Bestial Mouths by Brenda S. Tolian is a macabre poetry collection that focuses around scenarios and descriptions that are dark, often violent in nature. These poems are quite clearly personal and drawn from some deep and harrowing feelings that Tolian experiences.

That said, many of these poems do not necessarily meld with me as a reader. I do not think that is something that takes away from their content or purpose, but often I felt like the double meaning behind the multitude of these poems was hard to pinpoint. The rhythm of the poetry felt oddly paced in many of these works, and often the poems read a touch juvenile.

That said, the content of the poems themselves is rich and dark, and there is a clear passion in each piece that is included in this collection that makes Tolian stand out as a writer. Each piece is vibrant on its own, and there is a quality to each that feels fleeting, like walking in on something should be left unseen. Tolian quite obviously excels in descriptions that create an air of dread and disgust.

Standout poems I loved were Apple, A Work in Progress, and Child.

Thank you to Raw Dog Screaming Press, Brenda S. Tolian, and NetGalley for this advanced copy!

A deeply raw telling of things that lurk in the darkness. This collection features works that are moving and thought provoking. Each one peeling the layers of something deep within.

Great horror book. IT's ok, seems like a sister book to Grave Matters. Love the cover, really draws you in.

La autora crea un nicho único en el mundo literario, fusionando narrativas inquietantes y poesía con inspiración del gótico, el horror folclórico y lo grotesco. Escribe sobre lo queer, lo oscuro y lo filosófico, explorando lugares poco mencionados con un simbolismo visceral.

Con una tapa que es horrible y hermosa a la vez, y una sinopsis que promete mucho, esta obra simplemente no cumplió con mis expectativas. La poesía de horror me intriga y definitivamente probaré más de ella; esta fue más bien regular para mí.

La autora usa una imaginería hermosa y definitivamente le daré otra oportunidad en el futuro. Me encantaría ver una novela corta o algo con un formato más largo de su parte, porque percibo una voz impresionante detrás de las palabras.

This creepy, gothic collection will haunt you in more ways than one. Brenda s Tolian is a ,aster of the macabre, of writing about things that creep in the dark.

Enjoyed this poetry collection from Brenda S Tolian. All the poems were good, December Mother was my favorite. #BestialMouths #NetGalley

This chapbook consists of tragic, lyrical pieces evoking feelings akin to the "werewolf form" contorting and refiguring the body into its truest form. Demons in human and mythological form amass in these poems, oozing with feminist perspective. From "asudeM" to "Acrobat Girl," readers handle the tortured lens of inner femininity and societal conformity from the narrator's POV, while with the persona poem "Melancholy" and the amplification technique used in "Impulse," we are left with the sad emptiness the narrator's acceptance of the violence they're a victim of. My favorite of the collection was "Bone of Word, Bone of Feather" as I feel it really was a good example of the storytelling nature a poem can undertake. Thank you, NetGalley and RDS Publishing, for the access to this work!

💀 Melioë💀
lies on the lips
cutting of nails
scrying the future
in mountain cut trails
hear the wind moaning
the earth catches the heel
the bestial mouths chanting dark spells
my body is changing,
into something else this touch of madness
hot in the blood
words they are magic
in coming undone
beyond the veil of dreaming and sleep unraveling the secrets i no longer keep

💀Asudem (Medusa)💀
" tangle your hand in the biting mouth, her hair dances alive slip it down slow like rope around the neck don’t be afraid swing above as you swung below mastication of teeth snapping of jaw body and bone slip in the dark eyes close swimming the dark water words muted mid-song virgins in love virgins done wrong naive they drink the wine secrets spun anew hard in the belly like slippery stone some things you tell others you swallow a story was told here that was a lie she begged in razor blades knees bent like bird’s wings a delicate snap broke at the neck broke at the breast feathers falling like snow there are things a girl never asked for there are gazes given, ignored some things are forcefully taken cracked vessel left empty a ghost on the acropolis floor first penetration violent opening next framing a whore veneration like sugar on the tongues of the women in town they created the stoning in tandem with men wives of the monsters crawling on knees to the stone where the innocent are tied small sacrifices, tiny teeth silence the story behead the woman sew serpents in stitches right into the scalp loop knots into the lips silence is expected let men wither under her shame a moving veil she will stone them all."

📝 The author has carved a unique niche in the literary world, blending haunting narratives and poetry with inspiration from the gothic, folk horror, and the grotesque. She writes the Queer, dark, and philosophical exploring the places rarely talked about with visceral symbolism.

Haunting, intricate, and steeped in rich folklore.
Deep..descriptive..raw...
I do appreciate poetry/poems once in a while though they are not my usual cup of tea.
From the collection, here are the ones which stood out for me:
Melioë, Asudem (Medusa) Stone, A Dream, Coil, Full Moon, Ninava, Johnathan Fry

Thanks to NetGalley and RDS Publishing for the arc 🖤

3.45✨

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this as an ARC.

I'm not entirely sure where to begin with this. I've read some horror poetry in the past and quite liked it. This... I did not. The imagery, while written well, seems disjointed and thrown together as though to obtain the largest reaction from the reader. A sense of cohesion is lost within the pieces. However, the imagery and themes are repeated throughout. There were three or four in a row that blurred together as they used the same language, same imagery, same theme.

It's disheartening since the first poem got me so excited! Rhyming in modern poetry has become taboo or cliche or what have you, yet Brenda did it and I was thoroughly excited for what was to come next... and what came next was centered poems that didn't feel like poems (not to mention it was one of TWO rhyming poems that I can recall). They felt like short stories chopped up, where their vital imagery was taken, and then shoved into a different carcass. Like a weird sausage. I felt like I was missing something.

I also want to touch on centered poetry. I don't know if it's a me thing (it probably is) but I really dislike centered poems, and the fact that all but like... four of these poems are centered really, really, REALLY bugs me. It sometimes felt like a cop out to use centering as a form rather than actually exploring form alongside the writing. It also made it incredibly difficult to read as my eye would jump back to the start but then I'd have to figure out if it was the right start, which often left me adding a word or two from sentence A onto sentence B, which got incredibly confusing. There were also little to no stanzas or line breaks or anything. If I had a physical copy, flipping through this would just be a thick center line of words.

Overall... I don't know. Read it for its imagery, not its cohesion?

Bestial Mouths is a collection of short poems. All of them are dark, yet beautifully written. Each one incites emotion and feels unsettling in its own way. I’m personally a fan of macabre and gruesome things, so this book was right up my alley.

I really enjoyed this collection of poems. Normally, I read collections of poetry and I am pretty unaffected by them but this collection sparked emotions within me as I was reading it. I particularly enjoyed the topics of feminism and goddesses explored within the text.

I chose this book because the cover and the description promised grotesque metamorphosis and the horrors of violent endings that look straight into your soul.

Tolin's poetry is devoted to women who suffered the most horrible fates - betrayed, violated, burried with their hopes and dreams to rot and become something completely else, something that lurks and might turn dangerous itself. The mixture of reality and myths and reallity and nightmares really helps to build up the eerie atmosphere where human beings easily turn into hungry beasts with no remorse and empathy.

It is not an easy read. I couldn't even name half of the subjects on Instagram in risk of a ban. Some of the poems I find really good. Some of them caused me nightmares for nights to come. And some of them I couldn't feel at all. My favourite are Melioë, Skinwalker Moon and Awake Now, which I find very fitting to be the last song in the book, and I almost cried after reading Eros Root, Ninava, Chrome and Melancholy.

I give it 3/5 stars.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Raw Dog Screaming Press for the eARC of this collection!**

While some of the poems in this collection really spoke to me (Jonathan Fry is easily my favorite of the bunch,) a lot of these poems just didn’t move the needle.

With the cover of this title being horrible and beautiful all at once, and the synopsis promising so much - this one just didn’t live up to my expectations. Horror poetry intrigues me and I will definitely try more of it, this was just so-so for me.

This author uses beautiful imagery and I will definitely give them a try in the future. Would love to see a novella or something with a longer format from them as I do sense an awesome voice behind the words here!

Not for me, but I definitely recommend to anyone who's interested in folk horror poetry! The poems themselves were just too fragmentary for my taste, and often endend up feeling like shopping lists of vibes.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

Despite being exited about a collection that stood out when it came to themes (I'm so tired of the ''break-up and then i learned to like myself :)'' kind), a majority of the poems felt disjointed. Too many line breaks, too. It made the flow of the experience suffer.

Bestial Mouths by Brenda S. Tolian is an intricately written collection of poetry that explores raw and often unsettling themes. Tolian’s vivid imagery and intense emotional depth are evident throughout the work, offering readers a haunting and thought-provoking journey. However, despite its undeniable craftsmanship, this collection ultimately didn't leave the lasting impact on me that I had hoped for.

There are certainly poems in the book that stood out—pieces that captured my attention with their intensity and beautifully dark undertones. Tolian’s ability to create atmosphere and weave language is undeniable, and those moments where the writing shines feel powerful. Yet, on the whole, I found it difficult to fully connect with the themes and emotional landscape of the collection.

While *Bestial Mouths* didn’t resonate with me personally, I can easily see how others might find this book captivating. Its rawness, complexity, and daring exploration of darker subject matter will likely appeal to readers who enjoy poetry that challenges them and pushes the boundaries of comfort.

In the end, though this collection wasn’t quite for me, I believe it could very well become a favorite for someone else. Tolian’s work is bold and evocative, and for readers who are drawn to intense emotional and thematic exploration, *Bestial Mouths* may be a deeply rewarding read.

This is a collection of dark, visceral poems that really lean on what it is to be a woman and in many a minority in America. As a half Native myself, I really felt some of these works on a deep level and a few I had to stop reading and come back to. All of this I mean in a complimentary way. Highly recommend.

A beautifully tragic compilation of what’s essentially the female rage we so love to talk about.. Brenda S. Tolian is not one to shy away from the grotesque, but rather embraces it in a way that- like the cordyceps mentioned in one of the poems- just traps you and seduces you to want more. It does touch very rough themes, and it can be quite graphic, so I advise being a bit cautious. However, it’s just my type of book, I loved it! For sure one of my favorite reads of 2024!

You can also find this review in my instagram story highlight “literature”.

Such an eclectic variety of poetry in this collection. Beautiful imagery throughout and would love to read more from this author.

Beautiful visceral poetry! I loved this so much!! Horror poetry is such an awesome genre and this author didn't disappoint!