What do you think?
Rate this book
On Sun Swallowing
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Poetry (2022)On Sun Swallowing is a sweet and bloody collection of poetry, prose and journal extracts, dancing in the spaces between girlhood and godhood, satin and switchblades, salvation and damnation.
Warren navigates her youth and all things soft, dreamy and delicate – drenched in gasoline and set ablaze. Her sharp lyricism and cutthroat vulnerability dares you to haunt your ghosts back; to relish in duality, dismantle dichotomy and exist as yourself; deliciously undefinable.
Think: Philosophy between cotton sheets, existentialism cross-legged on the shower floor, cheap cigarettes, even cheaper wine, and an oath to reach hell by midnight and be home in time for work in the morning.
89 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2022
71 people are currently reading
21583 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 549 reviews
April 24, 2022
I wanted to like this because of all the 5 star reviews but I found this collection repetitive (same metaphors used) and a bit cringe in delivery. I understand that the themes explored are very real and I don’t want to sound cavalier, but the “sad girl with insecurities who went to catholic school” feels at times inauthentic.
Lines often fall flat or sound pretentious, eg “God told me to start a cult and Satan dared me to start a revolution”, “I am tired of selling my soul to impress strangers”.
I did like a couple of poems, like “God Is A Cocktail On A Saturday Night” and the photos in the collection were a nice addition.
Perhaps I’m not the right reader for this collection.
Lines often fall flat or sound pretentious, eg “God told me to start a cult and Satan dared me to start a revolution”, “I am tired of selling my soul to impress strangers”.
I did like a couple of poems, like “God Is A Cocktail On A Saturday Night” and the photos in the collection were a nice addition.
Perhaps I’m not the right reader for this collection.
Read
March 24, 2022i don't believe in rating poetry because i feel like it's the same as rating people's experiences and lives. categorizing them into one-to-five boxes doesn't make any sense (it's actually more insulting than flattering, even if you've been pushed into the best one). poems are too personal for me to grade, i'm not qualified to do that and i won't start now, so i won't rate these too. but i will tell you that they feel like sun-kissed skin, strawberry-cherry tea drank in an early spring morning or late summer night, wine, vinyls, new sheats, first cigarettes, laying in the grass when the day turns into night and sun starts to hide and you feel warm even though you're starting to get goosebumps, berries eaten with your fingers in the middle of nowhere, dancing at three am, this loneliness you sometimes feel at parties, dark lipstick and teeth and going home after a hot summer evening with your head dizzy, void, discovering a second-hand bookstore and staring at books and thinking where they come from, stray cats you find on vacation, comparing how many of your ribs you can count, this one shot from a movie you still think about.
that's what they are to me. and that's why i will cherish them dearly.
that's what they are to me. and that's why i will cherish them dearly.
May 31, 2022
While I do think Dakota is a good writer it just felt so unnatural. I feel like she tries far too hard to reach a certain aesthetic and it takes away from the actual quality of the writing
October 6, 2023
I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to approach my review of On Sun Swallowing delicately, more specifically, how to begin unravelling the web of broader cultural phenomena manifested into this collection without slipping into adages or ad hoc vitriol. The result of these past few months of ideas floating around my head is a meandering, fragmented review which is, admittedly, far too long for the quippy review typical of Goodreads. Thus I’ve decided to publish this review additionally on Substack here for easier reading: https://baudrillardbaby.substack.com/...
It's rare that a literary work makes me feel so nihilistic about the future of artistic output. But the transparent algorithmic drive of shallow aesthetic exhibitionism of On Sun Swallowing, to put it simply, profoundly depressed me. On Sun Swallowing is anodyne poetry pre-optimized for sharing. It's poetry that is curated (as opposed to created) to be a work that's aesthetically recognizable (and thus highly profitable) specifically for her audience in poems whose subject matter never exceeds the brute reinforcement of an established range of taste signifiers (in this case, a limited range of subject matter and metaphor) rather than meaningful innovation or artistic integrity. This optimization of literature for maximum algorithmic output pays the hefty price of complex engagement, originality of form or image, narrative intrigue, and linguistic sensuality. In writing for the specific niche Dakota has carved out for herself in TikTok's monoculture, pillared by broader aesthetic trends, the emphasis on external form will always outweigh the quality of the content's authorship.
