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The Kissing of Kissing
In this remarkable debut, which marks the beginning of Multiverse—a literary series written and curated by the neurodivergent—Hannah Emerson’s poems keep, dream, bring, please, grownd, sing, kiss, and listen. They move with and within the beautiful nothing (“of buzzing light”) from which, as she elaborates, everything jumps.
In language that is both bracingly new and embracingly intimate, Emerson invites us to “dive down to the beautiful muck that helps you get that the world was made from the garbage at the bottom of the universe that was boiling over with joy that wanted to become you you you yes yes yes.” These poems are encounters—animal, vegetal, elemental—that form the markings of an irresistible future. And The Kissing of Kissing makes joyously clear how this future, which can sometimes seem light-years away, is actually as close, as near, as each immersive now. It finds breath in the woods and the words and the worlds we share, together “becoming burst becoming / the waking dream.”
With this book, Emerson, a nonspeaking autistic poet, generously invites you, the reader, to meet yourself anew, again, “to bring your beautiful nothing” into the light.
In language that is both bracingly new and embracingly intimate, Emerson invites us to “dive down to the beautiful muck that helps you get that the world was made from the garbage at the bottom of the universe that was boiling over with joy that wanted to become you you you yes yes yes.” These poems are encounters—animal, vegetal, elemental—that form the markings of an irresistible future. And The Kissing of Kissing makes joyously clear how this future, which can sometimes seem light-years away, is actually as close, as near, as each immersive now. It finds breath in the woods and the words and the worlds we share, together “becoming burst becoming / the waking dream.”
With this book, Emerson, a nonspeaking autistic poet, generously invites you, the reader, to meet yourself anew, again, “to bring your beautiful nothing” into the light.
96 pages, Paperback
First published March 8, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
January 8, 2022
3.5 stars rounded up
Effervescent, searing, and sometimes pointed, The Kissing of Kissing is a debut poetry collection from a nonspeaking autistic poet. At their best, the poems embrace the vitality of the natural world, share the experience of being dehumanized by others, the anger and struggles that can come with life, but also deep love for family, humanity, and nature.
That said, there are other pieces that I found difficult to parse and less accessible for the casual reader of poetry. There is a lot of word repetition "yes, yes, yes" "great, great, great" etc. which takes time to get used to and sometimes skip over in reading. And the placement of line breaks often requires more effort from the reader to figure out where sentences or thoughts begin and end.
Ultimately this was a mixed bag for me, but there are moments where it really shines. I received an advance copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
Effervescent, searing, and sometimes pointed, The Kissing of Kissing is a debut poetry collection from a nonspeaking autistic poet. At their best, the poems embrace the vitality of the natural world, share the experience of being dehumanized by others, the anger and struggles that can come with life, but also deep love for family, humanity, and nature.
That said, there are other pieces that I found difficult to parse and less accessible for the casual reader of poetry. There is a lot of word repetition "yes, yes, yes" "great, great, great" etc. which takes time to get used to and sometimes skip over in reading. And the placement of line breaks often requires more effort from the reader to figure out where sentences or thoughts begin and end.
Ultimately this was a mixed bag for me, but there are moments where it really shines. I received an advance copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
September 23, 2023
yes yes
i want to drink stolichnaya and read these poems to john wick.
i want to drink stolichnaya and read these poems to john wick.
August 28, 2023
Oh. Oh. Oh. YES. This is a breathtaking collection. This is truly a spectacular accomplishment.
Full review at Barrelhouse (Alt. link).
Book Marks correctly marked my review as "rave." Indeed.
Full review at Barrelhouse (Alt. link).
Book Marks correctly marked my review as "rave." Indeed.
March 24, 2024
I feel like this book is kind of impossible to review and... on purpose or... it couldn't be another way. Why? Because this is part of a Multiverse series? What is that you ask...?
