Not For Us To Conquer by Breia Gore

“Breia Gore’s Not For Us To Conquer is a visceral compilation of contradictions and unearthings. Each poem is a watercolor painting, an experimentation with form, a blunt deconstruction of one’s roots. The poems in this collection are brimming with questions and answers on the gritty topics we all explore late at night when grappling with our identities. There is a gentle vulnerability in each piece, which pairs effortlessly with the exquisite lyricism and imagery you can just about taste.”

–Savannah Slone, author of Hearing the Underwater

“Breia Gore‘s collection is a searing, visceral exploration of the body in all its duality: creation and destruction, tenderness and violence, horror and healing. Gore wields each line like a scalpel, shaping the page into startling language. These poems examine girlhood, consumption, and embodied place, full of haunting imagery that clings to your fingers: “I keep the ashes / of a girl in my coat pocket.” Gore’s voice dares us to look and touch and feel that which will hurt us, haunt us, hunt us: she demands us to keep digging, to keep dissecting, to “eat the light with me.”

–K. Ming Chang, author of forthcoming novel BESTIARY