Name: swallowtail
ISBN: 9781943735730

Brenna Twohy

Swallowtail, a collection of poetry by Brenna Twohy is a deep dive into the dissection of popular culture, and how the brightness and horrors of it can be mirrors into the daily lived experiences of women in America.

swallowtail

Syrina

what an insolent woman I have become. knowing exactly how sweet I am on a hungry man's tongue, & handing him the stone of me. peach pits are poisonous. this is not a mistake. girlhood is growing fruit around cyanide. it will never be yours for the swallowing.

A cage of gentle hands is still a cage, and I know this now.

not being there is the kindest thing you have ever done

I have terrible instincts about what is unsafe.

There is only the way he fills out crossword puzzles. Adding on boxes where his answers don't fit. 

Swallowtail: A deep dive into the dissection of popular culture, and how the brightness and horrors of it can be mirrors into the daily lived experiences of women in America.

Poems

Swallowtail

The words and concepts often felt like they were recycled and too ordinary. There were a few pieces that I liked, but her writing is not really my type

Stephanie Midolo

"grief is not a feeling
but a neighborhood.

this is where I come from.
everyone still lives there."

This collection of poetry tells a few beautiful and heartbreaking stories of loss. Loss of love, loss of family, loss of self. I'm blown away. From the first line of the first poem, Brenna Twohy's grief is evident. She doesn't shy away from it but instead lays it all out there. This is the best collection of poetry I've read in 2019.

Thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry for an Advanced Reade Copy.

Ariel Duke

I am a poet at heart even though I read other things most of the time. So when I saw that Button Poetry had released another book I was beyond excited. When I realized it was written by Brenna Twohy, I could not wait to get my hands on it. It takes real talent to convey as much emotion as they page as someone does while performing spoken word and Brenna did not disappoint. Her depiction of coming to grips with "healing" from grief and trauma is something that I feel many of our generation can and do relate to. I know I did. 

The experiences shown in this work are ones that are sadly very common place in our society and need to be talked about more even though they can be hard for survivors to talk about.

Shannon O’Connor 

I really loved this collection. it was unique and not exactly what I expected but it surprised me in a good way.

swallowtail

Reviews

Highlights