Publishing date: 23.08.2024
Thank you to Netgalley and Querencia Press for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

The book as a meal: Cold waffles from yesterday, before all hell broke loose last night
The book left me: Feeling a little filthy

Negatives:
Really hard to understand
Felt a little pretentious
Sensitive topics came off a little bluntly

Positives:
Many interesting subjects
Feels really personal

Features:
Different sections with different themes, a personal story told through many different poems, vivid imagery and use of language

Why did I choose this one?
The title alone was enough to suck me in completely. The cover matches the title perfectly, and I am once again scouring for more poems to eat up.

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
In-between. While the book is very short and quick to read, I was not drawn in enough to actually devour it whole. The subject hits close to home, but the way it came off the page rubbed me the wrong way.

What was the vibe and mood?
It felt filthy. I felt filthy in my own body while reading this. It was like observing women through a lens of misogyny and objectification.

Final ranking and star rating?
3 stars, C tier. This book was not really for me, but I am happy I tried it. I am not really sure who the target audience is for this type of book. Maybe unconventional-poem-lovers should read it? Regardless, I will pitch it to people and see if it sticks.

Firstly I would love to thank to the publisher for sending me a copy for an honest review, but unfortunately, this book was not for me. But I am very delighted to read and discover new voices and talents all around the world. I would love to add there are many interesting subjects in this book as well. But I loved her writing style, technique.

Not quite for me, but I'm glad I tried it. The section on geology and minerals was the one that resonated with me the most.

There were some interesting concepts however overall this collection of poems wasn't for me unfortunately.

I could maybe bump down to a 3.5, but this was a good collection! There was a lot that I didn’t understand, but I still enjoyed the imagery and language. It felt nostalgic and there were themes of womanhood and misogyny, but it was all related the earth and rocks/minerals, which I thought was really cool and creative. There were too many big and uncommon words in my opinion and it felt kinda pretentious, overall I enjoyed these poems though. My favorites were: Brighton Beach, Gutter Flower, Asnakemetrical, Cleavage, Hematite, Asphalt and Eileithyia.

This collection of poems was an intriguing read. It was a mix of contrasts - vulnerable and brutal, beautiful and ugly, blunt and symbolic.
It largely is about sexual abuse in childhood and growing up as a woman and finding your identity and way out.
A theme is the connection to natural and especially minerals.

I liked reading this book even though i cannot say it was a pleasant read of course. The author did a great job.

I really enjoyed reading this new collection by Melissa Eleftherion. Maybe "enjoyed" doesn't quite capture the experience, but I found it moving and profound in its interrogation of woundedness. The book is largely about childhood sexual trauma, a subject that is also very personal for me. These poems capture something of that experience that is hard to put into words. It deftly slips into a cadence that mirrored childhood for me, sometimes lilting and sometimes harsh, adult-logic and childhood-memory coinciding.

My favorite section was "little ditch." This, the middle of three sections, touched on these themes--girlhood, poverty, Coney Island, friendship, budding sexuality--most directly for me.

I love this book. This book is about trusting yourself enough to claw your way out, It's a must read. This is a book, I will keep coming to.

Melissa Eleftherion's "gutter rainbows" is a striking collection of poems. Using the language of rocks and minerals, Eleftherion explores tough themes like growing up, trauma, and self-discovery. The poems are often raw and intense, but there's beauty in how they connect human experiences to natural processes. I was particularly moved by the way she makes everyday scenes feel both familiar and eye-opening. While some of the geological terms might be new to some readers, the emotions behind them are crystal clear. Eleftherion's writing is sharp and rhythmic, creating vivid images that stuck with me long after reading. This book isn't always an easy read, but it's definitely a rewarding one for anyone interested in poetry that digs deep into the human experience.

Thanks to NetGalley and Querencia Press for the ARC!

Melissa Eleftherion’s "gutter rainbows" is a tricky collection—it’s a thoughtful response to traumatic experiences, but the speaker's moments of lucid catharsis rarely reach readers.

Much of the book revolves around objectification and abuse, and there are moments that are really effective. “GUTTER FLOWER” is an appropriately sour depiction of the way girls are sexualized from an early age—each phrase upending the one that came before. Similarly, “the interiority of female misogyny” dances between specificity and abstraction in a way that accentuates the pain of its subject matter.

Unfortunately, the nature of the topic demands that the poet write too obtusely at times, so large parts of the collection feel withholding to the point of amorphousness. One can sense that the act of writing offered release, but the act of reading almost does the opposite—it captures something alternately unclear or self-loathing. There’s a poem called “Self-Portrait as Used Condom Riding the Wonder Wheel,” and your gut reaction to that title is probably a good gauge for how well you’ll be able to handle the book.

Despite those critiques, I think the book’s final third—"cleavage”—is really inspired. In this section, the speaker parallels their life with iconography derived from a variety of minerals. It’s a rhetorical device that feels generative and never gimmicky, and Eleftherion unfolds it in a way that is sure to reward re-reads as we get closer to the speaker’s core.