Hannah Emerson is a non-speaking autistic poet which was the main reason I picked this collection up. And it perhaps shouldn't be a surprise that I find this collection hard to talk about, especially in a way that would ascribe a specific values to certain parts. I wasn't always sure what the poems were supposed to be about, but some of them resonated deeply. And I think the main theme here is... share love. The word kissing does repeat a lot throughout the collection and I have been reminded of Chuck Tingle's LOVE IS REAL 🤭
I'm clearly not reviewing this so let's just say that this was interesting experience that I do appreciate. I rated it four stars which is my go-to for poetry collections that didn't capture my heart but that I feel contain good poetry and just weren't entirely for me. This was good, if you are intrigued, go for it!
Multiverse is a literary series devoted to different ways of languaging. It primarily emerges from the practices and creativity of neurodivergent, autistic, neuroqueer, mad, nonspeaking, and disabled cultures. The desire of Multiverse is to serially surface multiple universes of underheard language that might intersect, resonate, and aggregate toward liberatory futures...
Hannah Emerson is a non-speaking autistic poet which was the main reason I picked this collection up. And it perhaps shouldn't be a surprise that I find this collection hard to talk about, especially in a way that would ascribe a specific values to certain parts. I wasn't always sure what the poems were supposed to be about, but some of them resonated deeply. And I think the main theme here is... share love. The word kissing does repeat a lot throughout the collection and I have been reminded of Chuck Tingle's LOVE IS REAL 🤭
I'm clearly not reviewing this so let's just say that this was interesting experience that I do appreciate. I rated it four stars which is my go-to for poetry collections that didn't capture my heart but that I feel contain good poetry and just weren't entirely for me. This was good, if you are intrigued, go for it!
HOW THE WORLD BEGAN
Please try to cut
yourself open
to find the blood
that is the color
of the molten rock
that is in all of us
yes - please try
to help the world
by heaving your
hatred on the flames
that burn in your town
yes yes - please try
to melt yes yes - please
try to frow into the stream
of molten life yes yes - please
try to help us make kissing
kissing volcano that loves
with way of floating hell
that we are now now
now yes yes yes -
please get this
is how the world
began began
began yes yes -
May 1, 2023
Please love poets we are the first
autistics.
I will think about this collection and this poet for the rest of my life. It is hard being autistic and living in this world but these poems remind me how amazing we are.
From deep down to high up go inward
for light. Keep drowning keep
growing keep listening
to the sun.
(A side note that I really enjoyed Milkweed Editions' virtual launch party with the poet and a variety of other voices.)
June 24, 2022
Her writing resembles Walt Whitman in its exuberant tone and Gertrude Stein in her original use of language and repetition. A startling new voice.
July 30, 2025
Interesting but not really my vibe. Can’t tell how much of that is that I haven’t read a poetry book in a very long time. I enjoyed the struggle with language that made up a lot of the book.
If you ever want to feel a very bizarre sensation I’d recommend reading a book of autistic poems about love your ex left at your place….
If you ever want to feel a very bizarre sensation I’d recommend reading a book of autistic poems about love your ex left at your place….
May 20, 2025
One of those collections where you actually enter the poet's mind and stay there.
No inference, no nothing.
No inference, no nothing.
June 7, 2023
With so much repetition of words (“kissing,” “yes”) and phrases (“please get that”), these poems often seem like echo chambers but might sound more like the refrains of a Greek Chorus when read aloud. Given the fact that the human brain is a three-pound universe that processes 70,000 thoughts each day, using 100 billion neurons that connect at more than 500 trillion points through synapses that travel 300 miles/hour and generate signals that travel through these interconnected neurons (forming the basis of memories, thoughts and feelings), this collection demonstrates how humans tend to perseverate on small clusters of similar thoughts, resulting in songs like whale echolocation: ancient strains of a common language long forgotten when humans outgrew gills.
“Please
great air become the ocean
that my song swims through
to find kissing ears to hear
me beautiful lovely thoughts
that want to fly into your yes.”
