Review: "Between These Bones" by Freya Sharp

Between These Bones by Freya Sharp
Published June 2024 via Harbor Lane Books
★★★

Sometimes I pick books for their covers. I'm shallow; it's a character flaw.*

Between These Bones is a collection of short poetry focused on relationships and trauma. I wasn't sure quite what form of poetry to expect when I picked it up, but to me it's best described as Instagram poetry—I'm not sure if Sharp is on IG, but the poems here are short and pithy, with a few longer poems worked throughout. Let's talk about form, and let's talk about content.

Form: The poems that work best for me here are the mid-length ones, more than three or four lines but under a page. I struggle—and this is not specific to Sharp's poetry—with poems that are just a few lines, because often they feel to me as though the writer has found a metaphor or image they want to share but not gone any further with it. (There are some exceptions; one poem in here reminds me of that brilliant Atwood poem about hooks and eyes: you still linger / in my mouth / like the aftertaste / of burnt toast (loc. 259)) The longer poems have a bit more room to get creative.

Content: The material here gets very dark very quickly, and it stays dark for most of the book. Eventually there's a shift to more positive things, but that's mostly about a new and happy relationship—which is fine, and will sit well with people who like a bit of romance; I guess I just prefer a bit more of the princess saving herself.

Overall, Instagram poetry is never really going to be my thing—I like to work a bit harder for the meaning in poetry—but one for readers who are looking for more along the lines of Rupi Kaur and so on.

*One of many

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.