Ugly Girl

Like a bomb that only goes off slowly over the course of decades, Ugly Girl by Holly Day is a litany of the damages done to self and others caught within the blast radius, the faceless ones who set the charge but are somehow never fully held accountable for it. It is no sudden explosion, but one that takes years to notice; as she says in Unwinding: I know time has passed because my reflection has been replaced by the face of a stranger. The speaker in the poems is never the one "they" think she is, or the one they want her to be. Despite this disconnection, there is an undaunted strength that bursts through the layers of subjugation: There are only so many people I can be for you and I have to be myself now. -From "This isn't love" Ugly Girl is a must read for woman and man alike; it's honesty and willingness to engage the reader with its perceptiveness and inclusivity will relate to all on a human level.