On Sun Swallowing is a poetry book of pure aesthetic signifiers, strung together limply, evidenced in the collection’s description, which reads like a list of images on a popular Pinterest moodboard called ‘chaotic academia’; “On Sun Swallowing is a sweet and bloody collection of poetry, dancing in the spaces between skinned knees and red wine, satin and switchblades, rosaries and Dionysian ecstasy.” It's a literary simulacrum.
I've been turning my issue with On Sun Swallowing over and over in my head for months, and a review of it would be incomplete without discussing Warren's performance online. Whilst I'm hesitant to equate literary output with social persona, On Sun Swallowing is so shallow as a collection, so clearly hinged upon her personal aesthetic emphasis, persona and output become ultimately inextricable. This is no fault of her own, rather, it's the logical conclusion of commodity fetishism as the quotidian method of self-understanding. However, this identity has become almost a parody of itself, evident in the highly odd choice to put Anne Frank's diary in her video recommending books about "The Wonder and Horrors of Girlhood". Despite her occasional rejection of the "dark academia" label frequently assigned to her content, it doesn't negate the fact that these aesthetics underlie the allure of her online persona to those consuming it, and ones she clearly plays into.
When belonging and possessing identity in a culture industry are defined through ownership and image, we begin to think of ourselves only regarding what we can share on a site. Keeping this in mind, how can we untangle our reaction to a text between what profoundly impacts us in the solitary act of reading against the panoptic eye that watches next to us, scanning the book for what we can share online? This second eye makes Warren's stanzas feel cold and machine-like to read, as they have been meticulously polished and prepped for frictionless consumption. The subtext running through On Sun Swallowing like a roll of film is its reliance on familiar signifiers woven together into a tapestry of performance, quippy stanzas designed for immediate consumption. On Sun Swallowing is, therefore, inevitably a literary continuation of an identity performed, expressed through a "code" of superficial aesthetic signifiers. It frantically vacillates between the trap of perpetual self-branding she has fallen into and the practice of confessional poetry desperately seeking higher authenticity. Creating artwork for consumption inevitably empties the capacity of art for provocation and authenticity, rendering it pragmatically flexible instead.
Rather than challenging us or provoking complex thought, On Sun Swallowing embodies the cultural content of the commodity, where the scope of the work is superseded by our desire for items that reinforce our sense of "unique identity" by the perceived specificity of our place in social media's grid, and by uncannily catering to a singular niche. When a self is understood in terms of lifestyle and performance - rather than in terms of communal tradition or meaningful work, creation breaks between cultural signifiers and artistic content, where the suitability and reception of authors and artists come not from their mastery of specific skills so much as having an appropriate taste-making habitus online.
Digital media prioritizes immediate engagement over the slow process required to create meaningful art. I think this work was published too early, without enough artistic development. This reinforces my personal theory on why a lot of On Sun Swallowing is made up of regular film photos, as there wasn't enough poetry to form a complete collection. These photos aren't for artistic value but to immerse the reader in the comfort of their algorithmic expectations. It's a rushed project attempting to capitalize on an aesthetic whose irrelevance is immanent.
The poetry of On Sun Swallowing consists of objectified fragments of a parodic performance, a frenzied pastiche of academia Pinterest boards, Tumblr poetry and self-performance. It uniquely captures how art is increasingly created in a monoculture through a lens of optimization, even if not done consciously. I had this uncanny feeling reading through this pastiche of fragmented Tumblr quotes on womanhood and horror, chewed up and spat back in a mimetic work. I later realized this was deja vu entrenched in my reaction to her poetry, rifling through sentences I could swear I'd read elsewhere. In a way, it's a fascinating collage of a specific niche of the internet. But, to risk sounding grandiose, this is not how art should be created.
At the acme of cultural monotony and mass consumption, accepting the freedom of transgression, originality, and subverting audience expectation is fearful. But suppose we don't wager this risk. In that case, the only option left to us is the existential threat of data masses instead of art, art that is broken down and bastardized, shaped into neat little tiktok-ifiable fragments of mass consumption.
I think she has claimed the performative nature is intentional; however, this doesn't negate my analysis. It's a cop-out for shallow writing by attempting to infuse it with intentionality. It's incongruent with the poetry itself, and to label your poetry as intentionally performative, it has to be intentional.
