Book Review: Wayward Creatures by heidi andrea restrepo rhodes
[ID: a light green and blue book cover with an illustration of a human eye in the center of a blue flower. Behind are more flowers with thin, long, looping petals. “heidi andrea restrepo rhodes, Wayward Creatures, poems” is written in semitransparent text above the illustration. The book sits on a bed of loose book pages on a gray wooden floor. Fake lambs wool leaves that match the book cover surround the left and bottom side of the book. An enamel bookmark with dried golden flowers in it sits above the book. A shiny gray ammonite fossil with a dried yellow flower and a green, yellow, and brown moth pin sits in a row to the right. Below the book is a pair of silver vintage scissors in the shape of a bird.]
If you asked me ten years ago, I never would’ve dreamed that I would voluntarily seek out and enjoy poetry. I always found it confusing but in the last few years I’ve encountered brilliant, moving poetry collections that have rewired my brain and inspired me to appreciate the genre in a new way.
I was so excited to dive into WAYWARD CREATURES, a new poetry collection by heidi andrea restrepo rhodes. Thank you to @HostPublications for my review copy!
WAYWARD CREATURES is an expansive collection that draws on the poet’s experience as a queer, nonbinary, disabled artist and scholar. Their work covers a variety of themes including disability, love, trauma, ancestry, and the natural world.
The nature poems were my favorite. heidi andrea restrepo rhodes has an extraordinary way with words that I found extremely immersive and enjoyable. More than once I found myself whistling to myself and going, “Wow!” at a particularly clever phrase.
There were a few poems that I couldn’t connect with and a few that I didn’t quite understand. At times, I could see what the author was trying to do but it just didn’t work for me. Poetry can be so subjective, I feel like every collection can be a mixed bag for me.
Overall, I really enjoyed getting a peek into the poet’s mind and worldview even if all the poems didn’t work for me.