Book Review for Vox by J. Saburra
I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form.
Vox, by J. Saburra, is a chaotic collection of poetry and prose dedicated to finding yourself in a world that refuses to acknowledge its deceptions. Each poem constitutes an insanity that the poet encounters, whether it be familiarizing oneself with the intersection of violence and peace when healing others to feeling trapped by urban jungles. The collection also represents Saburra’s ability to see the world for what it is and cultivate opinions that might not be popular with the people around her.
I was in med school way back in the day, so when I saw two poems dedicated to telomeres and CRISPR, I laughed. The poems are absolutely right; we’re using violence to heal ourselves. Although herbalism encompasses a supposedly more “gentle” approach, some herbs can be particularly menacing (there’s a reason why you talk to your doctor every time you use St. John’s Wort and Aspirin simultaneously). And while this fight is occurring, you’ve got people swearing off these experiments altogether, attacking this or that, or proclaiming all sides are stupid because they didn’t “do enough research.” Still, we’re communicating. Not in a good way, of course, but we are.
Then you’ve got poems like Soggy Dollars and What I have not written to the Desert Sun, where the poet understands the practicality of living in this cruel society but also wants to free herself from the confines of it. There’s a balance between these things that not many people can find. One minute you’re content with being a cog in the machine, and the next, you want to throw caution to the wind and live like a witch in the woods. One minute you’re fine with living like a witch in the woods, dependent on nature then suddenly you’re imagining all the material riches in the world and the comforts you’re missing. I do that a lot. My friends call me a cesspool of anxiety, but that’s okay.
No one idea is going to be the same, and a person can’t remain one-dimensional forever. It’d be a boring existence if that were the case. And this all culminates in a surprisingly straightforward letter to the reader, in regards to the 2016 election. I don’t know how I feel about this letter being in the collection, but it ties into the theme all the same.
I really do enjoy this collection. It’s chock-full of themes that I can use with my clients. The ability to be okay with having two seemingly contradicting thoughts is a must in life, and when we aren’t okay with that, we tend to cause more psychological suffering towards ourselves.
As such, I would like to give this collection a 5 out of 5 stars.
