A review by arnzen
Choking Back the Devil by Donna Lynch

4.0

I've read a lot of Lynch's poetry over the years, and in my mind this is her best book yet! There's something quite earnest about the messages here which avoid the trite trappings of horror in order to dig her poetic fingers a little more deeply into the gristle (just like on the cover art) and get at the truth beneath what they often mask. Her lyrical voice is omnipresent, while keeping the lines simple and ordinary enough to keep the messages clear. The supernatural appeal of her Witches collection is still here in traces, but this book feels more emotionally raw (and therefore more rich). Lynch does not obfuscate by stirring around words you'd only find in a thesaurus: she keeps it real, and the language is honest, and these poems usually end with a zinger that makes you want to re-read them again and sit awhile with the ideas she's exposed. My kind of book.