The Immortal Soul Salvage Yard

by Beth May

Diary entries, medical records, book reports, phone calls, dates (the romantic kind), dreams, index cards, passive aggressive post-it notes, stories, emails to professors, dates (the month/day kind), worries, and resumes that never led to job interviews...




Beth May's debut poetry collection is comprised of physical artifacts from her past. The topics may vary widely, from love to mental illness to the most recent "Florida Man" headline, but it's all in the same handwriting. Welcome to The Immortal Soul Salvage Yard.

Genres: Poetry, Audiobook, Mental Health

88 pages, Paperback

Published February 12, 2021

Reviews

[kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think i would do literally anything for beth may

[Kyle Overholt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jesus Christ this fucked me up. I’m a huge fan of Beth in Dungeons and Daddies and this is an incredible showing of how talented she really is. Moving and heartbreaking in equal amounts. Thank you for putting this out into the world it’s game changing.

[Atlas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Beth. Ever since becoming obsessed with Dungeons and Daddies I’ve adored her work and her sense of humor. This book is so tragic in a tragically beautiful way. I want her words tattooed on my body.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to be honest, I didn't buy this book because I am a poetry buff. To be honest I was convinced I hated poetry, the metaphors were too deep for me to understand, it never lived, just words on a page. I bought this book because I came across May's spoken word performance of my resume and got sucked in. It was the best decision I ever made.

There hasn't been a page in this book that hasn't touched me in some way. I didn't know that poetry could to uh you like this, I know that it was meant to, but for me it never did.
It felt like someone had a direct connection to my brain, or the other way around.

The poems are about mental health, trying to be a person, love and (found) family. They're beatiful, dark and funny. They touched a spot in me I was sure no one even knew was there. It did take me a whole to read the entire book exactly because of the impact. There were times I was just full with feeling, and if anything would add to that I felt like I was going to burst, but somehow not in a bad way.

My favourites were:
-Love letter to the body in Tempe Town Lake, or the Immortal soul salvage yard: I felt like I could had this aesthetic in my mind's eye that connected with these words exactly.
-There never was a hat: Cried over this like an asshole, as if I've ever known love.
-An explanation: It made me feel seen in a way I have never experienced before, even by myself. It put into words a feeling I couldn't expres myself.
-My father writeels about hunting dogs and I hear his voice for the first time: I've been rereading this every day for a week now. This is what people say poetry is, but what I have never experienced before. Words painting a picture, creating an aesthetic that makes you see beyond the text and the feelings below.

Anyway, I don't know how to review poetry, so I am also not sure if this is of us to anyone, but it was nice to put my thoughts about it down somewhere in any case.

[Kaleb Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often funny, very emotional, sometimes uncomfortable, always human, honest, and relatable.

It's what I truly appreciate and love about Beth May, she is just herself, and I am honored to be able to get to see these sides of her, vulnerable, funny, and raw. I hope she never stops being that, because she and the world deserve only her honest, authentic self.

[Annica Stitch]

To me sharing poetry or anything autobiographical is extremely brave. Will keep an eye out for the next collection.

[Fee Schellekens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Beth May and the things she write.

[Pipettes.and.Pages · Rating 5 out of 5]

Final Rating: 4.5/5

I have been following Beth May since the start of the Dungeons and Daddies Podcast. I really resonated with a few of the poems in this book. Namely "So Much Better", "There Never Was A Hat" and "Emails To A Professor In 2011". The openness of all of these poems was wonderful and I hope to see more work from her soon.

[jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

kinda disappointing tbh

[Chris Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the most emotionally visceral volume of poetry I've ever read.

[Marin Iancu · Rating 5 out of 5]

beth may’s work is so moving

[Sandhya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book because I love Beth as Ron Stampler in the Dungeons & Daddies podcast, and thought I’d give the poetry a shot. I found the audiobook with Beth doing the narration herself, and holy fuck was it good. “There Was Never a Hat” absolutely wrecked me. I had the audiobook from my Spotify subscription, but I still plan on buying the physical copy for myself too just to highlight and read again.

[Kami Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes you discover a piece of work that you deeply resonate with. Beth May is a such a valuable poet. She shows her vulnerabilities and devastates you with them. This will be a book that I will highlight and add post-it note comments to, to return to in the years to come and weep over.

[Taylor Franson-Thiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A student gave me this to read 🥹

It’s fun. I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Probably more in the vein of instagram poets BUT it was dark and funny at the same time. Conversational. Confessionalesque.