Zadie Smith described the "digital maw" that digests our language and spits it back to us, warped and commodified. The eternal return of the same, indistinguishable blobby covers of contemporary fiction, the slew of upcoming books marketed as exploring 'female rage', unremovable 'As seen on tiktok' stickers, the creation and promotion of books by trope; this is the monotony promised by algorithmic composition.
When poetry functions as the continuation of a brand, On Sun Swallowing is inevitably doomed to be just another product.
It's rare that a literary work makes me feel so nihilistic about the future of artistic output. But the transparent algorithmic drive of shallow aesthetic exhibitionism of On Sun Swallowing, to put it simply, profoundly depressed me. On Sun Swallowing is anodyne poetry pre-optimized for sharing. It's poetry that is curated (as opposed to created) to be a work that's aesthetically recognizable (and thus highly profitable) specifically for her audience in poems whose subject matter never exceeds the brute reinforcement of an established range of taste signifiers (in this case, a limited range of subject matter and metaphor) rather than meaningful innovation or artistic integrity. This optimization of literature for maximum algorithmic output pays the hefty price of complex engagement, originality of form or image, narrative intrigue, and linguistic sensuality. In writing for the specific niche Dakota has carved out for herself in TikTok's monoculture, pillared by broader aesthetic trends, the emphasis on external form will always outweigh the quality of the content's authorship.
On Sun Swallowing is a poetry book of pure aesthetic signifiers, strung together limply, evidenced in the collection’s description, which reads like a list of images on a popular Pinterest moodboard called ‘chaotic academia’; “On Sun Swallowing is a sweet and bloody collection of poetry, dancing in the spaces between skinned knees and red wine, satin and switchblades, rosaries and Dionysian ecstasy.” It's a literary simulacrum.
I've been turning my issue with On Sun Swallowing over and over in my head for months, and a review of it would be incomplete without discussing Warren's performance online. Whilst I'm hesitant to equate literary output with social persona, On Sun Swallowing is so shallow as a collection, so clearly hinged upon her personal aesthetic emphasis, persona and output become ultimately inextricable. This is no fault of her own, rather, it's the logical conclusion of commodity fetishism as the quotidian method of self-understanding. However, this identity has become almost a parody of itself, evident in the highly odd choice to put Anne Frank's diary in her video recommending books about "The Wonder and Horrors of Girlhood". Despite her occasional rejection of the "dark academia" label frequently assigned to her content, it doesn't negate the fact that these aesthetics underlie the allure of her online persona to those consuming it, and ones she clearly plays into.
When belonging and possessing identity in a culture industry are defined through ownership and image, we begin to think of ourselves only regarding what we can share on a site. Keeping this in mind, how can we untangle our reaction to a text between what profoundly impacts us in the solitary act of reading against the panoptic eye that watches next to us, scanning the book for what we can share online? This second eye makes Warren's stanzas feel cold and machine-like to read, as they have been meticulously polished and prepped for frictionless consumption. The subtext running through On Sun Swallowing like a roll of film is its reliance on familiar signifiers woven together into a tapestry of performance, quippy stanzas designed for immediate consumption. On Sun Swallowing is, therefore, inevitably a literary continuation of an identity performed, expressed through a "code" of superficial aesthetic signifiers. It frantically vacillates between the trap of perpetual self-branding she has fallen into and the practice of confessional poetry desperately seeking higher authenticity. Creating artwork for consumption inevitably empties the capacity of art for provocation and authenticity, rendering it pragmatically flexible instead.
Rather than challenging us or provoking complex thought, On Sun Swallowing embodies the cultural content of the commodity, where the scope of the work is superseded by our desire for items that reinforce our sense of "unique identity" by the perceived specificity of our place in social media's grid, and by uncannily catering to a singular niche. When a self is understood in terms of lifestyle and performance - rather than in terms of communal tradition or meaningful work, creation breaks between cultural signifiers and artistic content, where the suitability and reception of authors and artists come not from their mastery of specific skills so much as having an appropriate taste-making habitus online.
Digital media prioritizes immediate engagement over the slow process required to create meaningful art. I think this work was published too early, without enough artistic development. This reinforces my personal theory on why a lot of On Sun Swallowing is made up of regular film photos, as there wasn't enough poetry to form a complete collection. These photos aren't for artistic value but to immerse the reader in the comfort of their algorithmic expectations. It's a rushed project attempting to capitalize on an aesthetic whose irrelevance is immanent.
