Walrath’s Glimmerglass Girl is an intense collection of poetry that speaks out from the first page. Not for the faint of heart, it’s open, but sharp as Walrath doesn’t shy away from letting her readers see the blood, even if she lets it drip across flowers and suburban kitchen countertops ... This collection...is a deep look into an archetypal modern soul, and the sheer exhibitionism of it lends strength to each poem. Have you ever lost an argument because someone pointed out the painfully obvious and emotionally damaging mistake that was right in front of your face? Glimmerglass Girl is an entire book of exactly that. You feel bad reading it, and worse you didn’t read it sooner.
While there is an overriding theme of feminism and femininity—whatever that is and means to each one of us—in these poems, Walrath has also created a collection of poetry and images that encourage readers to be more than they perceive themselves to be. When she uses phrases like 'tuck it into your manly smile,' the boundary between male and female seems monetarily inconsequential and moot ... Glimmerglass Girl is a petite homage to classic poets and modern-day, poetic groundbreakers alike. Holly Lyn Walrath has a style all her own, and its worth sampling when you’re ready to acquire a new taste...I’m grateful to have found this petite, fluttering tome of poetry when I did.
Glimmerglass Girl, from Finishing Line Press...is bold yet delicate, sharp, intricate, and woven with fragile strength, there are many things to like. The first a reader might notice is the interplay of words and images, something many writers attempt but not always with such success. Glimmerglass Girl uses classic and vintage fairy tale images to give the book an aura of innocence and nostalgia ... But this is not a children’s book, and the reader quickly understands that innocence and nostalgia is working to contrast darker, more serious subjects ... This dichotomy of delicate and strong, girl and woman, power and power distorted comes through beautifully in this debut chapbook of illustrated poems.
