The Serotonin Cradle by Morgan Boyer

Morgan Boyer’s The Serotonin Cradle takes us on a journey from trailer parks to the political circus.  Her inventive, playful poems contain humor and pathos, noting “feral cats catch field mice . . . . walking/ through the trailer park/ like kings and queens” and how “donkeys and elephants perform/ for the spectators tossing virtual peanuts.”  She captures characters like Mr. Boom-Boom, “the rave DJ for fireflies and stinkbugs” and identifies with Arnaldo Rios “and how/ much he wants to go/ back to the world of his toy truck” after witnessing Charles Kinsey’s murder.  By the end of this collection, you will be rocked by these insightful, daring poems.

On a first read, The Serotonin Cradle, Morgan Boyer’s debut chapbook, might seem like the speaker’s resume doled out stanza by stanza in one particular poem: “a collage of random shit.” But this collection is more than random, more than seemingly mundane, it is the accumulation of a young life spent observing. From the haunting poem “Heroin”—“the angel of Narcan can’t be in seventeen places at once”—to when the granddaughter in “Souls of .jpeg files” lingers on her dead grandfather’s photograph of a pile of corpses from WWII—it is clear these details are carefully chosen. The effect is similar to that of serotonin: a regulation of mood. A calm, focused acceptance of Boyer’s blunt assertions and unique worldview.

–Jennifer Jackson Berry, author of The Feeder

In The Serotonin Cradle, Morgan Boyer takes us on a journey from a candy—filled classroom to a trailer park where “crumbling cardboard” signs read: ““BEWARE OF dog BITCHES.” The speaker in these poems is self-aware and funny, calling her resume a “collage of a bunch of random shit” and owning up to annoying “Westmorland ski resorts by asking for their addresses and phone numbers.” She’s not afraid to join strangers playing pool and to closely examine herself through the lens of obsession (Nirvana//Self-hatred//Acceptance). This is a brave collection that delves right into the curiosity of the human experience, leading us rocking right into the Serotonin Cradle (and all its mysteries) itself.

–Kayla Sargeson, author of First Red  (Main Street Rag, 2016).

Morgan Boyer‘s short collection of poems, The Serotonin Cradle, is certainly thought provoking-thoughts mundane (Why is there a gap between the words in this string of words? So many references to junk food!) and deeper thoughts (Being a bright, twenty something who observes the world from an insightful distance isn’t easy). I found myself reading over and over again the poems that told stories of emerging into young adulthood and the attempt to summarize, with much originality, what went into that emergence.

–Rebecca Klaw

Pittsburgher Morgan Boyer’s poetry is accessible and has a sense of humor.  What’s not to like? In The Serotonin Cradle she cuts to the chase on a hard road the way most poets today cannot, or will not.  “Jimi Hendrix/Alicia Keys CDs/stacked/my dresser like/cheese/bacon/onion rings/on a steak-burger.” This poetry is blues-like and direct, so many rough diamonds looking for ecstasy! Count me in.  “All you know is that damn show’s next episode is coming out today/And you’re going to end up watching it.”  Indeed I’m watching with many others – a great first book!

–John Stupp, author of Advice from the Bed of a Friend (Main Street Rag, 2015), Pawleys Island (Finishing Line Press, 2017) and Summer Job (Main Street Rag, 2018)