Blud,
Rachel McKibbens
// review by Sarah María Medina //
09.26.2017
Reading blud, Rachel McKibbens’ third book is like reading the invocations of an enchantress—spells of a bruja, desterros de una hija. Try reading the blud poems aloud and soon you will be binding down the bad, banishing it forever, and letting in all the light. These poems—or spells—show devotion to the coven: As Rachel McKibbens says in her acknowledgments, blud is for “the most feral singers, we who open our throats to swallow the sky’s shimmering and perfect darkness.” It speaks to those of us who are survivors, and creates a magic circle of prayer around themes of mental illness, sexual assault, and survival. She expels shame to say come beloved, stay.