The Animal Bridegroom

by Sandra Kasturi, Neil Gaiman (Introduction)

Playing with genre and form, this poetry collection evokes a fantastical dream world as myth intersects with reality in verse. Themes of role reversal, shape-shifting, and gender-bending occur throughout, giving a feminist edge to this collection of poems replete with dark humor—as well as an unexpected ending. Whether running with the wolves, or sleeping with them, the poet uses sly words to turn everyday conventions inside out.

Genres: Poetry, Fairy Tales

93 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Author of The Animal Bridegroom (Tightrope Books; introduction by Neil Gaiman). Co-Publisher of ChiZine Publications. Co-organizer of the Toronto SpecFic Colloquium and the Chiaroscuro Reading Series. Founder of the CZP/Rannu Fund for Writers of Speculative Literature. Co-editor (with Halli Villegas) of the yearly series Imaginarium: Best Canadian Speculative Writing. Founding member of the Algonquin Square Table Poetry Workshop and the Bellefire Club.

Reviews

[Michèle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could present _The Animal Bridegroom_ as Fairy tales revisited with a twist, but it would not be enough. Sandra's poetry is never boring, always fleet on its feet, as a sprite vanishing in the woods.

So I will pluck a few of my favorites and put them, not into tigh boxes with lid attached, but on loosely separates piles that any breeze can shatter.

Fairy tale revisited: The Swan maiden's tale (sad), Chaos theory, The Gretel papers (very moving)

Humor: After the flood, A Daughter's a Daughter

Strange: Gaslight elegy, Falling

Legend: Lying with wolves

Enchantment: Merlin to Nimue, The left Love department

Day-to-day: The stars as seen from Alberta


My favourite:

"Old men smoking" is so evocative, I even read aloud a verse in the subway today to a nice old man (he offered his seat to a lady)! A strange congregation of old timers that people do not notice...

(That poem won an award, and it is not surprising.
(This is the bit that I read aloud in the TTC Subway)

Those old men who smoke

And don't speak English - they know all the secrets of the universe,
Revealed to them in each glowing ember that flies away

From their mouths into the world.



Now I know why Neil Gaiman wrote the brief introduction.

[katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are beautiful poems! Whimsical, filled with fairy tales, but twisted into new forms of modern life. I didn't understand all of them as I am unfamiliar with some of the fairytale allusions but I think this is a fantastic poetry collection, especially for the author's first published collection. If only this book wasn't so difficult to come by, I'd recommend it to everyone.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only enjoy a handful of poets, but this one astonished me from the first moment I read the few poems the author put on her website [http://sandrakasturi.com/]. Her poems are witty and reminicent of fairytales, love stories, and the saturday morning cartoons we watched when we were small.

This is highly recommended to everyone- take a look at her poems on her site- if you like them even a little, you should try her book.

[Mir]

The Burning Woman

Listen!
You can hear her pale voice
from within the conflagration.
It always speaks truth.
It always lies.
She crackles like marrow-bone
when she walks.
Her eyes and mouth open
and burn like magnesium.
She is a contrary Gorgon;
everything she looks at
is forced into frenzied life.
If you are very lucky
and can run after her
until she catches you,
you can put her in a canning jar
to hold in the air:

a blaze of fireflies
to light the darkness.

[Tone · Rating 5 out of 5]

After I finished The Animal Bridegroom I figured that there had to be something wrong because I liked it.

Poetry and I don't get along. I don't read epic fantasy anymore because of all the damn poems. That's probably why I don't like elves, because every time one showed up in the Lord of the Rings it turned into a spam.

But I understood and liked every poem in this book and I never had to read one twice. And that, to me, makes this the best book of poetry out there.

[Derek Newman-Stille · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Animal Bridegroom” leaves a breadcrumb trail of poems to bring the reader through cultural myths and legends to a place of self-reflection. Sandra Kasturi uses fairy tale themes to open a pathway into the deep woods of myth, where she explores the changeable power of stories, their ability to shift and change like the seasons.

To read a longer version of this review, explore my website Speculating Canada at https://speculatingcanada.ca/2016/04/...

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most marvelous collections of poetry from a contemporary writer. I wish this wasn't her only book! Kasturi's poems are full of whimsy and a sense of the surreal, yet remain deeply emotionally affecting. This book rarely leaves my bedside table, so often do I find myself picking it up to reread a piece.

My favorite: The Stars As Seen From Alberta.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this wee volume of Canadian poetry. You can read a short post I wrote for PopMatters, here. I love that the forward is by Neil Gaiman for this book.

[Gemma Files · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sandra Kasturi's poetry is the very definition of mythic--she both riffs off existing stories from every culture and creates her own. Her voice is intimate yet declarative, as smoky and relentless on the page as it is in person. Gorgeous stuff.

[Cynthia Ravinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://cynthiaravinski.blogspot.com/2...

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of fairytale poetry.

Deb, I'm making James buy this for me and then I'll lend it to you, cause you'll love it!