The poetry of On Sun Swallowing consists of objectified fragments of a parodic performance, a frenzied pastiche of academia Pinterest boards, Tumblr poetry and self-performance. It uniquely captures how art is increasingly created in a monoculture through a lens of optimization, even if not done consciously. I had this uncanny feeling reading through this pastiche of fragmented Tumblr quotes on womanhood and horror, chewed up and spat back in a mimetic work. I later realized this was deja vu entrenched in my reaction to her poetry, rifling through sentences I could swear I'd read elsewhere. In a way, it's a fascinating collage of a specific niche of the internet. But, to risk sounding grandiose, this is not how art should be created.
At the acme of cultural monotony and mass consumption, accepting the freedom of transgression, originality, and subverting audience expectation is fearful. But suppose we don't wager this risk. In that case, the only option left to us is the existential threat of data masses instead of art, art that is broken down and bastardized, shaped into neat little tiktok-ifiable fragments of mass consumption.
I think she has claimed the performative nature is intentional; however, this doesn't negate my analysis. It's a cop-out for shallow writing by attempting to infuse it with intentionality. It's incongruent with the poetry itself, and to label your poetry as intentionally performative, it has to be intentional.
Zadie Smith described the "digital maw" that digests our language and spits it back to us, warped and commodified. The eternal return of the same, indistinguishable blobby covers of contemporary fiction, the slew of upcoming books marketed as exploring 'female rage', unremovable 'As seen on tiktok' stickers, the creation and promotion of books by trope; this is the monotony promised by algorithmic composition.
When poetry functions as the continuation of a brand, On Sun Swallowing is inevitably doomed to be just another product.
November 25, 2025
On Sun Swallowing is aesthetically pleasing and emotionally deceasing.
It’s genuinely baffling that this has become a darling of the literary world. The collection reads less like a profound exploration of the human condition and more like the Instagram filter version of poetry: pretty, curated, and devoid of depth. It feels like Warren’s popularity hinges more on her TikTok persona—equal parts moody musings, ‘sad girl’ chic, and Pinterest-worthy dark academia—than on the quality of her work. Sure, the vibes are great, but vibes alone don’t make a masterpiece.
The poetry and prose rely heavily on tired imagery: flesh, bones, and blood appear so often you’d think the author was assembling a skeleton rather than a collection. Instead of slicing to the bone of human emotion, these motifs come off as a bit anemic. They strain for profundity but land in the realm of self-indulgence, like the literary equivalent of quoting Nietzsche after reading one Wikipedia page.
The collection’s strongest suit? It’s photogenic. These poems seem custom-built for social media: snackable, shareable, and perfect for pairing with a latte art photo. But if poetry’s goal is to engage with complex ideas and emotions, On Sun Swallowing feels like it was written with captions in mind, not contemplation.
And yes, poetry is subjective; beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that. But this beholder couldn’t help but see through the surface sheen to the hollowness underneath.
It’s genuinely baffling that this has become a darling of the literary world. The collection reads less like a profound exploration of the human condition and more like the Instagram filter version of poetry: pretty, curated, and devoid of depth. It feels like Warren’s popularity hinges more on her TikTok persona—equal parts moody musings, ‘sad girl’ chic, and Pinterest-worthy dark academia—than on the quality of her work. Sure, the vibes are great, but vibes alone don’t make a masterpiece.
The poetry and prose rely heavily on tired imagery: flesh, bones, and blood appear so often you’d think the author was assembling a skeleton rather than a collection. Instead of slicing to the bone of human emotion, these motifs come off as a bit anemic. They strain for profundity but land in the realm of self-indulgence, like the literary equivalent of quoting Nietzsche after reading one Wikipedia page.
The collection’s strongest suit? It’s photogenic. These poems seem custom-built for social media: snackable, shareable, and perfect for pairing with a latte art photo. But if poetry’s goal is to engage with complex ideas and emotions, On Sun Swallowing feels like it was written with captions in mind, not contemplation.
And yes, poetry is subjective; beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that. But this beholder couldn’t help but see through the surface sheen to the hollowness underneath.
