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Even Curses End
'Even Curses End' is a magical journey 'through the woods' of trauma, mental health and healing. Catherine Garbinsky explores how the act of surviving can change us, become part of us, transform us. The book weaves a tapestry laced with forest magic, the pain of sacrifice, and glimmers of hope. If you enjoy ethereal magic, woodland creatures, bones...if you adore the moon and bask in the darkness, you will love this starry eyed collection of mysterious poetry.
- GenresPoetry
27 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 27, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 3, 2020
“I did not belong in the village/ where people would point and laugh,” the speaker in Catherine Garbinsky’s fairytale themed poetry collection, Even Curses End. “They did not see my robin’s egg heart/only the crooked branches of my body.”
The pieces in this book tend to flip the narrative, telling the fairytale from the witch’s perspective in a way that is heart-stoppingly gorgeous, balancing gruesome, dark imagery with bejeweled, magical images. The balance between the two in Even Curses End is as close to artistic perfection as I think I’ve ever seen.
The poem, quoted above, titled “Gingerbread House,” is from the perspective of the witch in Hansel and Gretel. Instead of the witch being the villain, it’s the children who are evil—
“Their eyes grew cold/as they shoved me into the blue flames./My cries became tinder./ My body melted into night.”
After all, those presumed to be witches were often innocent. The story of the witch is the story of the outsider, usually an individual who is wise in the ways of nature and magic, but is most often rejected by society.
The book discusses mental illness, and uses fairytale tropes as a lens to look at bipolar disorder in a way that is as stunning as it is heartbreaking. A lot of the time, when speaking of any mental illness, descriptions of symptoms tend to come out sounding metaphorical, bordering on the magical—arms and legs feel leaden, there’s an odd, heavy ache like a hole in the middle of your chest, or being so happy that one literally feels light and sparkly. In that respect, Grimms’ Fairytales and their conventions lend themselves well to poems about mental illness.
In “The Princess and the Thorns,” the speaker says: “Not every girl survives the forest./Sometimes she becomes it.” There are so many layers to this piece. On one, there’s the story of a girl who gets lost in the darkness. On another, there’s the story about how she grows into something and someone else.
“But there are flowers amidst the thorns…/ a sweet fragrance promising a happy ending,/dangerous and desirable at once./Lay down your swords, there is no way in,” the speaker warns the reader. There are good things about this princess, but those good things could, potentially, be a lure.
“She wears a crown of twilight, a blanket of thistledown./Princess of fingers pricked, princess of blood.”
With her feral nature, and her thorns, she’s still beautiful. There’s strength in what she’s gone through, how she’s survived. The story of how a person gets their scars is the story of their becoming. Garbinsky’s poetry is masterful, and Even Curses End is darkly beautiful, with the sense that there’s hope. I highly recommend this book.
The pieces in this book tend to flip the narrative, telling the fairytale from the witch’s perspective in a way that is heart-stoppingly gorgeous, balancing gruesome, dark imagery with bejeweled, magical images. The balance between the two in Even Curses End is as close to artistic perfection as I think I’ve ever seen.
The poem, quoted above, titled “Gingerbread House,” is from the perspective of the witch in Hansel and Gretel. Instead of the witch being the villain, it’s the children who are evil—
“Their eyes grew cold/as they shoved me into the blue flames./My cries became tinder./ My body melted into night.”
After all, those presumed to be witches were often innocent. The story of the witch is the story of the outsider, usually an individual who is wise in the ways of nature and magic, but is most often rejected by society.
The book discusses mental illness, and uses fairytale tropes as a lens to look at bipolar disorder in a way that is as stunning as it is heartbreaking. A lot of the time, when speaking of any mental illness, descriptions of symptoms tend to come out sounding metaphorical, bordering on the magical—arms and legs feel leaden, there’s an odd, heavy ache like a hole in the middle of your chest, or being so happy that one literally feels light and sparkly. In that respect, Grimms’ Fairytales and their conventions lend themselves well to poems about mental illness.
In “The Princess and the Thorns,” the speaker says: “Not every girl survives the forest./Sometimes she becomes it.” There are so many layers to this piece. On one, there’s the story of a girl who gets lost in the darkness. On another, there’s the story about how she grows into something and someone else.
“But there are flowers amidst the thorns…/ a sweet fragrance promising a happy ending,/dangerous and desirable at once./Lay down your swords, there is no way in,” the speaker warns the reader. There are good things about this princess, but those good things could, potentially, be a lure.
“She wears a crown of twilight, a blanket of thistledown./Princess of fingers pricked, princess of blood.”
With her feral nature, and her thorns, she’s still beautiful. There’s strength in what she’s gone through, how she’s survived. The story of how a person gets their scars is the story of their becoming. Garbinsky’s poetry is masterful, and Even Curses End is darkly beautiful, with the sense that there’s hope. I highly recommend this book.
November 7, 2019
Catherine Garbinsky has created a world of horror, beauty, and pure, absolute magic with her latest collection, Even Curses End. This is a book of poems that I wish had been around when I was a young, strange girl humming nursery rhymes and reading Grimm's Fairy Tales on the playground. The poems in this collection are cautionary. luminous tales that enchant the reader and recall the thrill of hearing a favourite fairy story for the first time. Garbinsky re-imagines fairytales without falling into cliche or sentimentality and instead excites us and places these tales under the gaze of our current historical moment. This is a collection to revisit time and time again.
October 26, 2019
I loved Catherine's collection centered around Grimm's Fairy Tales with her own classic spin. These poems are very raw, vulnerable, and honest. They are both painful and hopeful with the overarching them that sometimes metamorphism is a painful experience but a rewarding one. It tackles the issues centering around mental health and how it can make one feel like lesser, the way one clings to anything that helps them heal, and the blooming that can happen after the pain has been felt and dealt with. It is a meaningful and touching collection that really resonated with me.
February 15, 2020
I loved this poetry collection. The author spins classic fairy tales we know in fresh ways, with the female characters front and center. The language was gorgeous and the book deals with issues of identity, gender, body image, and power.
November 2, 2019
I LOVED this collection of bright, stinging poetry centered on fairy tales. It's a fabulous addition to my collection and one that I'm going to wear thin from rereading. She knows her craft of words, and the variety of fairy tales she chose is terrific. I applaud this collection of fairy tales that incorporate mental illness, heartbreak, and healing. Bones, blood, and jewels await the reader- it's a knockout.
November 18, 2020
Hokey, uninspired, eye-roll inducing
Please accept this fanfiction based off this poetry collection:
Hokey, uninspired, eye-roll inducing
The bitter words no reader actually
Likes to read
If I could only hold one thing in my
Broken heart of burnt sugar and ice
Is that I wish I caught back my sleep instead
Please accept this fanfiction based off this poetry collection:
Hokey, uninspired, eye-roll inducing
The bitter words no reader actually
Likes to read
If I could only hold one thing in my
Broken heart of burnt sugar and ice
Is that I wish I caught back my sleep instead
January 22, 2020
This is a beautiful little book full of dark and rich poetry, taking you on a meandering path through the dark woods of women's pain and fairytales.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews