Plucking the Stinger

by Stephanie Rogers

A girl rides on an outgrown tricycle, biting a necklace of candy hearts. A woman sleeps with a bullet under her tongue. In these vivid and crushing poems, despair has a scent and it s half perfume, half something rotten. Wild with loss and obsession, the poems of Plucking the Stinger throb like medication in the throat, a ballet interrupted by a couple breaking up, a false positive test, the terrible death of someone dear. This book is a love letter to grief with no return address."

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2016

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admire much of the work in this collection of poems. The author is hellbent on communicating her thoughts and feelings and experiences with the rest of the world. There's a refreshing absence of pretentious word games, marmoreal acrostics, and all the usual stuff that turns many readers away from poetry. "The Wasp in the Radiator" is one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.

[Kerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poems in this book are brutal, brave, and stunning. This is an amazing debut that gives us a new language for pain and grief and is a book I'll return to again and again.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this nearly a year ago, and I'm still recommending it to people, still picking it up, still re-reading it. It's just that damn good.

[Todd Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephanie dives deep into the journey of a female with her raw and honest collection of poetry that provokes deep thought, self-reflection, and internal examination. Very well done.

[Daimys Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some poems are solid 5s, beautiful. But some are not. So 4 it is.