Rating: 5/5 stars
This poetry book features an eccentric style of writing that was perfect for my taste: free verse poetry that requires you to think below surface-level words and dig out layers of meaning and imagery embedded in the sentences. It is poetry that doesn't always make sense at first but still exudes an ethereal quality, poetry that has a life-altering impact once it's read four times and the words connect and sink in. This kind of poetry isn't for everyone, but it is for me.
Even the presentation of the poems add to the quality of the collection: every word is in lower case font without punctuation. The visual style changes from poem to poem, cutting phrases in pieces between lines and ending so abruptly that it slices you like a razor blade. But it's beautiful.
The Hour Wasp is a literary collection of poems not meant for the uneducated, the non-dreamers, or the faint of heart. It is raw, it is dark, it is honest. This collection is made of otherworldly imagery that will transport you to another time and place, one you only wish you could reside in forever. And when you come back to your suddenly sullen reality after the last page, you'll be tempted to leap back into that dream state of chaos created by the elegantly occult poems.
Also included in this book are absolutely stunningly beautiful black ink watercolor paintings of earthly creations. The only improvement I would make to this book would be to add more artwork like that which already exists inside.
I struggled to pick only one quotation to include, but here is my favourite part, lines from a poem titled [my fingers damp in a ruined dream]:
her fingers / exhume vellum word-coffins / from pockets no hands should find . . . & the rude beauty whispers: plant the bones / know they'll grow to become the flowers / ours will never beThis is a book that I will read time and time again because it had that much of an impact on me.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ebook in exchange for an honest review.
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