Thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This collection blew me away; if I'm being perfectly honest the first two or three poems were lacking something for me, and not having read anything else by this author, I was worried I wouldn't like this collection. But nearly every poem after that was brilliant, and by the end my feelings on this book were totally reversed.

My favorite poems include An Open Letter to Raven Symone, How to Come Out and Stay Out, The Other Black Man, Family Reunion, and Advice from my Grandmother.

Some of the shorter ones pack a really intense punch in between the longer pieces; I usually don't like really short poems, but these ones (such as Insomnia, Correction, and To Existing Being Enough) fit perfectly in this collection.

The poems near the end really started telling a singular story that absolutely gutted me. After finishing this book I definitely want to read more work by this poet, and am so glad I had the opportunity to read this book.

thank you to netgalley and button poetry for providing me a free copy of the book for an honest review.
firstly, I am reading this as a white queer woman, and i urge people to look up #ownvoices reviews too.
as a long-time fan of button poetry i was really excited to get to this book, and upon further inspecting i had listened to a few (very good) poem performances by the author, Natasha T Miller. so, it was only natural that i loved the writing style, as you can sense the slam poetry rhythm in them, plus the play with pausing to affect sentence meaning (some fav examples of this: Sangria, I See You, and Say Less).
this short book has poems that overlap the author's experiences with grief, blackness, queerness, womanhood and the different forms of discrimination that come from it, and touches heavily on her relationships with mother, brother and nephew. As always, i recommend to read books that feature intersectionality of underrepresented experiences
to list favourites i would almost write the index, so I'll highlight two:
1. Correction - a simple short poem, that says so much
2. The title poem Butcher - This poems really helps to round out the perspective from which the book comes from, which is why I'll talk a little bit more about it (this is my interpretation, so do take this with a pinch of salt).
I think the word Butcher can be folded out into the Slaughter and the Cutting. The slaughter reads like a metaphor for the prosecution of black bodies + overlap with queer people and/or women, an uneasiness that Natasha portraits throughout the book. The concept of butchering /cutting yourself up into different representative sections (the concept of the book): splitting yourself up into different labels, dividing the different facets of your life, things that feel present in the life of so many minorities (see e.g. Nobody's Body is a Crime); and how this book is an exploration of all of those things coming together and being present together.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3893835571?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a6a6ac62-6163-4074-b5b8-2f4ec627e0a2

I found Natasha T. Miller's poetry collection to be so refreshing and powerful!
Heartwarming poems about family, very touching and heartbreaking poems about loss and grief that hit really hard. Deeply humaine and moving!
The poems I enjoyed the most, however, were the ones talking about the experiences of black women, and all black people in general. The racism, the homophobia, the police violence, the problematic and toxic way white people react. Some lyrics are so necessarily raw and hard-hitting and I adored the way the author expressed herself both in terms of language and theme! A really great collection!

I thought this was a good collection of poetry (visceral in the best way) with a connected theme that was able to keep it grounded and connected throughout.

The pieces in this are all beautifully written and moving, the author manages to find the words for feelings that seem impossible to put into words and yet as soon as you read these pieces its as if they could never be described another way. These pieces beautifully explore deep, raw emotions and are so eloquently written, this art will stick with me forever.

*copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

I really enjoyed that this collection contained poems in different forms (verse, list, letter, etc), and particularly connected with the poems about grief. I felt for the author particularly when speaking about her brother’s murder and how no one ever humanizes him because he was a drug dealer. I enjoyed the poem about labels and queer and Black identities. Ultimately this was a very great first collection and I hope to see more from Miller in the future.

Not a huge selection of poems, divided into different cuts of meat. The poems are a good and interesting selection for the book.

I’m torn on this one! A very uneven collection—some poems are stunning, others amount to artless rants. The meditations on grief and rage are so powerful, but ultimately I don’t think a few standout pieces are enough to overcome the slapdash, unedited feel of the collection.

The poetry collection Butcher by Natasha T. Miller features stunningly vulnerable and passionate reflections on family, grief, racism, sexual orientation, and gender. Miller uses cuts of meat to organize each section and it seems as if her poems are offerings or sacrifices of parts of herself and her anguish and fear. Her mother and brother feature heavily as nuanced people with amazing attributes and flaws. Some of the most powerful poems document her grief and guilt over her brother's sudden and tragic death. Butcher is a truly wonderful, affecting collection.

Thank you Button Poetry and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

'Butcher' is a compelling collection of poems navigating grief and trauma and the ways they intersect with societal prejudice. This isn't always the easiest read, as Miller has created a conversation that will leave you contemplating our social hierarchies and our own positions within them. But though the poems here are haunting, sometimes even harrowing, they're always tinged with hope. There's a beauty here that's incredibly difficult to put into words- 'Butcher' is the type of book to leave you speechless and contemplative- but I can't recommend it highly enough.

{DNF}
I ended up not really vibing with this book. I really enjoyed the poetry and prose, but the content and I didn't really mesh well.

Butcher was a very beautiful poetry collection.

With every single poem, there was some kind of punch line. Even the shorter poems, had a message, gave the feeling of grieve.

This is the first poetry collection I have read in quite a long time, and I am very glad that I read it. By the end of this collection, there were tears in my eyes.

