Inside Every Dream, a Raging Sea
The latest collection of poems by Liz Worth (Book*hug Press)
A Turn of Phrase by Lisa de Nikolits. Formerly The Minerva Reader, working tirelessly to support CanLit since 2017.
Book Review
Inside Every Dream, A Raging Sea by Liz Worth, Book*hug Press
This powerful collection is Liz Worth at her best, and this collection is a forever keeper. Worth digs deep and is unflinching at excavating the marrow from the bones of life. She wields her word spells with extraordinary beauty while unearthing the challenges of navigating this uneven existence.
On a personal level, Inside Every Dream, A Raging Sea felt like a mood ring of my life, vocalizing so much of what I’m thinking and feeling right now, and have been feeling for so long. And perhaps that’s too personal an insight for a review but isn’t that what poetry and prose are supposed to do, make you stop and say YES, that’s ME, that’s the world, that’s how it is.
How marvellous to read these poems that are so succinct, so on point and so beautifully moving.
It would be insulting to use the word “maturity” when it comes to Liz Worth because it sounds so middle-aged, which is, in itself never a bad thing and is an inevitable passage of time, to be respected, but Liz Worth, while an ancient and wise spirit, is an eternal sprite. But this collection is imbued with deeper witchy magic, carved and sculpted by the vicissitudes of life but it brings such beauty and dignity to the loneliness and longing of the soul.
I could quote from every poem in the book but you must buy the book, so here are a few quotes to entice you:
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Isolation erodes all meaning. You weren’t sure whether you were living in your own reality anymore, or lost in someone else’s. You needed to come back home.
– I Don’t Want It Like I Used To
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I still wear the silver necklace you gave me. It looks different, too, its delicate chain flawed with the bloom of tarnish.
– Not Everything at Once
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Do you ever remember me the way I remember you? I know there are a lot of things I’ve forgotten—you always reminded me when I let something slip my mind. But I do think of you, the way your bare feet brushed these floorboards, the crackle of static in the sheets in mid-winter.
You can come home any time. Everything we had is still here.
– Memory of Place
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Somewhere, my name is being spoken over a candle. Somewhere, my mother’s ghost rocks my childhood in a cradle. Somewhere, I’m waiting to save myself. Somewhere, I am the legend of a half-kept promise.
– Inside Every Dream a Raging Sea
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I really could post the entire book but you must buy and read it for yourself!