Our Wild Magic

by

Amanda Linsmeier

Blurb:

'for the cursed the wicked the wild the charmed for those in their ever after and for those on their way A fairytale-inspired poetry collection in five parts from author Amanda Linsmeier.'

My review:

Our Wild Magic will appeal to any romantics, as it did to me - a whimsical book, which is ultimately rooted in reality. Amanda describes our own lives as 'enchanted' - more than any story. There are different styles of poetry throughout and i enjoyed the variety. There are patterns within the sections - for example, the black out poems taken from Linsmeier's favourite poets, prose poetry and very short and compact poems. Poems such as 'Snow White' had echoes of Amanda Lovelace's 'The Princess Saves Herself In This One' - Amanda wants us to wake ourselves up and stop waiting. The black out poems were the strongest for me: 'suddenly/twist out of element, a kick of air/ recoiling under ripples, leaving/ torn to repair/ and I experience a small completeness'- think Amanda has an eye for drawing out powerful imagery from the original poems. For me, the fairtytale similes and metaphors felt overdone and occasionally, the book fell into a few cliques. Word and imagery repetition make some poems feel similar.

Buy the book here.

About Amanda Linsmeier:

Amanda Linsmeier is the author of Ditch Flowers (Penner Publishing, 2015) and Beach Glass & Other Broken Things. Her writing has been featured in Feminine Collective, Portage Magazine, Literary Mama, and Brain, Child Magazine. Besides poetry, she loves fables, fairytales, and fantasy, and sometimes she pretends her Hogwarts letter is still coming.

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