The only thing that makes utmost sense is me saying that Butcher was a read that is hard to describe in words. Was it sad? Yes. Was it angry? Yes. Was it painful? Yes. Did it feel like the poems were breathing alive? Definitely. Talking and writing about your own loss and grief is never pristine, it is raw, rough, scary and painful and Butcher was extremely raw.

The book itself was based upon the author losing their brother but the book didn't start with talking about the brother first. It started with talking about the grief that the other people faced, their mother, their father and themselves. It talked about the difficulty and hate that people face by being a black queer woman. It talked about racism, misogyny, lgbtq+ hate crime and much more. Will I go back to it? Maybe yes.

Trigger Warnings: alcoholism, death, fighting, trauma, grieving, homophobia, racism, mention of r*pe, killing, violence, misogyny, suicide, murder...

*Thank you to Netgalley and Button Poetry to provide me with a copy of this book!

“The ocean is not always a tsunami. The wind is not always a tornado. You are no less powerful in all your stillness.”

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Butcher is a highly vulnerable collection of poetry in which Natasha T Miller explores grief, identity, race, family, sexuality and tragedy. This short collection contains so much to digest in a short amount of time, meaning some of the poems felt rushed, and there were some topics that I felt were underdeveloped. This definitely could have been longer. That being said, there were some truly beautiful pieces of writing within the collection in which Miller displays her emotions and feelings in an extremely raw way.

Butcher follows that life of Miller who, after the death of her brother, is trying to navigate life and discover who she is while living with her alcoholic mother. It’s sectioned into five chapters named after the body of a cow: The Rib, Tongue & Cheek, The Round, The Tenderloin, and The Brisket, and shows how many aspects there are to each individual’s life. In this case, we’re invited into Miller’s personal life, her struggles, her emotions. This almost reads like a diary and feels incredibly intimate. You really feel as though you are right there with Miller through her experiences.

I don’t read a lot of poetry but I was drawn to the concept of this being divided up into sections named after cuts of meat. I’m not sure if this aspect was actually necessary to the collection but it is definitely an enticing concept. As for a first piece of published work, I was really impressed by Miller’s writing and would be tempted to read any future work from her too.

#BookReview: 27/125
Kindle Edition, 88 pages
Publication Date: February 23, 2021
Luv’s Rating: ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️/5

I honestly loved everything about Natasha T. Miller’s, Butcher. Like literally everything. The structure, tone, themes explore, thoughtful selections, and excellently crafted pieces had me feeling all the feels! This collection of poetry, while an exploration of her journey while grieving her brothers death, proved to be so much more, including hope, understanding and healing.

Miller masterfully uses the cuts of a cow to metaphorically describe relationships with her family (particularly her mother, brother Marcus, and nephew Carlito) who have been highly impactful in her life. It also serves to further emphasize her identity and perspectives on larger societal issues.

I definitely whooped, hollered, and clapped several times over while reading An Open Letter to Raven Symone As with all of her poems, she speaks her truths and does not hold back. “Old Black or new Black. Outside gay or bedroom gay, you’re still gay. You’re still taught, still one police stop or I’m sorry I have a woman away from your mother burying you on this same land you tried to protect. Don’t make them have to remind you. You’re still one of us.”

Some of my favorite poems are, “I see you,” a reminder to know your worth and a reiteration of the love and honor you deserve just for being; “How to come out and stay out” and “Hot Flashes.” A huge shout out for, “Dear Kenneka Jenkins”. SHE DESERVED BETTER!

I recommend this book to poetry lovers but to all readers alike. It’s just that good and unapologetically real.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Some of these poems are quite good, and Miller's candor about her life and experiences is laudable. I would recommend this book to patrons.

Wow, I find myself in awe of Natasha T. Miller after reading this collection. The poems are gorgeous, honest, and vulnerable. I felt them speaking to me and I am left tantalized by the sheer beauty of it all. Thank you, NetGalley and Button Poetry, for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley and IBPA for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I have never read a more raw or truer composition that this. The honest and pain and suffering leaps off the pages. It’s about queerness and family and blackness and identity and love and disappointment. So much packed in so few pages. I also love the way the poems and writings are organized— such an innovative idea.

Thank you, Netgalley, for this ARC. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and unbiased.

I don't read poetry very often these days. It's not something I look for, really. I was initially drawn to this book because of its beautiful cover, then by the description. When I started reading it, I was immediately drawn in by Miller's beautiful, dynamic language.

Grief

It's like opening the fridge every few minutes hoping that there will be food.

Except the fridge is your heart, and the food is a
person you'll never see again.

So few words manage to convey so much meaning. Most of this book is dealing with grief in many flavors, and also Blackness, family and queerness, and the intersection of these. I often feel that reading work by someone different from oneself can be more enlightening about their experience than reading a more academic, distanced text. While I certainly wouldn't assume to say that this book made me understand Black people, or Black queer people, I do feel it gave me greater understanding of their experience. Miller's writing has a vulnerability, a realness that lets the reader share her experience albeit briefly.

The anger and grief portrayed in this collection of poetry borders on visceral; each poem is a layer of hurt and circumstance, a facet of humanity and an exploration of trauma. Unlike other poetry collections I've reviewed recently, I can tell that time and care has been taken to craft each of these poems, creating a solid empathy between reader and narrator.

This poetry collection is unapologetic, unexpected and utterly raw.