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Mermaid Lungs
This book was weaved together through numerous lockdowns, several almost-relationships and one big existential crisis. Mermaid Lungs explores the mundane and the apocalyptic; the ache of existing and the fear of stopping. Times when it feels like you can’t satisfy your whole self, like a mermaid in the water, with her human parts longing for air.
- GenresPoetry
114 pages, Paperback
Published August 17, 2022
1 person is currently reading
238 people want to read
About the author
Jasmine S. Higgins
2 books19 followersJasmine S. Higgins is a British author. She has a BA in Fine Art and a MA in Publishing, both from Kingston University. Her first book A Girl is a Shapeshifter came out in 2019, and her second book Mermaid Lungs came out in 2022. Her poems have featured in Ripple (2022) from Kingston University Press and The Planets of the Men I've Loved (2020) from Sunday Mornings at the River. She hosts a writing challenge with daily prompts under the hashtag #PromptsByJasmine on Instagram.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 19, 2022
personally i think it’s great
December 6, 2022
Not only is the front cover absolutely stunning on my bookshelf, but the words in this book are beautiful, too. Beautiful in that they are so raw, evocative, and honest. Lockdown was such a difficult time for so many reasons and the emotions that weave this book show just that.
I finished this book in one sitting and I would definitely recommend it; not only if you have experienced the rollercoaster of dating and relationships, but just to appreciate such heart wrenching pieces of poetry.
I finished this book in one sitting and I would definitely recommend it; not only if you have experienced the rollercoaster of dating and relationships, but just to appreciate such heart wrenching pieces of poetry.
July 20, 2022
Mermaid lungs is a raw collection of poignant poems. Jasmine pulls on heartstrings by telling stories in few words about our existence and mortality, excitement found in the isolated mundane and favourite cities, growing up and growing apart, the hopeful vulnerability and intimacy in love and the longing and understanding after a break up. She masterfully writes about the what if, the have been, the could be.
July 19, 2022
I vividly remember my experience reading Girl is a Shapeshifter, Higgins’ debut poetry collection; I was sat by the kitchen counter and with every few poems I’d ask to read them aloud to my partner. In her first collection I felt I had found a kindred spirit and writer. And so, it has been an honour to read Mermaid Lungs in advance of its release.
The opening few poems are both brilliant and set the tone of this collection as exploratory and very much a product of the world we have lived in recently with the advent of the pandemic, as well as the ability to now view anything which came before lockdown as blissful.
Split into six parts, the first begins the collection with a sense of love for oneself and focuses on the discovery of ourselves, particularly as we experience our twenties. The years in which we feel haggard by the world, yet hold youth still so firmly and are told we understand nothing of life. Higgins captures these juxtapositions perfectly.
The section on lockdown was incredibly moving. The spider poems (oh, sweet Deidre) filled me with such longing, loneliness and yet hope. While poems like ‘the drunk girls screaming outside my house at 4am’ and ‘if you knew how to love me’ are stunning displays of Higgins’ talent at capturing people and connection.
Throughout the collection as a whole I came to admire how Higgins marries celestial imagery with the natural world to encapsulate human emotion, both how insignificant and significant we can feel. A lovely example of this is ‘guy fawkes, 2020’ as Higgins balances across the past and present and evokes childhood nostalgia and freedom beautifully.
Higgins’ use of colloquialisms is effective in poems like ‘undying’, she makes her work relatable and almost yours in how she speaks to you from the pages. ‘The astronaut’ is also a phenomenal example of this and again demonstrates Higgins’ unique voice.
Finally, the ending is gorgeously sweet. I put down this collection with a full sense of home and belonging, especially considering how Higgins tackles how fragmented society, relationships and our reflections have been in the past few years. Mermaid Lungs will leave you feeling whole and, importantly, not alone. A brilliant successor to Girl is a Shapeshifter.
The opening few poems are both brilliant and set the tone of this collection as exploratory and very much a product of the world we have lived in recently with the advent of the pandemic, as well as the ability to now view anything which came before lockdown as blissful.
Split into six parts, the first begins the collection with a sense of love for oneself and focuses on the discovery of ourselves, particularly as we experience our twenties. The years in which we feel haggard by the world, yet hold youth still so firmly and are told we understand nothing of life. Higgins captures these juxtapositions perfectly.
The section on lockdown was incredibly moving. The spider poems (oh, sweet Deidre) filled me with such longing, loneliness and yet hope. While poems like ‘the drunk girls screaming outside my house at 4am’ and ‘if you knew how to love me’ are stunning displays of Higgins’ talent at capturing people and connection.
