Synopsis:
Choking Back the Devil by Donna Lynch is an invocation, an ancient invitation that summons the darkness within and channels those lonely spirits looking for a host. It’s a collection that lives in the realm of ghosts and family curses, witchcraft and urban legends, and if you’re brave enough to peek behind the veil, the hauntings that permeate these pages will break seals and open doorways, cut throats and shatter mirrors.
You see, these poems are small drownings, all those subtle suffocations that live in that place between our ribs that swells with panic, incubates fear. Lynch shows her readers that sometimes our shadow selves–our secrets–are our sharpest weapons, the knives that rip through flesh, suture pacts with demons, cut deals with entities looking for more than a homecoming, something better, more intimate than family.
It’s about the masks we wear and the reflections we choose not to look at, and what’s most terrifying about the spells is these incantations show that we are the possessed, that we are our greatest monster, and if we look out of the corner of our eyes, sometimes–if we’ve damned ourselves enough–we can catch a glimpse of our own burnings, what monstrosities and mockeries we’re to become.
So cross yourselves and say your prayers. Because in this world, you are the witch and the hunter, the girl and the wolf.
Edition:
Paperback
My Thoughts:
Ok, first things first, I know it’s a little strange that I’ve ‘saved’ my National Poetry Month entries until the end of the month/beginning of the next. Don’t worry, it wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t even know NPM was a thing until a little over a week ago. So you’re going to see a few more of these in the coming days. Now….back to our regularly scheduled program:
I ‘holy shit’ loved this book. It was terribly hard for me to distill it down to just a few favorites, and even harder to pick a favorite passage. Honestly, every word on every page is my favorite. This book is alternately gorgeous and terrifying.
Some of my personal favorites include:
All the Things They Never Tell You
You Alone
The Horse, The Home
Everything You Love
It Just Wasn’t Your Night
but I am not afraid
because I am not alone
and there’s nothing quite like the feeling of being held from the inside.
Honestly, every single entry in this book is my favorite. It’s about possession, and terror, murder, mental illness, and creeping dread. The kind of stuff that takes root inside you and then continues to grow and fester. These poems are so good. They skirt the line between external and internal horrors – what’s “real” versus “just in your head.”
About the Author:
Choking Back the Devil by Donna Lynch is an invocation, an ancient invitation that summons the darkness within and channels those lonely spirits looking for a host. It’s a collection that lives in the realm of ghosts and family curses, witchcraft and urban legends, and if you’re brave enough to peek behind the veil, the hauntings that permeate these pages will break seals and open doorways, cut throats and shatter mirrors.
You see, these poems are small drownings, all those subtle suffocations that live in that place between our ribs that swells with panic, incubates fear. Lynch shows her readers that sometimes our shadow selves–our secrets–are our sharpest weapons, the knives that rip through flesh, suture pacts with demons, cut deals with entities looking for more than a homecoming, something better, more intimate than family.
It’s about the masks we wear and the reflections we choose not to look at, and what’s most terrifying about the spells is these incantations show that we are the possessed, that we are our greatest monster, and if we look out of the corner of our eyes, sometimes–if we’ve damned ourselves enough–we can catch a glimpse of our own burnings, what monstrosities and mockeries we’re to become.
So cross yourselves and say your prayers. Because in this world, you are the witch and the hunter, the girl and the wolf.
Rating:
You should definitely read this.
Choking Back the Devil By Donna Lynch Raw Dog Screaming Press ISBN: 194787912X Published July 17, 2019 Paperback, E-book 98 Pages Publisher's Website
