Though I undersatand there might be reasons as to why this could've been done on purpose, it was not very enjoyable to read a collection of poems that felt random, each of them not quite flowing as they should.

Some lines were really beautiful, still. The kind that would be reblogged on Tumblr or used in an indie song. My main problem is that the beauty of some also tended to make it more apparent that the following poem was not as great.

I received this ARC from Netgalley.

This collection of dark poetry is both rich in imagery and has a good vibe for the more autumnal seasons.
It was a very quick read, and though enjoyable, often became a bit difficult to follow. "The Manuscript" is also repeated a lot, which I understand has a purpose but at times it's a bit too much.
I really like the idea of found poetry and I think that Blythe used Stephen King's 'The plant' in an interesting way.
Unfortunately, I didn't have any emotional connections to this collection, and the story leaves something to be desired.

Thanks to Interstellar Flight Press for the ARC of Necessary Poisons in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed and picked up on the throughline pretty quick, which made sense to me. A woman figuring out her story and where she fits in life both with herself and others. Mostly, what makes it a 3 for me is that there are some poems that don't seem to fit the flow great and some of the lines to me sound nice/cool but didn't make sense in the larger structure of the poem. After reading the authors note and finding out that it is all found poetry from a Stephen King novel, it made me think that some of the lines were just that. Love the idea of found poetry, but I think it's very tricky to pull off in a cohesive manner. I will give it that a majority was pretty cohesive as I could find the plot, but it got lost sometimes, leaving me with a "huh?" moment that had me questioning if I actually did grasp what was going on.

Publishing date: 07.10.2024
Thank you to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

I expected: A witchy book with poems about poisons, potions, and herbs
I got: Found-poetry with themes of domestic horrors
The book left me: Reflecting on my own domestic horrors

Poetry style:
Found-poetry based on Stephen King's "The Plant". Works well here

Amount of poems: 30 poems

Features:
5 Beautiful artworks, themes of domesticity, horrors of the mind and everyday life

Final ranking and star rating?
4 stars, B tier. This was a beautiful collection, one that I could relate to. If you wish to experience found-poetry for the first time, I would say this is a good collection to start. I haven't read "The Plant", so I don't know if it does the book justice. But it works well enough to pique my interest to read the book.

Favorite poems:
A LITTLE BACKGROUND INFORMATION
THE INTENTION OF BEING
THE OTHER GRAY AREA
THE BOOK
SMILE, NO HUMOR
BELATEDLY, THE REFUSAL
A BOQUET OF ILLUSIONS
THE ZENITH
MORNING, WRAPPED IN MAPLE AND PINE

Found poetry can be a bit hit or miss for me, it's not always something I enjoy, but I thought the premise of this collection was good. The imagery in the poems was top notch, but at times almost a little too much. That being said, it didn't take away from the overall journey of the poetry and the themes were consistent across the collection which made it a quick, enjoyable read.

Delightfully morbid and dark. It was a quick read and perfect for spooky season. I appreciated the found poem format and think it is executed well.

This, I found to be, a darker collection of poetry. I enjoyed it thoroughly nonetheless. I definitely think it's worth the read.

I definitely liked the premise of this collection. The artwork within the collection was really nice and I loved the cover art, as well. I think the collection could have benefited from having a more cohesive theme and possibly more poems within the collection. I liked the diction and syntax of the poems and would love to see more developed work from this author.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this in the beginning. Upon realizing that this is a collection of found poetry using Stephen King's The Plant, it added a new layer to the poems. I particularly enjoyed "Little Ghost" and "This Whole Business" from this collection. I think this style of poetry might not be for everyone, but I would encourage readers to give it a chance as I think this style is an interesting one, especially once you understand the process/style. I also feel like the illustrations complemented the poems well.

