In FISH LOVE, Bryanna Licciardi leans into her obsessive nature and twisted humour, offering readers a landscape of bizarre realism. From dark, familial narratives to imagined dates with serial killers, she eagerly distorts the line between love and loathing, self and other, fantasy and actuality. With a dreamlike quality and gut-punching lines, Licciardi guides readers through the stages of rage, hurt, laughter, and raw memory, ultimately ending her debut full-length poetry collection in the realm of hope among the most sinister of places-regret.
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Now that you're gone / the night craves us. (DREAM)
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(@altcurrent, 30 July 2024, e-galley, 114 pages, ARC from the publisher via @edelweiss_squad)
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I really enjoyed Fish Love. I look forward to seeing where the poet goes next. I chose to read this collection because I loved the front cover. I was not disappointed, the poetry inside is just as impressive. Many of the poems explore what I'd describe as everyday themes, encounters and experiences with a slightly darker, often troubling lens. I especially liked Someone Sets Me Up With Charles Manson, Think About Jellybeans As You Die, Dear Stephen King, Losing Weight, Mantras Of An Anxious Child and Bless The Chocolate With Sprinkles. I'd recommend it.
