Pages: 74
Publisher:
New Binary Press
Released:
2013
Dog Eared Review by Lindsey Lewis Smithson (review contributor)
Unexplained
Fevers is Jeannine Hall
Gailey’s
third poetry collection, after Becoming the Villainess and She
Returns to the Floating World. Here she reimagines many classic princesses
and fairy tales as realistic humans operating in the modern world.
Poems
like “Sleeping Beauty Has An MRI,” “A
True Princess Bruises,” and “Things
I Learned In Waiting Rooms,” place
princesses in modern day medical peril that is reminiscent to their fairy tale
dilemmas. Instead of the pristine women readers expect though, the ones who
overcome their problems with the help of men, these women have only their own
inner strength as an aid. Other poems
are similar to “In Which
Jack And Jill Decide Whether To Climb Yet Another Hill” and
“Seascape,” where
the characters have more power over their situations.
For the
most part the concept works; it is an immersive and realistic collection that
doesn’t
rely too much on its fairy tale origins.
There are a few poems that lean heavily on the artifice and as such the
reader can feel the strain. Oddly there are also a handful of poems entirely
devoid of the fairy tale aspect, which makes me question their inclusion.
Despite these drawbacks Gailey’s poems are a nice break from the
confessional style books that often get published and would be worth spending
an afternoon with on a warm day.
Dog Eared
Pages:
10, 11,
13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 37, 40, 41, 43, 46,
48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 60, 63, 65, 69, 71, 74
Lindsey Lewis Smithson is the Editor of Straight Forward Poetry. Some of her poetry has appeared on The Nervous Breakdown, This Zine Will Change Your Life, The Cossack Review, and Every Writer’s Resource: Everyday Poems.
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