—from “Lovely Burst”
Favorite Poems:
“Language of Leaves”
“Center of the Universe”
“Animal Ears”
“Come Home”
“Lovely Burst”
“Sugar Beat”
“Our Feet Become the Music”
“Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning”
“Sacred Grove”
“Please
great air become the ocean
that my song swims through
to find kissing ears to hear
me beautiful lovely thoughts
that want to fly into your yes.”
—from “Lovely Burst”
Favorite Poems:
“Language of Leaves”
“Center of the Universe”
“Animal Ears”
“Come Home”
“Lovely Burst”
“Sugar Beat”
“Our Feet Become the Music”
“Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning”
“Sacred Grove”
September 15, 2022
The Kissing of the Kissing, in its repetition, has a staccato-chant like rhythm that is gently entrancing. Hannah Emerson, a non-speaking autistic, speaks in a language wholly unique.
“Please try to understand that you
became human so you could
dance dance dance
yes yes”
“Please try to understand that you
became human so you could
dance dance dance
yes yes”
Read
April 23, 2022Yes yes. Please. Kissing.
A non-speaking autistic poet, Hannah Emerson, shares her poetry in this collection.
Many of the poems are rooted in the natural world. I found a lot of it inaccessible to me as a novice poetry reader due to the structure and repetitive wording.
A non-speaking autistic poet, Hannah Emerson, shares her poetry in this collection.
Many of the poems are rooted in the natural world. I found a lot of it inaccessible to me as a novice poetry reader due to the structure and repetitive wording.
August 3, 2024
2.5 ⭐️ rounded up
April 6, 2025
really liked this one. casting a spell of loving and kissing, teaching the reader how to be open and brave in the face of nothingness. life-affirming, very special book :)
July 25, 2022
Hmmm... Not impressed...
December 31, 2022
Wow. Just wow. If I could give this book 8 stars, or 10, I swear I would do that. Entirely novel use of language, dancing and swirling through the pages, opening and expanding my imagination. I just want to kiss kiss it yes yes.
Read
June 3, 2022Reading this book was like reading e.e. cummings for the first time. I didn't follow everything, but kept finding myself very moved. These poems are so full of a life and energy that I loved.
Major thanks to Poetry Unbound for drawing it to my attention.
Major thanks to Poetry Unbound for drawing it to my attention.
Read
June 19, 2023Not usually to my tastes, the wild-formed and incantatory poetic style—but this voice felt prophetic and joyful. Really delighted.
June 28, 2022
I really loved this collection, too, and as a newly self-dx autistic person and someone who has been discovering her own identity as a writer/ poet, it spoke to me even more on that level (did get a preliminary formal diagnosis on 06/27/22).
From "Becoming Mud,"
"Please get that great animals are all
autistic. Please love poets we are the first
autistics. Love this secret no one knows it."
"How the World Began" and "I Live in the Woods of My Words" were among my favorites.
"I always wanted to live
there but couldn't live
there until the poetry
gave me life of words."
Also, "Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning":
"Please try to help me go to the joy that is trying
to go to the beautiful helpful helpful beginning
of the beginning of the very trying freedom
that we make our great great great light
that is nothing but the laughter that is
fooling us into believing that we go
to the trash bin that is your life
that become the treasure
that live in the bottom
of the bin that is
your life yes"
....
"try to dive
down to the
beautiful much
that help you get
that the world was made
from the garbage at the bottom
of the universe that was boiling over
with joy that wanted to become you you"
From "Becoming Mud,"
"Please get that great animals are all
autistic. Please love poets we are the first
autistics. Love this secret no one knows it."
"How the World Began" and "I Live in the Woods of My Words" were among my favorites.
"I always wanted to live
there but couldn't live
there until the poetry
gave me life of words."
