Cringerotica
Soli
Wrong Publishing, 2024
Ebook, 26 ppg.
This book has the following content warnings:
Sexual content
Self harm
Despite the book’s title, not many of the poems in Cringerotica by Soli made me cringe. But they did make me squirm.
The poem "Desperate Pig begs shooting star for wings" (Page 3) was difficult to read, when the pig is being described as
"Pigs are smarter than dogs
–and more delicious."
and
"something clocks you as prey– your bellies are vessels of cured meat.
Your hams, waiting to be candied."
So many people do not see pigs as animals anymore; they see them as food, which is disturbing. I remember a time I was with a friend and we were checking out a pig we came across. I was admiring how cute the pig was while my friend said, "Now I'm hungry."
I do eat meat, but I love animals too much to see them as food. I would rather eat grains than animals. But this poem does more than show how meat-focused the human eye is on animals as food; it also shows the pig's plea for escape from a world in which he cannot grow old. In which he is born into a world where he will only be slaughtered.
I heard this cry for escape as I read these lines:
"do you know, before I was given a name I galloped through
these stars
unscathed. Before they picked out which of us was fit to eat I was a
borealis
with a name that could not be counted."
The poems in this short collection touch on other topics: Religion, capitalism, poverty. All topics overdone in literature, but when you read them here – in these words and in these poems – it is like seeing them in a new light. In this way, we come to think about them again and try to understand them again. And ask ourselves again, "How, and why, do these things suffocate us?"
At the same time, I also pick up on the author's rage at the rigors of society, as in here:
"They say I am too old to sit on Santa’s lap
But Santa’s just Dave with those damned eyes" (Page 10)
and
"They say I am too old to be Ms. America
But In my dream I steeze the judge
and put on what’s called
A chart topping performance" (Page 11)
As well as rage against the bodies we are given when the author reveals that his most dire Christmas wish is this: "I ask him for breasts" and
"(I sigh) and think
of things God will not give me" Page 11)
The collection as a whole speaks volumes on such things, and more. Soli is a gifted poet unafraid to point out the fraud, the ridiculous, while also, at the same time, painting a world with a sure hand of certainty. Cringerotica is the kind of poetry collection that goes on long after reaching the end, with the author’s voice echoed in our footsteps as we traipse through a world we still struggle to piece back together.
Five stars
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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