RaveLittle Village... one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read ... Part horror-confessional, part dadaist satire, Nightbitch is amazingly accessible. Offering a prayer in solidarity with other mothers, author Rachel Yoder addresses the cult of motherhood and productivity; of those perfect happy mothers who are impossibly put-together and also always involved in pyramid schemes; and the great isolation that comes from being a stay-at-home mom ... Fanciful and strange and seductively violent (I want to give a content warning for one scene of violence against a domestic animal), it is unfair to say that Nightbitch is only about motherhood, as not even motherhood is only about motherhood. Nightbitch is about identity and aging and the meaning of life in a body. It is (as it accurately self-describes in a meta moment) about \'feral femininity.\'
Donika Kelly
RaveLittle VillageDonika Kelly’s The Renunciations sees its greatest impact when panned out to see the full picture. Zooming out adds nuance. On the whole, Kelly is, as the title suggests, rejecting the contents inside ... The renunciations, then, are Kelly’s reckoning. This elegiac collection on divorce and trauma, when seen from a distance, is a rebellion ... The poems collected here, especially early on, have the accessible, short-phrase-deep-sentiment vibe of Instagram poets ... While reading, I realized I am a giant hypocrite. Language is made to be understood ... And Kelly blurs the line that snobs like me think separates accessible from artful. After some content warnings, I’d give The Renunciations to folks hoping to start reading poetry who believe they don’t \'get it\' ... The Renunciations is an approachable example of the great variety of shapes and techniques that poetry can assume. I’d accuse Kelly of showing off if the collection weren’t so deeply vulnerable ... Kelly passes through conversational, poignant, confessional and, through the collection, moves from the moments of acute pain to the moment when healing begins.