Also, "Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning":
"Please try to help me go to the joy that is trying
to go to the beautiful helpful helpful beginning
of the beginning of the very trying freedom
that we make our great great great light
that is nothing but the laughter that is
fooling us into believing that we go
to the trash bin that is your life
that become the treasure
that live in the bottom
of the bin that is
your life yes"
....
"try to dive
down to the
beautiful much
that help you get
that the world was made
from the garbage at the bottom
of the universe that was boiling over
with joy that wanted to become you you"
August 31, 2022
Wonderfully following her own whims and logic, Emerson presents an inspiring collection of poems in which she expresses herself freely as a nonspeaking autistic poet and simply being in the world. The poems do get rather repetitive after a while, though I understand this was intentional and absolutely a way to play with language differently. Speaking of, I really admire the publishing company for creating a literary series (called Multiverse) dedicated to neurodivergent writers and their respective approaches to language, with The Kissing of Kissing being its first.
Some favorites: “Keep,” “I Live in the Woods of My Words,” “Throught,” “Animal Ear,” and “Sacred Grove”
Read for the Sealey Challenge.
Some favorites: “Keep,” “I Live in the Woods of My Words,” “Throught,” “Animal Ear,” and “Sacred Grove”
Read for the Sealey Challenge.
January 6, 2022
Thank you Milkweed for this gifted copy of THE KISSING OF KISSING by Hannah Emerson, a nonspeaking autistic artist and poet ❤️ This collection is out on March 8 and the first in a literary series called Multiverse, which emerges from practices of neurodivergent, autistic, neuroqueer, mad, nonspeaking, and disabled cultures.
What wonderful words Emerson offers us in this collection. These poems are a spilling of joy and pleasure, a deep “yes yes yes” throughout each and every line. Emerson asks us with an exuberant “please” to join her in intimate tactile exploration; invites us, the reader, to reshape what we perceive as destructive into beauty. Mud becomes birth; hell becomes an energetic site for life. Truly, if you let these words come a little closer, to kiss your skin, you will find yourself in Emerson’s woods of words, a place that, she writes, poetry built for her.
What a pleasure to experience Emerson’s pleasure with language. A truly marvelous collection of poetry you’ll have to pick up. Looking forward to future Multiverse releases!
What wonderful words Emerson offers us in this collection. These poems are a spilling of joy and pleasure, a deep “yes yes yes” throughout each and every line. Emerson asks us with an exuberant “please” to join her in intimate tactile exploration; invites us, the reader, to reshape what we perceive as destructive into beauty. Mud becomes birth; hell becomes an energetic site for life. Truly, if you let these words come a little closer, to kiss your skin, you will find yourself in Emerson’s woods of words, a place that, she writes, poetry built for her.
What a pleasure to experience Emerson’s pleasure with language. A truly marvelous collection of poetry you’ll have to pick up. Looking forward to future Multiverse releases!
September 29, 2024
I heard the poem 'Keep yourself at the beginning of the beginning' on the Poetry Unbound podcast. It moved me deeply. Then I sought out this book.
Hannah Emerson speaks in the imperative, holds the reader's hand and reassures, encourages us with her profound wisdom that it is a miracle that we are alive! And that yes, we are nothing in this vast universe. But we are not muck.
For me, her work takes many readings. Over and over to let it sink in. Saturate into my being.
It is musical. Lyrical. The repetitions of certain words are a kind of pleading.
I loved this wee collection. Something that I sense I will return to over and over.
Hannah Emerson speaks in the imperative, holds the reader's hand and reassures, encourages us with her profound wisdom that it is a miracle that we are alive! And that yes, we are nothing in this vast universe. But we are not muck.
For me, her work takes many readings. Over and over to let it sink in. Saturate into my being.
It is musical. Lyrical. The repetitions of certain words are a kind of pleading.
I loved this wee collection. Something that I sense I will return to over and over.
July 29, 2023
Emerson, a nonspeaking autistic poet, has a very distinct poetic voice. The poems in this book overflow with joy for nature and for being our best most authentic selves. With its rhythmic chanting of yes yes yes and its overwhelming joy, I felt like I was in the some kind of cosmic experience when I really got a poem.
