Bad Weather Mammals by Ashley-Elizabeth Best is an atmospheric exploration of disability, abuse and death. Best's poetry is steeped in imagery and metaphor, while her use of form ranges from utilising the traditional, to clever manipulation of government forms to demonstrate how disability and trauma permeate the everyday.

While these topics have certainly been written about before and will no doubt be written about for years to come - Best's injection of personal experience ensures this collection is fresh. From start to finish, her poetic style and voice are strongly established and maintained; a strength defying the people and systems bent on stifling the speaker's voice.

And thus, while Best's narrative is not linear and nor does this collection tout to be a way of healing, there is hope in the sheer defiance and ferocity felt in these poems. Bad Weather Mammals conveys an admirable desire to live.

𝑩𝒂𝒅 𝑾𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞) 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧—𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭-𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐰.

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒜𝓈𝒽𝓁𝑒𝓎-𝐸𝓁𝒾𝓏𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓉𝒽 𝐵𝑒𝓈𝓉, 𝐸𝒞𝒲 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Dark and Beautifully written poems. I love poetry that's like this when it feels raw and emotional.

"My teeth lean to the curve of words I’m too afraid to say,"

I was given a copy from Netgally for an honest review.

**Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press of the eARC of this touching collection.**

While I have a hard time reviewing poetry, I can say that this was one of my favorite collections I have read in the past couple of years. I felt deeply for the narrator and our society as a whole, as they reflected on being disabled and the challenges that carries with it.

Some of the poems in this collection also felt like they were about womanhood and how sometimes things happen to us outside of our control. These poems perfectly capture the helplessness of just floating along when we aren't able to impact the external stressors that we face.

In lieu of a longer review, here are my favorite quotes from this collection:

"Fear was so real it held space."

"Those you love don't need you unless you're suffering."

"...where I can believe the mind is in the head and nobody is missing."

"Everyone wants to hear how your mind has betrayed you, but there was no disloyalty, just little stories you didn't know how to tell."

Bad Weather Mammals is an incredible collection. Striking, moving, some pages found me holding my breath.