As someone who just recently lost a close family member, many of these poems resonated deeply with me. Grief is hard and complicated and the author really taps into that concept, which I found to be helpful in navigating my own grief. My only complaint is that it was very short, I felt like I was just starting to get to know the author and then it was over.

A beautiful poetry collection about grief, loss, and addiction. Not all poetry is for everyone, but this collection definitely resonated for me.

A very vivid and painful portray of loss of a loved one through memories.
At times I found it hard to follow and connect the pieces and it was truly a sad read. However, I much admired the power of the words and the detailed description of the memories.

It didn't seem like the author know what she was saying. Like she lost herself in her own words, she would start a poem in an okay way and then *poof* the train of thought left the station.

Kerrin McCadden is a new poet for me, but I loved the way this collection worked. Human emotions and experiences are thoughtfully wrapped in words — what more can you ask for in strong poetry?

“I wake to the train whistle saying, what you don’t know might hurt you—with nowhere to ship the stories I keep to myself.”

A short collection of poems that pack a punch and shed light on the harsh reality of drug addiction and loss.

I liked this collection of poems. The poet is dealing with the grief of losing her brother over overdose. Poems are full of childhood memories entangled with nowadays sadness. Some poems conveyed a surreal grieving image portraying the feeling of loss. Very powerful poems, and skillful poet too. Only 30+ pages volume leaves me longing for more. Overdose, Fentanyl are phenomenal tragedies, and I would hope to read more of the poet's probing on that.

Best wishes to the poet, and RIP to her brother.

This is a book of poetry that will stay with me for a long time. This is a book of poetry that I will re-read many times and will soon be a 5 star review.
The subject matter is hard to read about. The death and the loss of a sibling; because of his self-destructive behaviour and addiction it is a loss that was rehearsed many times but no easier when it became a reality.
How people grieve is often personal and not always shared even within one’s family. Elsewhere there is public demonstrations of grief, wailing and falling over, donning black and losing joy and conversation.
Thankfully for Kerrin she had her writing and her poetic heritage to draw upon. There is no sense here that his was a tap she could just turn on. The colour and word pictures she creates did not just write themselves. She is coming from a dark place and her talent is never more revealed than here through her brokenness, her sense of regret, what ifs and repeated ideas and thoughts that deep in and overwhelm these poems.
This is why one will want to read them again, in the sense that there is not beginning nor end just this dwelling on loss and the void left by death.
I think the cover is great and each poem has value and cannot be raised above any other as with a normal collection. “The Mother talks to her Son about her Heart” is memorable and very moving.
The way we get about words is also very interesting and must have assailed the author’s thinking throughout this process. Not just in words in anger that can’t be taken back. Nor all the words left unspoken about love and positive things held with a siblings. Perhaps a few words said by others that show a lack of empathy, embarrassment and overheard that stab your heart. I refer to the word that may come from a phrase others use or keeps cropping up. Here it is the word ‘soon’.
I just love the over stated definition of this word in all its applications. It laid bare the pain in grief and loss in a quite surprising way. “Portrait of the Family as a Definition” soon. ‘How did it get so late, so soon?’
I can not imagine the process that brought this set of poems to publication or the tears and sorrow along the way. It must have been so hard to stay with this project but I do believe that these words will heal others and be a rich blessing to all who read them.