Reviews

Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers' Poetry by Amber Dawn, Justin Ducharme

magnolia4039's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.75

smallintrovert's review

dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

This anthology brings awareness to many important issues and is a wonderful but difficult read. With the overarching subject being sex work, this collection covers topics such as Indigenous experiences in North America, MMIWG, 2SLGTBQIA+, BIPOC, social and political issues, homelessness, accessibility, loneliness, mental health, resilience, assault, trauma, and much more. I live in the Lower Mainland in BC and I particularly appreciated the stories from these cities. The contributors come from marginalized groups often unheard and unseen, and this volume is beautifully written from a place of vulnerability and unapologetic rawness. There were some poetry pieces which I had a hard time understanding, but that happens with any poetry collection in my experience. Overall, I enjoyed reading these narratives, and it was an insightful experience.

daniellekat's review

emotional inspiring reflective

3.0

As someone not into poetry, I enjoyed this. There were lots of different poetic styles and I found most of them easy to follow. I thought the writing was impactful, and more than a few had me tearing up. I really liked the first half, but I think I just spent more time with it. By the half way point I was feeling bored and ready to be done. There were still some great entries in the second half, but I was lacking the attention span to really take them in.  I appreciate this collection and wouldn't have otherwise picked it up if it hadn't been featured by my library for Poetry Month.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual violence

Moderate: Addiction

avereads12's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.5

danrue's review

3.0

This anthology of poetry was eye opening and many were enjoyable whether because they were humorous or serious. I did find some of the poems lacking but could attribute that to my taste or some poems were confusing. All of this to say that this book is important. Some of the lines stopped me in my tracks and I found myself saving them to share with others and with the intention to reread them at a later time.

caseythecanadianlesbrarian's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

Some favourite passages from this diverse anthology with plenty of queer and/or POC representation:

"sex fills me up & love reminds me / it's okay to be empty" - "dream boy" by Justin Ducharme

"You are utterly in love. What is the distinction between you and this swirling world?" - "a celebration of darkness" by Jaene F. Castrillon 

"to my clients who tell me I look tired / i am / because your dick is the 8th one today ... because the bees are dying and i can't make my rent" - "to my clients..." by Stickie Stackedhouse

"I wanted to be ruined more than I wanted to be loved...my body is a weapon I don't know how to love gently with" - "de.vour" by Natalie House

“We rode the night until / the genocide of indifference / & conniving knives of hatred / disappeared us all” - “West End Sex Workers Memorial” by Raven Slander 

“Whipping around the pole, / back arched, heart bare–She is / the second coming, / and dear God / I believe.” - “ Revival at the Pillow Talk Lounge” by Garuda Love

Content warning, there's a lot of trauma in here which I was expecting; one poem I wish i had skipped because the content was difficult (on p.145-6) features a pedophile client 

rquickly's review

3.0

This is closer to 3 and a half stars for me. While I think these poems are important in their own right, I did not entirely like how the anthology was organized? I'm not sure. Something about it was a little off-putting, as it did not have enough push-and-pull to feel intentional. I wish I enjoyed it more, as I did enjoy quite a bit of the poetry in it.

kimrice992's review

emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

kalross's review

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

A good and important read. Some poems i greaaatly enjoyed, and others i did not, which I think is the case with any anthology.

seatwood's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5