|
"I have a knack for ruining beauty."
Scarred with remembering, Kanika Lawton’s Loneliness, and Other Ways to Split a Body tiptoes the knowingly ineffable relationship between body with mind, the physical and the internal.
In six short--but no less impactful--poems, Loneliness, and Other Ways to Split a Body burns as well as soothes, reflects with no mirror, and teaches without instruction. A poetry micro-chapbook, published by Ghost City Press as part of their 2018 Summer Micro-Chapbook Series on June 12th, 2018. Read it here | Rate and review on Goodreads "Recounting, in stages, the pain memories cause, Kanika Lawton’s Loneliness, and Other Ways to Split a Body will imprison you in hindsight, and make the past disappear like smoke. Unapologetic in its comfort with the body, Lawton will transport you to a self buried years ago, a reminder that regression makes us human. Lawton will have you craving 2013, if only for a moment, before taking away your phone and wiping away your tears." — Benjamin Rozzi, writer and editor "Lawton’s poetry reads defiantly. In the face of the lingering pain from a poor relationship, these poems address the lack of and desire for self-love that Lawton’s narrator grapples with throughout. She calls to the animal, images of ones we might deem ugly—oysters, pigs, mussels—but in reality are necessary, important, continuously desired, and even treasured, by a select few, in order to illustrate this." — Terry Abrahams, for wildness |
|
"i went back to the ocean and asked her / how many bones have i dug up with my graveyard mouth? / and all she could say was: / 'you’re a cemetery just like me.'" Chronicling the aftermath of a failed relationship, Kanika Lawton’s Wildfire Heart dances through anger and violence and grief. To read these poems is to take a step into the fire, and relish in the red & the burning. A powerful collection, these eight poems sting like a lover: they know where the bruises are and cut right to the bone. Lawton is a master of linking words to the aching. A poetry micro-chapbook, published by The Poetry Annals as their debut collection on January 28th, 2018. Read it here | Rate and review on Goodreads "The bright and mellifluous poems in Kanika Lawton's Wildfire Heart only bleed as much as they heal, only sting as much as they soothe. Full of unswerving music and tender ferocity, Wildfire Heart is a study in the most gorgeous kind of contradiction. This book knows how it feels to drown, but more importantly, it will dive after you into the sharpened waves, pull you to shore, kiss you back to life." — Topaz Winters, author of poems for the sound of the sky before thunder and creative director at Half Mystic Press "Kanika Lawton’s Wildfire Heart is an anthem for anyone who has had their heart shattered and come out to the other side. The specificity of language and situation gives this collection authenticity without being exclusive. Capturing a secret shared between the heartbroken, it invites the reader to look back at a time in their life exhausted by grief and confusion. Lawton doesn’t shy away from the messy parts, and Wildfire Heart delivers line after line that packs a punch, whether shouted or whispered. It will leave you checking your hands for splinters, and wanting to text your best friend." — Evangeline Sellers, poet, creative writing graduate, and fiction editor of L'Éphémère Review "A strong collection of poems where [Lawton]'s anger rings achingly true in its right to exist with each verse..." — Alwina |