November 22, 2022
When I watched Dakota’s video on modern poetry I agreed with her points for the most part so I had high expectations going into this book. The author’s image is completely attached to a certain aesthetic she plays up on social media, so I thought it’d be interesting to see what lay underneath the “core-ism” behind an internet persona.
Unfortunately there was nothing of substance here, I’d even argue this is Rupi Kaur but for girls who think they aren’t like other girls. I could see Dakota doing better once she matures her writing because there are some good bits from a technical point of view, but the whole thing feels so forced it completely eclipses any enjoyment I could’ve gotten out of the reading experience.
Unfortunately there was nothing of substance here, I’d even argue this is Rupi Kaur but for girls who think they aren’t like other girls. I could see Dakota doing better once she matures her writing because there are some good bits from a technical point of view, but the whole thing feels so forced it completely eclipses any enjoyment I could’ve gotten out of the reading experience.
September 5, 2022
why is dakota warren’s entire personality based on the secret history by donna tartt
March 2, 2022
so proud of dakota. these poems were so intimate and beautiful.
March 14, 2022
the definition of all vibes no substance, but the vibes were good. dakota warren’s best poems were the ones she used to explore her religious trauma and the uniqueness of growing up in a small town in australia. the mixed media format of the book was spectacular, i loved the colored pages and the pictures.
May 31, 2023
no one, and i mean it, NO ONE is more saddened than me over the fact that I found this book to be heartbreakingly disappointing knowing how i adore Dakota. i will mourn and lament over the wasted potential of this poetry collection now, mes adieux
July 11, 2022
Seeing this is Dakota’s debut poetry and prose collection, I hate to be so critical as I’ve been watching her YouTube series for a bit now, and I just feel the quality doesn’t meet my expectations or the reviews of others. Many of the same motifs and themes were overused in the same way with similar metaphors strung throughout, taking away from the initial pleasantness of it. Yes, there is media for all types of audiences but On Sun Swallowing felt like it pushed too hard too fit itself into one box/aesthetic and it came off as pretentious yet underwhelming at some points. In some places her command of language is nice and the imagery is very vivid, yet as I said before, repetitive. Many of the poems felt like they were written to continue the “vibes.” The whole collection plays on the “hot sad girl, femme fatale,” trope that appears to be trending on social media. Although I am a sucker for works with themes of god(s), religion, femininity, and philosophy, which is what initially drew me in to Dakota Warren, this was ultimately a let down. Even with the nice colored printing, photography, and “aesthetic” of the book, I personally could not justify paying so much for something that felt half-baked and overrated to me. Although I’m glad to see others enjoying it and hopefully I will be here for future Dakota works to see her grow.
February 9, 2023
I blame Donna Tart for this fucking cringefest
February 28, 2022
Lol, they really will just publish any mediocre e-celeb who’s got a built in audience now.
February 19, 2023
extremely repetitive, & felt inauthentic. it felt like dakota was trying to curate this book to have a certain "vibe" or "aesthetic" which was pretty blatant and took away from the poetry.
Read
December 5, 2022this was so very dakota
February 23, 2022
Dakota Warren has a way of speaking directly to the soul - less speaking, and more taking jabs at the darkness and forcing you to question how much goodness you have in you. And I think that's exactly what I look for in poetry.
February 25, 2022
i’m not usually a fan of poetry, everything always seemed either far too simple-minded or overwhelmingly pretentious. but something about this was just impeccable. dakota wrote of girlhood and femininity and mental health and growing up in australia just as i experienced it. it was relatable, but not in the clique way. i wanted to spend as long as possible examining everything laced between these pages.
dakota, i hope to see you everywhere in the literary world.
dakota, i hope to see you everywhere in the literary world.
June 3, 2023
I’m going to start off with this: Warren’s is not “internet poetry” or any usual booktuber writer's. That being said, her poems often fall victim to “aesthetic.” While her words are beautiful, there is almost always a feeling of forcedness in her diction— metaphors she provides fall through because they are ungrounded, and frequently the poems are a mix of what feels genuine— theme! emotions! intent!— and what Warren curates for the sake of being a certain “-core” as it is. She reads like a combination of what could be and what is. Don’t get me wrong, she has talent. I just wish she used it in a way that is natural to her as a writer.
November 19, 2022
Sadly, average dark academia cosplay. I had hopes for this jokes on me I guess
March 23, 2022
who am i if not a dakota warren fan? this book tears me apart and chews every piece of me one by one. existentialism is surreal and the state of living is devouringly hard. god how much i love poetry.