However, I will say it often took several read-throughs to understand a poem due to the way that poems were structured with line breaks. It is not simple uncomplicated poetry for sure, and I highly recommend you do not try reading it next to your 11 year old, like I always did.
My favourite poems were I Live in the Woods of My Words, Animal Ear, and Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning
"of the universe that was boiling over
with joy that wanted to become you you
you yes yes-"
-from Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning.
However, I will say it often took several read-throughs to understand a poem due to the way that poems were structured with line breaks. It is not simple uncomplicated poetry for sure, and I highly recommend you do not try reading it next to your 11 year old, like I always did.
My favourite poems were I Live in the Woods of My Words, Animal Ear, and Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning
"of the universe that was boiling over
with joy that wanted to become you you
you yes yes-"
-from Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning.
April 26, 2024
I pretty much had my mind blown by The Kissing of Kissing. I didn't read the back of the book, the author bio, or the information about multiverse language until I read the first three poems and I thought something is going on here. What a treat to be welcomed into the brain and the thought-patterns of a non-speaking autistic poet. I set aside what I have in terms of preconceived notions about language and just enjoyed the process. Highly recommend.
My review: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/...
My review: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/...
January 9, 2026
The repetition of words and difficulty parsing has been mentioned frequently in reviews. It also is quite repetitive in terms of theme and idea between poems. I found this interesting because of the look that it gives into Hannah Emerson's mind, and very valuable for that reason, but I didn't feel it had much to say about the world or the human experience (ymmv). I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was interesting but not insightful. I bought very excitedly after I read another poem of hers online, which now I cannot find or remember the title of.
May 12, 2022
These poems are exuberant, full of energy. If I were teaching, I would definitely add some of these to my syllabus. I wonder if the collection would have worked better for me as a chapbook. The book as a whole started to feel repetitive, which is intentional but didn't quite work for me. I love the concept of a series written and edited by neurodivergent people, and I will definitely check out more of the Multiverse series.
February 25, 2023
notes
- poets as the first autists. ya
- rhythmic, willing jt so
- feeling deeply, digging at the core of everything
- hyperawareness, intense sincerity
- lvl of naivety that willing it so will make it so. some ppl just live like that and others will see their sincerity for living and being that they will want to protect that from being disproven
faves
- how the world began
- my name begins again
- giveness
- love is orange
- irises
- fill your arms
- poets as the first autists. ya
- rhythmic, willing jt so
- feeling deeply, digging at the core of everything
- hyperawareness, intense sincerity
- lvl of naivety that willing it so will make it so. some ppl just live like that and others will see their sincerity for living and being that they will want to protect that from being disproven
faves
- how the world began
- my name begins again
- giveness
- love is orange
- irises
- fill your arms
January 21, 2023
I felt guilty about how much I disliked this collection, but the author’s constant repetition of a few key words really wore on me. Though I found some of her evocations moving, this collection was largely frustrating and a bit boring, and what things I did enjoy were often repeated in numerous other poems, dulling their effect.
November 11, 2023
This whole book feels like a collection of warmup writing. A book of prompt fills, seemingly lacking the tinkering that goes into really good poetry. The perspective and natural cadence of the writer give it an additional dimension and I really do believe that with work and time to mature as a writer, we can expect some truly great things from Hannah Emerson.
no
March 1, 2023wanted to like this but the style (particularly the repetition and rhythm, and the sometimes hard to follow threads) reminded me too much of a friend's semi-recent episode of mania and psychosis. it was too soon and i am too lacking in energy to read a book so similar!
October 29, 2023
Hannah has a beautiful flow of words on pages in this book. I felt my mind growing, expanding, and marveling and her perspective. This was exactly the kind of poetry I needed and I fell in love! Thanks for sharing your beautiful gifts with the world- yes yes yes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews