What do you think?
Rate this book
Belly
This is Bucknife's poetic compilation of beauty in all its rawest forms. 'Belly' will gift you with a full spectrum of gutting emotions.
- GenresPoetry
92 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2023
75 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 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 6, 2023
I was lucky enough to interview poet Nico Demers for a book review for the Daily Aztec Newspaper. Below is my profile.
A breeze blows through the leaves near San Diego State University’s turtle pond as I sit across from poet and SDSU student Nico Demers, with a copy of his newly released poetry collection, Belly, in my hands. The peaceful, almost pastoral setting serves as a fitting backdrop for our discussion of his work. A collection of three chapters that offer meditations on love, family, the body, and the violent beauty that runs through each, Demers’ work features frequent references to nature as a metaphor for both the self and the transcendent. Before the poems even begin, the collection is dedicated to the ocean.
“Yes, it's dedicated to the literal ocean, but I've always considered my house an ocean, my life an ocean, the love that I'm experiencing an ocean.” Demers tells me. This dedication is a beautiful introduction to the first section of poems, Mirror, which blissfully describes the religious nature of young love. In perhaps his most well-known poem, I am a Catholic, Demers writes, “I nailed my hands on her hips like they were a cross / At night, / I kneel at my bedside and pray to my God / that looks just like her. / I am religiously in love.” The chapter that follows explores the relationship between religion and love, begging to argue that the two may be one and the same. “Love is absolutely a religion in the way you devote yourself to it, the way you practice it, and the way you constantly come to it in times of desperation and in times of happiness.” Demers says.
The first section, Mirror, paints a picture that matches this theme: the transcendence of the body through love. Demers explores his spirituality in conjunction with his love and affection for his girlfriend, Quinnie, by tying all the themes together with one of the collection’s most prevalent symbols: the body. Demers is unambiguous in his association with the body and the transcendent, stating, “In every piece of religion and almost every piece of literature, there's a constant obsession with the body. It’s the one persistent thing in your life. And with that persistence comes hating your body, loving your body, touching another body, wanting to escape the body or come back to your body. So it's the one thing that we can't get rid of, and it's this one thing that's always going to be with us.”
The second section, Tree, moves into work that is much thornier, with Demers calling it the “most painfully cathartic part of the book to write.” The catharsis of the section is jarring as Demers digs into childhood trauma, switching between adult remembrance of the pain and child-like first-person retellings of events before landing on a mature acceptance and forgiveness. The section painfully delves into the memories of Demers’ parents’ divorce, stating in the poem Molding, “I hate looking through old things. / It makes me feel again. / It makes my limbs shake.” This line encapsulates the theme of the entire second section: the pain of looking back over memories we would prefer to forget.
Tree builds upon the nature metaphors of the first section, transforming the idyllic love poems into a sobering look at the death and decay inherent in all things natural. In a line that is sure to leap out at readers, Demers writes, “And I already know when I do get married / I am probably going to get divorced.” After reading nearly forty pages about Demers’ love for the subject of Mirror, it can shock the reader to see this sort of line. Of the line, Demers said, “I wanted the book to open in this place where it feels so good. So, I write about this incredibly youthful kind of love. But then Tree is supposed to be the signifier of my progression from childhood to adulthood. I wanted to throw in these moments where I had these darker thoughts, where suddenly, I started thinking love isn't always this beautiful, happy thing.” Tree is undoubtedly open and raw in its depiction of the pain and the pleasure that comes along with all kinds of love.
The collection closes with a section entitled Cut. The poems continue the theme of the body as transcendent but complicate the emotions by including the spirituality in enduring disordered eating. Demers tells me, “When you have that horrible relationship with food, the religious part is starving yourself. So, in the same way that you're religiously in love and you devote your all to it, you're religiously starving.” The poems of this section are shocking for their unguarded vulnerability and emotional intensity.
In the poem Weight-ins, Demers writes, “I wake up mornings limping back to the scale like a / church. / I mount my feet on it like a cross and worship my / weight.” After sections describing romantic love and exploring childhood trauma, the final section of Belly is perfectly unpolished in its depiction of ongoing suffering. Demers reminds readers that there is beauty and pain in all things, but through the confusion comes transcendence. Cut concludes the collection masterfully by bringing full circle the theme of the body.
The cover of Belly features a photograph of Demers as a child, frowning on his way to his first communion. Behind him lies a crucifix and the Pacific Ocean, beautifully encompassing the themes and messages that lie within the collection.
“So the body is sort of the ribbon tied around the entire collection?” I ask Demers.
“Yeah.” He smiles, “Yeah, it is.”
A breeze blows through the leaves near San Diego State University’s turtle pond as I sit across from poet and SDSU student Nico Demers, with a copy of his newly released poetry collection, Belly, in my hands. The peaceful, almost pastoral setting serves as a fitting backdrop for our discussion of his work. A collection of three chapters that offer meditations on love, family, the body, and the violent beauty that runs through each, Demers’ work features frequent references to nature as a metaphor for both the self and the transcendent. Before the poems even begin, the collection is dedicated to the ocean.
“Yes, it's dedicated to the literal ocean, but I've always considered my house an ocean, my life an ocean, the love that I'm experiencing an ocean.” Demers tells me. This dedication is a beautiful introduction to the first section of poems, Mirror, which blissfully describes the religious nature of young love. In perhaps his most well-known poem, I am a Catholic, Demers writes, “I nailed my hands on her hips like they were a cross / At night, / I kneel at my bedside and pray to my God / that looks just like her. / I am religiously in love.” The chapter that follows explores the relationship between religion and love, begging to argue that the two may be one and the same. “Love is absolutely a religion in the way you devote yourself to it, the way you practice it, and the way you constantly come to it in times of desperation and in times of happiness.” Demers says.
The first section, Mirror, paints a picture that matches this theme: the transcendence of the body through love. Demers explores his spirituality in conjunction with his love and affection for his girlfriend, Quinnie, by tying all the themes together with one of the collection’s most prevalent symbols: the body. Demers is unambiguous in his association with the body and the transcendent, stating, “In every piece of religion and almost every piece of literature, there's a constant obsession with the body. It’s the one persistent thing in your life. And with that persistence comes hating your body, loving your body, touching another body, wanting to escape the body or come back to your body. So it's the one thing that we can't get rid of, and it's this one thing that's always going to be with us.”
The second section, Tree, moves into work that is much thornier, with Demers calling it the “most painfully cathartic part of the book to write.” The catharsis of the section is jarring as Demers digs into childhood trauma, switching between adult remembrance of the pain and child-like first-person retellings of events before landing on a mature acceptance and forgiveness. The section painfully delves into the memories of Demers’ parents’ divorce, stating in the poem Molding, “I hate looking through old things. / It makes me feel again. / It makes my limbs shake.” This line encapsulates the theme of the entire second section: the pain of looking back over memories we would prefer to forget.
Tree builds upon the nature metaphors of the first section, transforming the idyllic love poems into a sobering look at the death and decay inherent in all things natural. In a line that is sure to leap out at readers, Demers writes, “And I already know when I do get married / I am probably going to get divorced.” After reading nearly forty pages about Demers’ love for the subject of Mirror, it can shock the reader to see this sort of line. Of the line, Demers said, “I wanted the book to open in this place where it feels so good. So, I write about this incredibly youthful kind of love. But then Tree is supposed to be the signifier of my progression from childhood to adulthood. I wanted to throw in these moments where I had these darker thoughts, where suddenly, I started thinking love isn't always this beautiful, happy thing.” Tree is undoubtedly open and raw in its depiction of the pain and the pleasure that comes along with all kinds of love.
The collection closes with a section entitled Cut. The poems continue the theme of the body as transcendent but complicate the emotions by including the spirituality in enduring disordered eating. Demers tells me, “When you have that horrible relationship with food, the religious part is starving yourself. So, in the same way that you're religiously in love and you devote your all to it, you're religiously starving.” The poems of this section are shocking for their unguarded vulnerability and emotional intensity.
In the poem Weight-ins, Demers writes, “I wake up mornings limping back to the scale like a / church. / I mount my feet on it like a cross and worship my / weight.” After sections describing romantic love and exploring childhood trauma, the final section of Belly is perfectly unpolished in its depiction of ongoing suffering. Demers reminds readers that there is beauty and pain in all things, but through the confusion comes transcendence. Cut concludes the collection masterfully by bringing full circle the theme of the body.
The cover of Belly features a photograph of Demers as a child, frowning on his way to his first communion. Behind him lies a crucifix and the Pacific Ocean, beautifully encompassing the themes and messages that lie within the collection.
“So the body is sort of the ribbon tied around the entire collection?” I ask Demers.
“Yeah.” He smiles, “Yeah, it is.”
May 16, 2025
so beautifully written
February 4, 2023
Nico writes with a wisdom far beyond his years, while also fully encapsulating the bliss of youth. This third edition proves he has found his voice and knows exactly what he wants to say and how he is going to say it. I can’t wait to see how his work evolves with further publications.
April 13, 2025
3,5 stars ! I think it’s a refreshing collection of poems that you can read in about an hour max. I think these are the sort of poems you’d rather they be read to you though. Demers’s words would resonate more if you could **hear** them.
Nonetheless, the wording was pretty accessible but I think the repeated motifs/words did make it lose a bit of its credibility. But overall, it was accessible and a light read :)
Nonetheless, the wording was pretty accessible but I think the repeated motifs/words did make it lose a bit of its credibility. But overall, it was accessible and a light read :)
May 1, 2023
This book is such a raw expression of love like eeee!!Nico DEMERS —he knows who I am!!!!— has such a vivid tone that you can feel the gut wrenching emotion twist as you flicker through his stanza. I would recommend this to anyone that’s a sucker for poetry
June 28, 2023
It was good, even beautiful in places. But incredibly repetitive: the same words/phrases/motifs, again and again, that ended up detracting from the anthology- it ended up coming across as unimaginative. As stand-alone poems they were great, but as a collection, I'm not so sure.
September 6, 2023
I am excited to see more from this author. His placement of words is powerful in this collection
February 23, 2023
Wow, I took a chance on a poet I found through TikTok and I think it worked out. I really enjoyed a lot of the work in this book. It deals with love, complex family relationships, and body image in some intriguing ways. I enjoyed it!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews