EXPOSED NERVES by Lucy A. Snyder

Exposed Nerves continues the explorations into dark poetry by Stoker Award winner and Shirley Jackson Award nominee Lucy A. Snyder, pairing the author’s sly wordplay and imagery with grim introspection. By turns challenging, wryly amusing and gut-wrenching, Snyder’s work plumbs bittersweet catharsis and maps a survivor’s path through dangerous worlds, both the real and the horrifically imagined.

Around this time last year, I read a short story collection by Lucy A. Snyder that I enjoyed immensely, so of course I was interested in checking out her poetry collection. I mean, look at that haunting and very visceral cover!

This dark book is broken up into four parts, and each section contains a variety of biting and important poems. Every single one of these burrowed deep into my mind until every word became so much more than a lovely connection of words, and the undercurrent of meaning exploded right after reading.

There's a lot of social commentary within the pages of this inspiring book. Some of these observations are subtle and concealed in clever ways displaying dual meanings. But others get straight to the point and are rather confronting in their convictions of truth, and had me nodding because many of these situations were so familiar.

Not just because she does such a great job at highlighting the many different degrees of horror girls and women go through every single day of their lives, but also because of the racism and inequality in our society. And the disbelief or disregard given to some because of the colour of their skin, sexual orientation, gender, or just for daring to be different and speak out about it.

I also found that the title, Exposed Nerves, is the perfect representation for this book because of how well Lucy A. Snyder captured the rawness of every situation. But don't fret, there are also some cunning, playful and lighter poems that will make you smile.

Well, this turned out to be quite a memorable collection.

I have to thank you Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi and Raw Dog Screaming Press for sending me a copy!

Exposed Nerves is available for pre-order from Raw Dog Screaming Press.