the poetry dumping ground

Their stories: Amazing grammar, soaring vocabulary, beautiful imagery and prose which flows like a river.

Tell your friends! Tell your foes!

“You threatened me not to write this, but I am a force of nature and you will never tell me what to do again”

“Give Me a God I Can Relate To” Is slam poet Blythe Baird’s debut collection.

The collection is largely a critique of society that examines the world through the lens of intersectional feminism that delves into rape culture and misogyny, as well as eating disorders, family relationships, and being part of the lgbtq community.

This collection is beautiful in the way a forest fire is beautiful. The language isn’t overly flowery, but each poem is written with blunt and powerful honesty that forces you to face what she is saying, even if it “isn’t something we like to discuss”. Each line grabs you by the shoulders and looks you straight in the eye, and there’s no way not to listen. The honesty of the collection is also what makes it so relatable, even if you’ve never been where she’s been or if you turn a blind eye at the things she’s writing about, you’ve seen it and heard it and there is no way to erase that from who you are. 

Even though this is a collection of page poems they read like spoken word, which can be attributed to her history as a slam poet. Her honesty and passion carries throughout the collection, thus giving it one of the strongest voices I’ve ever encountered in a collection of poetry. Each line is laced with emotion and power, the kind that doesn’t care what you think because she’s calling it like she sees it, and it’s magnificent.