[Moksha Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feels like reading a diary (or a shoe box filled with deepest most personal etchings) and not in some voyeuristic way. Beautifully chaotic and surprisingly comical it portrays womanhood authentically.
The unapologetic way in which mental illness is addressed can be jarring. I was triggered by a lot of it but also reminded I am not alone.
It really is an accurate portrayal of living with depression and navigating different relationships through its ups and downs. 4/5 ⭐️

[Jacob McElligott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straight from the heart

[Corey Glenwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love beth may

[Holly Fleming-Gunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Immortal Soul Salvage Yard (2021) by Beth May is a collection of deeply vulnerable poems that expose the ugly but intimate aspects of mental health, recovery, and all sorts of love, be it familial or romantic. The poems are varied and deeply involved – Beth manages to be playful without skimping out on how heartbreaking some of the content really is. There are at times fantastic balances of comedy and bittersweet moroseness.

This collection is scattered with little bits of hand-written words and lines, and some are styled in the book to be read from landscape which makes for a more affective reading experience. So many poems within are clearly strong spoken word pieces, so styling them different like this translates them so well to the page to be read.

Despite the varied presentations of each poem, there is still a very clear and strong voice present throughout. Not only is the structure of each poem diverse, but the subject matters are too.

I’ve never listened to any of Beth’s spoken word but, again, the rhythm and use of slant rhymes tells me that hearing these poems in person would be immensely captivating.

My favourite poem in this collection is ‘There Was Never A Hat’ by far. It’s short and effective and threw me off guard completely. It tells a massive story of a whole relationship in so little time, and the way it was told made me fall so in love with it as I read it.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beth May is incredible. Her poetry reads how it's supposed to: raw, emotional, and chilling. It's both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. The different formats and inspirations really lend themselves to her spoken word style, making it easy to hear the poetry in her voice. I adore her and her work so much!!

[Natalie Kaufman · Rating 5 out of 5]

beth may could bury me in a shallow grave and i would say thank you.

in this anthology, she doesn’t hold back any punches when it comes to describing some of the most raw and human experiences of mental illness and i cannot speak enough on how grateful i am for that. blending both humor and despair to create some truly beautiful pieces, i’m hungry for more.

[Scott Bruton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve listened to all the interviews and podcasts I could find with Beth May. I don’t know if you can hold a small warm piece of genuine love for a person that you’ve never met or talked to and claim it is in any way legitimate. I certainly can't do it without feeling weird and dissociaty about it. Her experiences with bi-polar disorder and memory loss and her bold perseverance in the face of so many things I’ve succumbed to and hearing about the tragedy of herself second hand have left my jaw on the floor and my heart beating and bleeding. There is a foreign metallic taste that’s left in my mouth when I think of these things and when I have that taste in my mouth and read these poems they fit in a way that makes me feel like I'm really a human. I will never meet this person who I feel is incredible from a distance, and I don’t feel the need to meet her, or impress her, or make her listen to the problems I’ve had and overcome and let her know I feel the same way. The thing I feel like I need to do is offer some vague and obscure act of weird and dissociaty thankfulness for something that she accomplished in her work that I can't even explain anyway, and the only way I know how to do that is join the other 215 people who rated this book highly and hope that conveys the message. Because one warm cinder of love for a stranger can sometimes be enough to make it through a cold night, and a parasocial relationship through a book is less embarrassing.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beth’s voice shines through every poem, raw, gaping at times, desperately trying to patch up seams at others with emotional honesty.

This was my first real poetry book I guess. I don’t think I could come up with good words that could describe how good this book was, so I’ll just say what I think in a very plain words.

- it hurt
- there was much i didnt get but wanted to
- i feel like i learned a lot about how to play with structure and repetition, Beth is really skilled at using repetition
- i feel like i learned a lot about how to play with structure and repetition, Beth is really skilled at using repetition
- i feel like i learned a lot about how to play with structure and repetition, Beth is really skilled at using repetition
- i am not skilled at using repetition

I loved the casual biting tone her poems had, and it makes me want to read more and write more. I want to reread this one soon, maybe in bits and pieces and maybe all together. My first and favorite poetry book so far. Thanks Beth.

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Immortal Soul Salvage Yard is Beth May’s debut poetry collection, and consists of poems in the form of artifacts from her past such as diary entries, medical records, emails and so on.

I was first introduced to Beth’s talents when I started listening to Dungeons and Daddies, a D&D actual play podcast about four dads from our world flung into the Forgotten Realms in search of their lost sons. It’s as humorous as it sounds - it was and still is my favourite podcast. Beth made some mention of her poetry on the show, and so when she released her first book I couldn’t help snagging a copy.

