Cradleland of Parasites
As much as I love horror, I have been reticent to dip my toe
into pandemic related themes preferring
Reading this collection of poems that delves into the events
of the Black Plague served as a reminder for me how poetry can go into a depth
of human emotion that other forms of literature just can not do as
successfully. “The Siege of Caffa” and “Second Pandemic” really tap into the
ways in which a pandemic does deeply affect the surrounding culture. “Bills of
Mortality” and “Bubonic Litany” utilizes body horror to demonstrate illness does
to a person’s psyche. “48 Skeletons” ,“Medico Della Peste” and “Death Knell” are just a few of the poems
that display the horrific nature of grief. The entire collection seems to touch
on the different ways that a plague can effect someone emotionally.
I wish I could lift just one phrase to demonstrate the dark
beauty that this book is---but then I would want to just quote the whole book.
Sara Tatlinger continuously uses images and phrases that make me marvel at what
a brilliant poet that she is. I would highly recommend this book to lovers of
dark poetry…or to anyone who wants poetry that is relevant to living in a
pandemic.
Considering that fatal pandemics are themes in horror
literature, I am sure no one would have ever thought that anyone might need
dive into this theme to process the reality around them instead of merely looking
at them as a dystopic fantasy. But now that I have read this collection of
poetry, I must admit that I am beginning to feel more courageous to finally dip
my toe into Paul Trembaly’s Survivor
Song or Stephen King’s The
Stand.
(I am also publishing this review on Amazon and Goodreads)
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