Thank you so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Upon picking up this book I didn´t realise it was `found poetry`, which basically means it´s poetry formed by taking elements/scentences etc from an already existing text and recontextualising them into poem-form. This style doesn't tend to work for me, and it didn't in this case either.
These poems felt like what they technically are to me; a collection of words, stripped from their intended context and left completely hollow and disjointed because of it.
I got nothing out of reading this, so can't justify anything else than a 1-star-rating. Credits where credits are due though; the book is wonderfully designed with beautiful black-and-white illustrations supporting the text. Still: I came for the poems, which didn't deliver.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I don't enjoy spreading negative reviews, purely based on my opinion, regarding Indie-author's work. Therefore this review will only appear on Netgalley, and won't be promoted on Goodreads or my personal blog.

Encontré que estaba muy desorganizado y carecía de estructura o significado en el flujo general de la colección. Al final del libro, el autor mencionó que todos los poemas estaban compuestos en realidad por frases aleatorias de otras obras. Esa fue una idea completamente nueva para mí. No creo que este enfoque funcionara bien para esta colección en particular. No entendí muchos de los poemas ni los mensajes que intentaban transmitir. Tras leer la nota del autor, se vuelve bastante evidente que se ensamblaron oraciones de otros trabajos.

Aunque sabía que había algo que conectaba los poemas, me distraje constantemente tratando de encontrar esa conexión. Personalmente, no creo que perjudique la experiencia cambiar el momento en que se revela la conexión.

This was a bizarre, weird and entertaining collection of poetry and musings in a horror/sci fi setting. This would suit someone who was a huge fan of sci fi writing. It has the feeling of a cult book and most of the verses were very entertaining.

By the authors own words, this is a collection of “found poetry” (but also includes some really breathtaking illustrations with gothic and natural imagery.

It is a very quick read, but made my gothic heart soar.

I did not understood anything .
I'm not good with poetry I have to read it for my degree but even then I don't get it .
I feel like I shouldn't rate something that I just don't understand but I have to give a rating . I will I've it a 2 stars rating because it is not bad by any mean but I cannot give higher

There were some quote here and there that I liked but the poems by themselves were not my cup of tea.

Thanks again NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to discover this poems.

An interesting collection of poems, though I enjoyed the illustrations more. I also liked that this was lost poetry and found myself learning more about this style of work. I wish this was longer however. 3.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a review copy.

This is a collection of found poetry - poetry created from eliminating words in an existing work. In this case, it's an unfinished epistolary novel of Stephen King's called The Plant. I've always been interested in this style. It's amazing what can be reimagined from what already exists. The poetry is lush and evocative and I enjoyed the book a lot. 4 stars

This has a good premise but it feels a little .. all over the place? Maybe the poetry isn’t for me so in turn I hope it finds the right audience.

While I read this collection of poetry extremely fast, I enjoyed what I read a lot. I was confused by some of these poems but it did not take away from the collection as a whole. When I realized it was only 66 pages long I found myself wanting more. I did feel disconnected from the poems most of the time but, that is okay. I will definitely give this poet another chance at some point in the future!

This is a fascinating book. A number of years ago, Stephen King published an unfinished novel online and told fans--and detractors--"have at it." Writers were free to use the material in any way they wanted. Author Blythe took that manuscript and used found/erasure/remixed poetry--a technique of taking previously existing text and using it whole cloth in portions and/or erasing/blacking out/moving words and phrases--to concoct this volume of plant-centric poems. I began reading before I knew this, and was struck by the gritty, unvarnished language of the text, how desperate and awful and nasty its world was, and at the same time how compelling the text could be, even as a winced away from imagery that made my stomach flip around. Then I read that the text was drawn from King's, and it made me think about writing and how the writing world assigns credit. The words are originally King's, but it's Blythe who manipulates them in interesting and often very non-King-like ways. The phrases left untouched are by King, but Blythe finds ways of recasting them and changing meaning. It's a thought-provoking medium, and book. (If you're interested in the legalities, as I know some of you will be, here's some info: https://www.ilnipinsider.com/2021/04/entitled-to-copyright-erasure-a-fair-use-search-for-a-derived-yet-transformational-work/.)

thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc. this is one of my lower rated books. not all types of poetry and for everyone, and i don’t think this one was for me. i do like found poetry and dark poetry but something about the way this was brought together feels rushed, chaotic, and almost as if it has no true purpose. i liked maybe 3 of them, but for the most part i did find myself connecting or enjoying the collection of poems in this book.