Beth’s poetry is deeply vulnerable and visceral, and really resonated with me. It describes a whole range of experiences, from mental illness to love to family, but I think it can be summed up in one word as ‘human’. I love reading novels that dig into both the ugly and beautiful aspects of human nature, so Beth’s poetry really hits the mark for me here.

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm, how to rate this book?

It’s … it’s a three, honestly. A four on a good day, and a four here because I’m a fan of Beth May and of Dungeons and Daddies.

But if it weren’t for Dungeons and Daddies, would anyone be searching for this book? Are the poems inside so good that they beg to be read, demand to be understood? For the most part, no.

But they’re okay, for words. Nothing especially “poetic” about them, but full of shock and realism and things you might not have ever considered delivering to paper.

I’m glad she wrote them and published them as a book, glad she provided her own reading on the audiobook. I’m not sorry I read/heard them.

They’re the kind of poems that, when someone shares them with you, you want to talk to them to ask about their inspiration and to be sure they’re okay. As I said, the honesty is laudable.

[Ryan Sheeran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not a frequent reader of poetry but from time to time a collection catches my attention. Each poem here holds a weight of existentialism that is released by a punchline or tongue in cheek look at its subject(s). This collection reminded me a lot of Bo Burnham’s work the last few years. A mixture of comedic and depressing imagery that the writer was almost certainly.

A recurring theme in the poems are mental illness, relationships and a painful lack of motivation.

I don’t think there were any poems I actively disliked. Some of my favorites were My Resume-Employment History (the very first), Emails to a Professor in 2011 and May.

I don’t think I could recommend the collection at full price on its own merits to everyone, but if you enjoy Beth May’s various other work or like to support smaller publishers, give this one a shot!

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved poetry and admired those who can so powerfully weave words in a lyrical way that tells a tale or makes the reader feel their emotions. Beth May is truly a talent. She weaves those words and tells tales with a blunt yet beautiful delivery that is just... wow.

I found her through the DnD podcast Dungeons & Daddies and fell in love with her character there, and truly didn't expect for her poetry to hit all the emotional beats that it did. Ron Stampler would be proud. Confused by all that emotional stuff, but proud. ;)

Her words are magic. Painful magic, but magic nonetheless.

I listened to it on audio for the experience of hearing her voice recite the words. Highly recommend. And I can't wait to pick up a physical copy as well!

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a raw and stunning scrapbook, making me laugh even as it punches me in the gut. I can hear Beth's voice in every line - definitely look up the spoken version of Woman on YouTube - and some of the wandering thoughts on relationships, mental health, family estrangement and death felt like looking into my own mind.

I will read this regularly to remind myself I'm not the only one fizzing with thought and worry and fantasy, looking to make jokes out of serious things yet being mistaken for making a joke when I'm being serious.

I think there's a lot to relate to here, especially for those of us in our early 30s navigating a social world that kind of expanded and shattered around us as we grew.

[Elsbeth Magilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit that I am rarely drawn towards poetry offhand, but I always find it satisfying and moving, so I make sure to read at least a few collections each year. I listen to Beth May on the dungeons and daddies podcast and so I decided to give her collection a go. I went in knowing it wasn’t a comedic book and that this was a very different type of work from her. And it is - but it is also so good and absolutely colors her performance on the podcast as well. Her words flow lyrically but also feel so disjointed and surprising. This is an intensely personal collection of poems that moved me. After each one it seemed like I stopped, put the book down, and thought “Jesus fucking Christ she’s so good.”

[Hailey Trudgeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The handwritten text combined with Beth May’s honesty and vulnerability make this book unique. For example, the insertion of handwritten work emphasises important parts of the poetry. I also enjoy May’s ability to subvert my expectations with her overt honesty. For instance, her poem titled “My Resume (for the Benefit of Future Lovers)” reads like a typical resume. However, it is quickly scattered with hilariously honest anecdotes. Overt honesty is a theme throughout this book. As a result, this book becomes a relatable collage of laughter, sadness, love, and loss. I appreciate May sharing her personal experience living with mental illness. Her stories are deeply moving because of her vulnerability. I have given this book five stars. This was a memorable read.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I pick this up only because I love Beth May on Dungeons and Daddies? Did I get this book and marvel over the quality of it and the interesting formatting that includes hand-written sections in the otherwise typed poems? Did I then start to read her poetry and find it really resonated and even the poems I don't relate to still make me feel some kind of way? Did the poems regarding mental illness feel like experiences I have shared while still being intensely and personally Beth May's? Did I then look up as many videos as I could find of Beth May performing spoken word?

Am I now more obsessed with Beth May than previously and rightly so? Yes.