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A review by earlydecember
I Do Everything I'm Told by Megan Fernandes
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I Do Everything I'm Told is what I thought Sex and the City was like until I actually watched the show. Funny, worldly, mature, speculative, and the type of cool only women in their thirties know how to achieve.
Fernandes' poetic voice is distinct, witty, and casual. The poems explore love, intimacy, loss, transience, (and what I find the most intriguing) the importance of place. Both literally and figuratively. The speaker travels often, and their lovers and friends become intertwined with or bounded by their respective cities. But even when the speaker seems lost, it feels like there is always a community to return to.
This collection is separated into four sections with varying themes connected by a sense of urgency and longing. Section two is my favorite, with one and three coming in at a tie. Two is the most experimental in terms of poetic form. I loved the imperfect sonnets and their deconstructed counterparts. These poems perfectly encapsulate heartbreak and uncertainty. Section one is reflective; three is introspective. And four moves outward to include world events. (I find most pandemic poems cringy, but these are good.)
I Do Everything I'm Told is my favorite poetry collection I read so far this year — new or old. So here is a moment from one of my favorite poems titled "Masculinity:"
Fernandes' poetic voice is distinct, witty, and casual. The poems explore love, intimacy, loss, transience, (and what I find the most intriguing) the importance of place. Both literally and figuratively. The speaker travels often, and their lovers and friends become intertwined with or bounded by their respective cities. But even when the speaker seems lost, it feels like there is always a community to return to.
This collection is separated into four sections with varying themes connected by a sense of urgency and longing. Section two is my favorite, with one and three coming in at a tie. Two is the most experimental in terms of poetic form. I loved the imperfect sonnets and their deconstructed counterparts. These poems perfectly encapsulate heartbreak and uncertainty. Section one is reflective; three is introspective. And four moves outward to include world events. (I find most pandemic poems cringy, but these are good.)
I Do Everything I'm Told is my favorite poetry collection I read so far this year — new or old. So here is a moment from one of my favorite poems titled "Masculinity:"
But I said none of this. Because when I heard no one is coming to save me,
I held you close like a storied woman. Like all the storybook women before me
who know what destroys and remakes, and what is destroyed in the remaking.
Thank you to Netgalley and Tin House for the ARC copy.
Content Warnings
Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use