Throughout the collection as a whole I came to admire how Higgins marries celestial imagery with the natural world to encapsulate human emotion, both how insignificant and significant we can feel. A lovely example of this is ‘guy fawkes, 2020’ as Higgins balances across the past and present and evokes childhood nostalgia and freedom beautifully.
Higgins’ use of colloquialisms is effective in poems like ‘undying’, she makes her work relatable and almost yours in how she speaks to you from the pages. ‘The astronaut’ is also a phenomenal example of this and again demonstrates Higgins’ unique voice.
Finally, the ending is gorgeously sweet. I put down this collection with a full sense of home and belonging, especially considering how Higgins tackles how fragmented society, relationships and our reflections have been in the past few years. Mermaid Lungs will leave you feeling whole and, importantly, not alone. A brilliant successor to Girl is a Shapeshifter.
November 6, 2022
I really liked this book. The Poems were honest, raw and real! I thought they were absolutely beautiful and inspiring. My one of my favourites from the book was one called “Yellow”. This book made me fall in love with poetry and inspired me so much!
December 13, 2022
Mermaid Lungs is soft and sometimes whimsical in the way it describes heartbreak – both romantic loss and the collective emptiness felt during isolation over the past few years – providing a cushion for the pain, almost comforting, bearable. It conjures up feelings of familiarity, endearing the reader, making them feel less alone.
The collection feels youthful in its approach to life: full of curiosity and hope. New love is welcomed and celebrated, unguarded. Higgins paints vivid pictures within her poems, taking smallness and making it big, making it important.
Introspection is encouraged. She encapsulates early adulthood and the drive to find your place: her poetry asks the question, how can I belong in a way that is truthful? And also, how can I show up as my most authentic self and be at peace with that? Though not answered directly, these are eternally human musings, and Higgins explores them beautifully here.
Throughout Mermaid Lungs, the natural world collides with the industrial one: complex emotions are illustrated in both the lush, freshness of an untainted meadow and the humming, lively streets of a major city. In either case, we are made to feel part of something; earthly, while reading.
The collection feels youthful in its approach to life: full of curiosity and hope. New love is welcomed and celebrated, unguarded. Higgins paints vivid pictures within her poems, taking smallness and making it big, making it important.
Introspection is encouraged. She encapsulates early adulthood and the drive to find your place: her poetry asks the question, how can I belong in a way that is truthful? And also, how can I show up as my most authentic self and be at peace with that? Though not answered directly, these are eternally human musings, and Higgins explores them beautifully here.
Throughout Mermaid Lungs, the natural world collides with the industrial one: complex emotions are illustrated in both the lush, freshness of an untainted meadow and the humming, lively streets of a major city. In either case, we are made to feel part of something; earthly, while reading.
October 18, 2022
Stuffy literature critics often dub the new generation of poetry as lacking in substance and as not being as intelligent, however those of us with a bit more sense understand that poetry has stayed the same, just adapted to modern circumstances and colloquialisms. We often wonder what would Sylvia Plath be writing on Instagram, what would it look if Charles Bukowski had a tumblr or Maya Angelou had a TikTok? The answer, mixed in with a little bit of Sabrina Benaim in the modern day, can be found in Jasmine Higgins work. Obviously not just Jasmine as one person representing the existence of 20th century poetry in the modern world, but the style she employs and the sheer ability to craft emotionality into words of strong substance. I thought this and told her this the first time I found her work and now, with the release of her Sophomore book ‘Mermaid Lungs’, she’s just displaying this ability on a higher level.
It is the type of book that has you staring at a wall, catching your breath after finishing it, simply for the fact that you have to recover from the strange concept that perhaps other people have similar feelings to you. It’s important to note as well that many poetry books try to do this with quite intentional force. They attempt to plug at unique emotions that we feel to tap into what is relatable and impactful and many are successful. Jasmine, however, is more careful with how many words she uses and focuses more on “what specific situation, what specific existentialist concern exists that isn’t yet represented?” and then goes ahead and finds a place for it. It’s unlikely that the process of writing unfolds itself like this but Mermaid Lungs definitely represents a section of our hearts that feels untapped. Upon first reading, I thought of the image of a secret corridor inside my heart that someone had opened the door to and walked straight through, cleaning the dust from the walls and replacing the bulbs of the lighting.
Mermaid Lungs graduates from some of the poetic identity creation of Jasmine’s first book to present a more confident, sad-but-assured atmospheric tone. The poems are varied but largely centred around feelings of pointlessness, romantic pessimism-cum-optimism, emotional evolution, as well as the gravitational weight of life in the city in tandem with the memory of the countryside. All these poems, though diverse, carry this interlocked intent to stay positive. It feels mostly like Jasmine is merely writing the contents of her mind - as many poets do - and trying to reassure herself before the poem is over. In some cases, this can make a poem lose it’s edge but mostly, Mermaid Lungs benefits from this balance of despairing emotional exhaustion and youthful tender self-reassurance.