December 9, 2022
Changing my review because Dakota stole poetry from one of my close friends and we don’t condone plagiarism in this household. Learn to write your own shit for once instead of being white and stealing from others.
December 1, 2022
I borrowed this from a friend, and I am so glad I didn't buy it myself. I have to assume that most of the reviews are positive because most people buying this book are doing so as fans of this author, and are therefore quite biased.
The poems in this book try way too hard to fit into this aesthetic that the author has going. It's disappointing.
If youre into instagram, surface-level poetry, then you'll like it. If you want anything with substance, there are much better poetry books out there.
The poems in this book try way too hard to fit into this aesthetic that the author has going. It's disappointing.
If youre into instagram, surface-level poetry, then you'll like it. If you want anything with substance, there are much better poetry books out there.
April 9, 2022
this is my bible. thank u to the devils daughter for so graciously letting me into her cult and fusing my blood with the words written on each page.
June 24, 2023
not enthused. some rough notes:
• the typographic variation (words/lines in bold red, handwritten font with strikethroughs etc) seems not to be complementing or supplementing the text, but rather compensating for it; the typography is covering for the poems' shortcomings by attempting to force an effect.
• the literary references are only scantily thematically relevant, and seem to be included more to endow the text with some 'literary merit' than to actually enhance the material.
• warren seems to be relying on a thatching together of intrinsically 'poetic' images pertaining to girlhood (rotting fruit, blood, waning/rising sunlight etc) & expecting these images to work irrespective of the manner in which they're deployed. the repetition of these images saves the poet from having to exhibit any ingenuity.
• a lot of these poems seem to be attempting a certain elusiveness, as though the evasion of definite or concrete meaning is the intended end; a line will favour an elusive development over an impactful one, because evading the reader's expectations is the only mode of impact the poet understands. these poems are, at times, terrified of being 'simple' or 'graspable'; they'd much rather allude to something at which the reader can only speculate.
• many of the lines are evidently first drafts that have been favoured because of their 'authenticity' (i.e. they stay in the final poem unedited because they arose out of a particular – often difficult – moment of the poet's life), and whether this is 'good' or not incurs a pretty hefty aesthetic judgement, so I'll just say I felt that this method caused several of the poems to suffer.
also, and I won't add this as a bullet point because it's not a criticism of only this collection in particular, warren falls into the common trap of what I perceive to be a lazy essentialism: 'I am a poet, and therefore what I write is poetry.' this seems to me to completely circumvent what the poem is and how it functions: a poem is a relationship – in fact many concurrent, intersecting, contingent relationships – between a writer and reader(s), and whether a line works within this nexus is far more important than whether anyone believes themselves to essentially be a 'poet'. existence precedes essence, babes, and you can't just print your diary notes verbatim in a serif font and declare that it's poetry because you wrote it. what matters is capturing something, putting it into text, and having it be received; you can't invoke the 'poetic' pantheon of plath, kafka, neitzsche, shelley and ovid and intersplice them between clichés and skip the whole process. you 'are' a poet only so long as your poems are working of their own merit, and not a second more.
• the typographic variation (words/lines in bold red, handwritten font with strikethroughs etc) seems not to be complementing or supplementing the text, but rather compensating for it; the typography is covering for the poems' shortcomings by attempting to force an effect.
• the literary references are only scantily thematically relevant, and seem to be included more to endow the text with some 'literary merit' than to actually enhance the material.
• warren seems to be relying on a thatching together of intrinsically 'poetic' images pertaining to girlhood (rotting fruit, blood, waning/rising sunlight etc) & expecting these images to work irrespective of the manner in which they're deployed. the repetition of these images saves the poet from having to exhibit any ingenuity.
• a lot of these poems seem to be attempting a certain elusiveness, as though the evasion of definite or concrete meaning is the intended end; a line will favour an elusive development over an impactful one, because evading the reader's expectations is the only mode of impact the poet understands. these poems are, at times, terrified of being 'simple' or 'graspable'; they'd much rather allude to something at which the reader can only speculate.
