Alana Estelle

Surviving Home by, Katerina Canyon is a collection of poems that provide glimpses into Canyon's troubled and abusive home life as she grew up. Canyon also writes about blackness/identity from her perspective. 

I've said before that I have a difficult time with poetry - often times I just have a hard time understanding what I'm reading. Pleasantly, I was able to understand the majority of Canyon's poems, though there were definitely poems or lines that completely went over my head. Her poems mainly focus on her home life - it's evident that her father was abusive and there was also drug use. In a few of the poems, Canyon shares her perspectives on being black - there are references to Trump, how the media capitalizes on certain movements/organizations, the current Pestilence that Shall not be Named, current events, etc.  Some of her points I said to myself "ok, I can see that."  Other points.... I just kind of scratched my head and said "correlation does not always equal causation."  For me, at this point in time, my eyes personally glaze over when people start talking about specific political figures or left vs. right, because it's been said over and over again that it's just exhausting, predicable, and decisive to me. It's like speaking in an echo chamber at this point and I'm officially bored with the political talking points now. However I'm all for freedom of speech so writers should and can write what they want to write. Canyon can write it, how she wants to write it, when she wants to right it. This is just my opinion. 

That being said, I always like to read writers with various perspectives and I often found that the way Canyon portrayed her points of view to be interesting. She has a really unique and creative way of using language that I find intriguing. Am I a poetry convert? No 😂 but I liked being out of my comfort zone and I think I'll reference this poetry collection from time to time because there are some really well written and thought provoking lines here. I think that fans of poetry may like this collection, especially if they like writing with a lot of grit.  

Here are some of my favorites lines: 

"My story is not one revealed with chapter 

And verse. It is expressed in blood and bone." 

"I hover through storms and report 

The heat index of memories." 

"In the end, I prefer to watch reruns. 

They sit on my mind like happy memories." 

Rating: 3/5

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I have a confession to make: I struggle with poetry. There is something about it that doesn’t quite “click” with how I process information. When I read poetry, my brain goes completely blank and I struggle recalling what I’ve just read. I feel like a kindergartener trying to solve a Calculus equation, when all I know how to do is add and subtract. I often joke that I’d rather go back and take Physics again than be forced to read poetry. 

I can read Shakespeare, but even after one of his plays, I’m extremely fatigued, even though I often really enjoy his works. 

And yet, here we are with a book of poetry. Book Publicity Services reached out to me and asked me if I was interested in reading Surviving Home by, Katerina Canyon in honor of it’s publication on November 9th. When I looked up what this selection of poems covers - growing up in a troubled home, prejudice, abuse, etc. - I was intrigued because it really ties into the discussion I had about A Little Life, The Wolf Den and Lolita. I was able to sample a couple of the poems before I received the hard copy and *gasp* Canyon writes in a way that I understand!

I’m excited to read this poetry collection this month and venture outside of my comfort zone, and who knows, it just may give me the confidence boost I need to read more poetry (I have a volume of the Bronte sisters’ poems that’s been glaring at me since 2019…)

Do you read poetry? 

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