the witch doesn’t burn in this one is Amanda Lovelace’s second and highly anticipated poetry collection in her ‘women are some kind of magic’ series. Carrying on in true Lovelace fashion, the witch doesn’t burn in this one explores women’s rights, and how they are oppressed within society.

The witch: supernaturally powerful, inscrutably independent, and now—indestructible. These moving, relatable poems encourage resilience and embolden women to take control of their own stories. Enemies try to judge, oppress, and marginalize her, but the witch doesn’t burn in this one.

the witch doesn’t burn – in my opinion – is way better than the princess saves herself in this one. TWDBITO explores the ancestry of women and focuses more on a woman’s relationship with herself rather than physical or emotional abuse that she may have suffered. I am in no way saying that Lovelace talking about physical and emotional abuse is boring/rubbish, because it isn’t, it’s just that I can relate to TWDBITO more than the princess.

Whilst I was reading this poetry collection, I bookmarked so many poems that really captured my heart. By that I mean the poems that I could really relate to, not in a broad sense because that would have been nearly every single one, but the poems that seemed like they came right out of my autobiography. And there was a lot! I wish that I could share with you all of the poems that I loved, but in order to do that, you should just go out and buy the collection, otherwise, I would be writing down nearly every single poem in this blog post. But I’ve picked out a couple for you that really sum up what this poetry collection is like:

over the span

of centuries

animals evolve to

survive their surroundings,

 

so

what happens

when women

finally

 

learn

to

throw

back?

 

(this.)

(this.)

(this.)

(this.)

women

learn

to sense

what who

danger

looks like

just

by catching

another

woman’s eye

from across

a crowded

room.

– survival

I have heard (and read) a lot of debate surrounding this type of poetry, with people calling it ‘Tumblr spacing’ and saying that anyone could do it and get published. My answer? Do it then. Try and see how easy it is to put your deepest and darkest secrets down onto paper and turn them into fluid yet snappy poetry that people across the world can relate to. It’s hard. And anyway, what is the definition of poetry? It doesn’t have to rhyme or look a certain way or talk about a certain subject. Poetry can be/look/sound anything that you want it to be and modern poets have done exactly that; Amanda included.

I think the whole reasoning behind why I thought the second collection was better than the first is because it focused on women empowering themselves through joining together, like the women’s marches. I loved that Lovelace included politics in her poetry and it was nice to see recent problems being included. It meant that I could really relate to the poetry and 100% understand what Lovelace was on about because she was using contemporary examples.

I can’t wait for the third poetry collection to come out, and the title of the third on is the mermaid doesn’t lose her voice in this one. I can’t wait to see what else Lovelace has to offer.

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review