• many of the lines are evidently first drafts that have been favoured because of their 'authenticity' (i.e. they stay in the final poem unedited because they arose out of a particular – often difficult – moment of the poet's life), and whether this is 'good' or not incurs a pretty hefty aesthetic judgement, so I'll just say I felt that this method caused several of the poems to suffer.
also, and I won't add this as a bullet point because it's not a criticism of only this collection in particular, warren falls into the common trap of what I perceive to be a lazy essentialism: 'I am a poet, and therefore what I write is poetry.' this seems to me to completely circumvent what the poem is and how it functions: a poem is a relationship – in fact many concurrent, intersecting, contingent relationships – between a writer and reader(s), and whether a line works within this nexus is far more important than whether anyone believes themselves to essentially be a 'poet'. existence precedes essence, babes, and you can't just print your diary notes verbatim in a serif font and declare that it's poetry because you wrote it. what matters is capturing something, putting it into text, and having it be received; you can't invoke the 'poetic' pantheon of plath, kafka, neitzsche, shelley and ovid and intersplice them between clichés and skip the whole process. you 'are' a poet only so long as your poems are working of their own merit, and not a second more.
November 18, 2022
I wanted to like it, truly. The photography is beautiful, bewitching even in some ways, however I was dissapointment in poetry. It's flat and repetetive, Dakota is a lamb, she's a devil's daughter an angel and simply too much. As a woman, I hate to tell this to other women but Dakota is simply too much. At first the poems captivated me but as I read more it become increasingly tedious, the same thing over and over again. However I can't rate it 1 star, at first I even thought I should choose 3 stars; her poetry is like a guilty pleasure for me, a cringe thing you enjoy but wouldn't tell anyone because you know it's simply not good. Some of her words validate some pretencious girl inside of me.
She recently made a video of the imporatance of making bad art which I agreed with, but this book wasn't worth 40 euros, no bad art is worth this much. The purple prose here is sickening and not in grotesque and nice way, the writting appears fake, as if she wrote it to appease the image she set on her social media. I dont think i'll ever enjoy her poetry, however if this was one book, then the repetetive tactics wouldn't matter, on the opposite they would look better. Hence why i'm looking forward to her upcoming book. Let us hope she won't price it around 40 euros this time <3
She recently made a video of the imporatance of making bad art which I agreed with, but this book wasn't worth 40 euros, no bad art is worth this much. The purple prose here is sickening and not in grotesque and nice way, the writting appears fake, as if she wrote it to appease the image she set on her social media. I dont think i'll ever enjoy her poetry, however if this was one book, then the repetetive tactics wouldn't matter, on the opposite they would look better. Hence why i'm looking forward to her upcoming book. Let us hope she won't price it around 40 euros this time <3
July 25, 2025
good but felt unnatural, performative in that way
December 31, 2022
an exceptionally breathtaking collection.
February 24, 2022
I would die for Dakota Warren 💋
May 25, 2022
3.5 stars
While this book is formatted very uniquely and features some beautiful prose, I found that some of the lines felt disingenuous or pretentious. Overall I don't really like the whole "sad-girl existentialism" aesthetic, I feel like it's relatable to those who align with it and cliquey to those who want to engage with the content while not adapting to the new genre.
I did really appreciate the use of color and mixed media in this collection. It was a visually very appealing book and I had fun flipping through it. I would be interested to read a novel by Warren. While some of her poems made me feel nostalgic and had a haunting vibe, more so than not I was not as impacted as I wanted to be by the works, and found it too obvious/too "cool-girl" for my taste.
While this book is formatted very uniquely and features some beautiful prose, I found that some of the lines felt disingenuous or pretentious. Overall I don't really like the whole "sad-girl existentialism" aesthetic, I feel like it's relatable to those who align with it and cliquey to those who want to engage with the content while not adapting to the new genre.
I did really appreciate the use of color and mixed media in this collection. It was a visually very appealing book and I had fun flipping through it. I would be interested to read a novel by Warren. While some of her poems made me feel nostalgic and had a haunting vibe, more so than not I was not as impacted as I wanted to be by the works, and found it too obvious/too "cool-girl" for my taste.
April 11, 2022
Dakota’s writing is indulgent. With reoccurring themes of hedonism, rot, blood, angels and devils, it reminded me, in a way, of a female Dorian Gray. The book’s layout was stunning, filled with photographs, hand-written lines and drawings. Dakota has found her voice and it’s a unique and enjoyable one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 549 reviews