Author: E.F. Schraeder
Publisher: Raw Dog Screaming Press
Plot: (Back of Book) A careful study on estrangement and loss, The Price of a Small Hot Fire excavates the archetypal horrors of monstrous motherhood, from abandonment and unsteady reconciliation to the grave. Experimental and intimate, E.F. Schraeder’s collection gives voice to a semi-autobiographical examination of a griefscape from a queer lens. This collection of poems is an emotional journey that will find readers clutching their hearts at both the subtle moments and those that cut like a knife. The raw feelings seep onto the pages, encompassing the vulnerability of open wounds, while at the same time cutting through a stone-like exterior to see the blood still inside. It’s not only a reading of poetry but an internal vibrating contemplation of the maternal relationship and how it molds us.
My Review and Thoughts:
Poetry is one of those written realities that you love or hate. There is very seldom an in-between. There is an old saying anybody can write poetry but not everyone is a poet. Meaning to be a poet is something special, something unique inside your poetry that's lingers and moves and most of all transcends off the pages into the emotional roller-coaster of the readers mind and that my friends is what E.F. Schraeder has accomplished in this book of poetry.
The Price of a Small Hot Fire is a moving and hauntingly disturbing and brilliant collection that is thick with intense imagery. So we'll executed that it makes you wonder just how perfect prose can be. I was thrilled and moved beyond in the world of imaginative poetry.
So memorable. So emotional. So burning with that fire in the title.
This is a collection of brutal honesty. A deep dive into the recesses of darkness and spilling over into the day to day workings of life. These words are so passionately woven together, that they slowly and vibrantly increase in intensity as each piece is read.
I love good poetry. I love good prose and deep imagination woven into that poetry and that is what E.F. Schraeder has created. Raw Dog Screaming Press has a major winner with this dark collection of life and the horrors of life.
I can't praise this enough. For it is a collection that needs to be read and explored in all its amazing passion and darkness.
Would I Return to it Again: Absolutely. I already have. I have marked and read many of the pieces over and over. Some truly demand extra attention.
Would I Recommend: Absolutely. Any lover of poetry. Anyone wanting to explore what great prose is about in poetry than look no further. The Price of a Small Hot Fire should be owned.
My Rating: 5 out of 5
Four Final Words: Passionately detailed. Masterly poetic.
This will be coming out on July 13th make sure you buy this wonderful collection of poetry.