It is well positioned as a book for those of us in our 20’s, but one that I think could still resonate with those out of the confines of age demographics too. It is a book for our time, very much focussed on poetry for anyone energetically depleted by the pandemic or looking for some respite from the interpersonal turmoil that it brought up. In short, it’s a book that serves as a worthy follow up to A Girl is a Shapeshifter and builds upon the foundations set in that debut. As written poetry, it is still best read aloud, slowly and with careful appreciation for its content and the way that it ultimately makes you feel and think.
It is the type of book that has you staring at a wall, catching your breath after finishing it, simply for the fact that you have to recover from the strange concept that perhaps other people have similar feelings to you. It’s important to note as well that many poetry books try to do this with quite intentional force. They attempt to plug at unique emotions that we feel to tap into what is relatable and impactful and many are successful. Jasmine, however, is more careful with how many words she uses and focuses more on “what specific situation, what specific existentialist concern exists that isn’t yet represented?” and then goes ahead and finds a place for it. It’s unlikely that the process of writing unfolds itself like this but Mermaid Lungs definitely represents a section of our hearts that feels untapped. Upon first reading, I thought of the image of a secret corridor inside my heart that someone had opened the door to and walked straight through, cleaning the dust from the walls and replacing the bulbs of the lighting.
Mermaid Lungs graduates from some of the poetic identity creation of Jasmine’s first book to present a more confident, sad-but-assured atmospheric tone. The poems are varied but largely centred around feelings of pointlessness, romantic pessimism-cum-optimism, emotional evolution, as well as the gravitational weight of life in the city in tandem with the memory of the countryside. All these poems, though diverse, carry this interlocked intent to stay positive. It feels mostly like Jasmine is merely writing the contents of her mind - as many poets do - and trying to reassure herself before the poem is over. In some cases, this can make a poem lose it’s edge but mostly, Mermaid Lungs benefits from this balance of despairing emotional exhaustion and youthful tender self-reassurance.
It is well positioned as a book for those of us in our 20’s, but one that I think could still resonate with those out of the confines of age demographics too. It is a book for our time, very much focussed on poetry for anyone energetically depleted by the pandemic or looking for some respite from the interpersonal turmoil that it brought up. In short, it’s a book that serves as a worthy follow up to A Girl is a Shapeshifter and builds upon the foundations set in that debut. As written poetry, it is still best read aloud, slowly and with careful appreciation for its content and the way that it ultimately makes you feel and think.
October 15, 2025
Mermaid Lungs by Jasmine S. Higgins is a hauntingly introspective collection that drifts between the ordinary and the extraordinary between the ache of existing and the fear of fading away. Through language that feels both fluid and razor sharp, Higgins captures the duality of human longing: the pull toward freedom and the weight of reality.
Each poem feels like a breath held underwater shimmering, aching, and full of truth. The “mermaid” becomes a stunning metaphor for modern existence: caught between worlds, reaching for balance between body and soul, desire and restraint, motion and stillness. Higgins’s voice is intimate yet universal, confronting loneliness, identity, and quiet survival with raw honesty and poetic grace.
Mermaid Lungs isn’t just a book of poems it’s an emotional tide that draws readers into reflection, urging them to surface more whole, more awake, and more human.
Each poem feels like a breath held underwater shimmering, aching, and full of truth. The “mermaid” becomes a stunning metaphor for modern existence: caught between worlds, reaching for balance between body and soul, desire and restraint, motion and stillness. Higgins’s voice is intimate yet universal, confronting loneliness, identity, and quiet survival with raw honesty and poetic grace.
Mermaid Lungs isn’t just a book of poems it’s an emotional tide that draws readers into reflection, urging them to surface more whole, more awake, and more human.
July 19, 2022
Jasmine Higgins does it again with a plethora of poems that hug you warmly and expand your self-actualisation, helping you to understand the world through her eyes, a perspective it would seem, that is vibrant and intimate and absolutely charming in every way.
I cannot recommend this enough, for all ages but certainly for the young and restless.
I cannot recommend this enough, for all ages but certainly for the young and restless.
August 13, 2025
Covid vibes + good if u have ever been hurt by disappointing boys + are sensitive to the world around u, really really good she should be more popular
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February 24, 2026you learn my poems but you still don’t know me at all
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews