Haunting, lyrical, and seductive…
Hollow dives headlong into a world where darkness is both refuge and ruin in his latest collection. In “Invitation,” the speaker pleads for entry, offering devotion as “a sweet dark wine dripping from my wrist’s fervent cut / until your heart has had enough.” Love is sacrifice and surrender, a theme that surfaces again in “Take Me to Your Castle,” where passion and eternity intertwine in “blood and satin, we’ll revel / lured by your catacomb kiss when your immortal eyes deceive.”
The collection lingers in the liminal space between life and death. In “Dead Dreamer,” the speaker wonders, “what do the dead dream when they sleep? / pillowcases stuffed with pills hold a lonely head / wounds dressed to kill.” The imagery in “Banshee’s Echo” is equally chilling: “your chilling refrain a banshee’s veiled echo / fingers tangled in your kelpie mane / to drown me in Rimmerian prose.” Yet, amidst the macabre, Hollow’s phrasing is beautifully melancholic. In one of the collection’s most stunning lines, the speaker confesses, “I swallow hummingbirds like Xanax / so they may drink the nectar of my sorrow / and pollinate your wilting heart.” The collection’s intensity is its greatest strength, but it also threatens to overwhelm. Some poems, like “Crown of Mutations” and “Almighty Murder” spiral into sprawling, chaotic imagery that sometimes obscures their emotional weight. That said, the book’s hypnotic language and visceral imagery make the reading experience deeply immersive.
Hollow does not merely dwell in darkness—he revels in it, crafting a fever dream of love, loss, and the eternal ache of the undead. This is poetry best read under flickering candlelight.
Barnes & Noble Press
Pub date 10/03/2022
ISBN 9798765589915
Price $6.66 Paperback
Pages 116