This is a really great collection of poems and the depth of grief is so poignant. I read Kelly’s collection first, and then to read Cass’ and see how they have an overwhelming absence in their life after Kelly’s death, it just really hits the heart so good.

This collection of poems quite literally killed me. I think I read it with teary eyes and a blurred vision as I couldn't quite crying. This is full of feels, the word choices will hurt your heart yet there is a hope for healing. Loved it a lot!

Dealing with the aftermath of their partner’s unexpected death due to suicide, this collection of poetry by Cass Donish had me in tears.

I love reading poetry because so few words can speak so loudly and this collection definitely did. I could feel the heartbreak and grief in these poems.

I rated this collection five stars because the power of words in these poems speaks volumes and I could feel every heartbreak.

Wow…

Cass Donish has created such a powerful and heartbreaking collection of poetry that somehow manages to be both a mournful remembrance of Kelly Caldwell and a celebration of her life.

Writing about the death of your lover is difficult on its own, but to do so while navigating a global pandemic and lockdown is an entirely different feat, one that Donish does exceptionally well.

This is a heartwrenching collection of visceral grief and endless love. I’m honestly at a loss for words.

5⭐️

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and Knopf, however my review is completely unbiased and is my own personal opinion left of my own volition.

Your Dazzling Death by Cass Donish is a breathtaking, gut-wrenching exploration of grief that feels like a raw wound laid bare on the page. Written in the aftermath of their partner Kelly Caldwell’s suicide, Donish's poems are a hauntingly beautiful testament to love that transcends time and space. The way Donish captures the disorientation of mourning, especially within the confines of the global pandemic, is nothing short of extraordinary. The collection doesn’t just dwell in sorrow; it pulses with life, with the fierce affirmation of their partner’s trans identity and the love that continues to exist in this strange, liminal space between worlds. The language is so vivid, so alive, that you can almost feel the weight of each word pressing against your chest. This is more than poetry—it’s a ritual, a reclaiming, and a testament to the enduring power of love even in the face of unimaginable loss. If you’ve ever felt the depths of grief, or loved someone so deeply that the lines between life and death blur, this collection will resonate with you in the most profound way.

This was brilliant, beautiful, and extremely hard to read. In these poems, Donish processes the death of their partner by suicide, and I’m at a loss as I try to think of what’s appropriate to write in a review. These poems are art and pain laid bare. They embody the craft of a brilliant poet grappling with unimaginable grief while at the same time holding so much love. They are a testament to how important Kelly Caldwell was to Donish and the world around her, and Your Dazzling Death is a powerful and moving tribute.

Your Dazzling Death is a poetry collection that deeply examines grief and its very personal experience left to those who loved and lost someone. It doesn't take the typical approach to the topic, as it shouldn't, because of how grief can be different for everyone. I can't imagine anyone who has lost someone close to them wouldn't be moved by this stunning, unique collection of thoughts and images.

Your Dazzling Death by Cass Donish is a deeply moving collection that navigates the delicate balance between beauty and sorrow. Donish’s poems are intimate and raw, exploring themes of love, loss, and the inevitable passage of time with a tenderness that resonates on every page. The language is vivid and poignant, drawing you into moments that feel both personal and universal. This collection is a gentle reminder of the dazzling light that can emerge from even the darkest experiences, making it a truly touching read.

This was a beautiful work of grief.

When we read something as personal as this we tend to bring our personal into it. I had a partner who died because of her addictions and I remember the hole that left in me. I remember the devastation. I remember how it was at once seemed a surprise and an inevitability. So as I read these poems it was impossible not to superimpose my own experience onto Donish’s work.

For me, I felt seen and confirmed in my feelings. Donish works through the beauty and struggle of life with Caldwell: their meeting, and Caldwell’s illness, and how much they loved each other.

Donish never seems to lose sight of the idea that whether they like it or not their life has to go on even though it feels just as if Caldwell took both of their lives at once.

These poems hit me in the stomach with their pain and with their hope.

This is a companion piece to Caldwell’s posthumously published work Letters to Forget.

I loved the poems. I was especially moved by Via Negativa. I also really enjoyed the intextual inclusion of The History of Violets by Marosa di Giorgio. Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy!

This book of poems had moments that were incredibly profound followed by just as many moments that made me question why they were in the book. I understand that a good chunk of this book was built on grieving but there didn't feel like there was a light at the end of the tunnel or any true joy to be gleamed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for providing an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

5 out of 5 stars

Your Dazzling Death is a collection of poetry by Cass Donish, partner to Kelly Caldwell in the years prior to her suicide.

