sat beside each other / straight backed / making islands of each other’s bruises / promising that one day / we would live there
(from “Jack Catch — to the lighthouse”)
the body as haunted house
in sleep my body is a haunted house there are footsteps along fallopian corridors the corridor is a rope strung above a mouth I have been woken by blurred voices without bodies quiet arguments in my basement once I was possessed by a small girl who looked the same as me who ate herself on a Sunday afternoon while her parents downstairs hardwired their hangovers & Christmas tunes looped in nooses
//
my heart is a church bell but nobody visits & God is a man hands in his pockets watching.
//
(from “C+nto”)
I was a girl who had grabbed her body / from the wrong coat hook
(from “Homosapien”)
we have saved / each other’s lives so many times / she says to the bois / we have become lighthouses / sweeping the dark gossiping seas / the crowded head bobbing under / all our girls / adrift on the dance floor / we have pulled each other / out of the wreckage of our own bodies / sat beside each other / straight backed / making islands of each other’s bruises / promising that one day / we would live there
(from “Jack Catch — to the lighthouse”)
the body as haunted house
in sleep my body is a haunted house there are footsteps along fallopian corridors the corridor is a rope strung above a mouth I have been woken by blurred voices without bodies quiet arguments in my basement once I was possessed by a small girl who looked the same as me who ate herself on a Sunday afternoon while her parents downstairs hardwired their hangovers & Christmas tunes looped in nooses
//
my heart is a church bell but nobody visits & God is a man hands in his pockets watching.
//
(from “C+nto”)
March 17, 2023
‘but the price of freedom / is the knowledge you are trapped’
a hauntingly beautiful collection of poems exploring lesbian history and experience - it manages to be both a protest and encapsulate the feeling of mourning prevalent throughout the queer community.
a hauntingly beautiful collection of poems exploring lesbian history and experience - it manages to be both a protest and encapsulate the feeling of mourning prevalent throughout the queer community.
February 24, 2025
Was actually incredibly pleasantly surprised by this collection! Very beautifully put, and definitely incredibly deserving of the T.S. Eliot prize! I was especially enamored by the "Angel" narrative of the collection. Amazingly done and very moving.
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May 14, 2022yeah wow holy shit
August 31, 2022
nothing more beautiful and breathtaking than lesbian poetry like wow
October 17, 2022
3.5 stars
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