This brilliant collection of erasure poems start with the original texts from many different kinds of notes Kate Baer received or experienced online and are, according to the blurb on her book, “transformed into an absolute artform that reclaims the vitriol from online trolls and inspires readers to transform what is ugly or painful in their own lives into something beautiful.” With some of the cruelty witnessed on Facebook threads and Instagram DMs it can be hard to think positively about the state of the world, but this poetry collection truly turns cruelty into art, and bitterness into beauty. I was blown away by her first book, What Kind of Woman, which was an instant #1 New York Times Bestseller, and I’m equally blown away by this collection. My favorite poems include, “Re: Comment Section on Getting Your Body Back After Birth,” “Re: Storming the Capitol,” and “Re: Poems Made from Online Messages.”