The titular poem is a wreck, as in it wrecked me and as in I could feel the wreck in Cass that was left by Kelly's absence. The whole of the works are devastating and bleeding loss and grief, still a beautiful tribute to a fierce love. I have lost, and this howling heartache checks in me.

It's the pulsing, throbbing silence in the ears of the ones left behind. Via Negativa (the first one) broke me in its familiarity.

It is a rare poem that can draw tears, but there were a lot in here that had my nose stinging, and more than a couple that actually had me crying.

I couldn't finish. It was too experimental for me, to the point that some of the poems didn't make sense to me. I relate to some lines, but the overall, general idea of the project was disorganzied to me.

I will admit that once I spied Cass Donish's I initially resisted it. Still, I kept looking back at it and knew that it was a book I needed to read.

As someone whose partner also died by suicide, I am drawn to writers who find a way to go deep into the soul of loss, memory, and the intertwining journeys of what it means to live and love.

Written in the aftermath of their partner's suicide, Cass Donish's "Your Dazzling Death" radiates as
grief ritual, observance of queer place, and deep honoring of nonbinary/trans love.

It's difficult to describe "Your Dazzling Death" without somehow compromising Donish's profound and deeply moving words, equally embracing of light and dark and life and loss and the body's place within the universe. Donish writes with tremendous vulnerability and yet empowerment and resolution, the loss of partner and poet Kelly Caldwell just as the global pandemic was unfolding in 2020. "Your Dazzling Death" is elegy, a conversational lament and claiming of a new reality that attempts to make sense of the senseless. "Kelly in Violet" is a masterpiece grounded within the work of Uruguayan poet Marosa di Giorgio, presented in ways that both linger and fade.

There isn't a poem that feels as if it doesn't belong here. There isn't a poem that feels out of place here. Donish's work feels as if it's free-flowing, non-linear, and yet also present everywhere. Love and grief exist in one tapestry, Donish's journey feeling both stunningly intimate yet also universal. It's a journey that resonated with my own, a now long ago loss different in a myriad of ways yet possessing of common ground and a seemingly universal bridge.

"Your Dazzling Death" is that rare poetry collection that makes me want to immediately immerse myself in an author's writings. It creates a demand that I come to know better this Cass Donish and their literary world. This is a collection that both devastates yet somehow also exhilarates.

As soon as I finished "Your Dazzling Death," I needed to read it again.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC!

Conceived as a partner piece to the late Kelly Caldwell’s "Letters to Forget," Cass Donish’s "Your Dazzling Death" is an extended reflection on grief.

If readers choose to read both books (which feels almost necessary), I recommend starting with "Letters to Forget" because Donish’s collection offers the catharsis that book aches for. The poet dwells in sorrow, but they seem animated by the power of naming it. Where Caldwell’s book is often elusive and bleak, "Your Dazzling Death" is specific and—surprisingly—hopeful.

Let me explain—

I noted in my review for "Letters to Forget" that many of those poems wrestle with a world where there is no space for Caldwell, but Donish tenderly creates that space here. That alone feels like an act of hope. These are intensely imagistic and material poems, and they read like an open-armed embrace of Caldwell and all of her pain. They imagine a world with room enough for their love.

I struggle to find a good way to describe the book, but the first word that comes to mind is “symphonic.” The speaker often writes with a euphoric bombast, and it feels like such a conscious response to the self-erasing insularity of Caldwell’s book. These poems are not an elegy—they are a monument.

They are evidence that grief can expand our capacity for love rather than shrink it.

I originally decided to read this because I am drawn to narratives that focus on queerness, transness, and grief, and the description touched on all of those factors. I'm a pretty classic dude who doesn't cry at stuff, but within the first few poems I was reduced to tears, which didn't stop for the remainder of the book. Donish has created a truly devastating collection of poetry mourning the suicide of their partner, Kelly. Their use of imagery is exquisite, and every line ached with love and loss. I was especially affected by the presence of Again Street Park in the text, which is a place I had been to before when I lived in Columbia. Very haunting to think that I've unknowingly been at the site of someone's great tragedy and not known it, but I suppose that is true for most anywhere you can go in the world.

I was very touched by this collection, and will be seeking out any additional poetry I can find from Donish.