2022 EDIT: WTF?
What a confusing, meandering, random, outlandish mess, bordering on pretentious. Somewhat meanspirited, too, that has nothing to do with its "dark fairy tale retellings" aesthetic.
Maybe for 2014, 'Poisoned Apples' just hasn't aged that great*, but it's hard to get a grasp on these "feminist fairy tale" poems, let alone feel anything for them. Reading them, I hardly knew what was going on, and what exactly the point was. Some of them even have nothing to do with fairy tales. It is a bizarre combination of being overly simple and yet grossly convoluted.
Still, 'Sleeping Beauty's Wedding Day', 'If Tampons Were for Guys', '"Sweet Nothings"', 'Runaway', 'Thumbelina's Get-Tiny Cleanse--Tested', 'The Little Mermaid', 'Transformation', 'Nature Lesson', and 'Life Among the Swans' are the strongest, best poems, in my opinion. They get their feminist points across better, and remain good even when they're not themed around specific fairy tales.
*Speaking of, 'Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty' is pretty much all about white feminism. Straight white feminism.
Final Score: 3/5
Original Review:
"You can lose your way anywhere."
This is a strange yet intriguing collection of poems; poems about the issues women face up to and struggle to deal with still, put in the context of classic fairy tales.
Eating disorders. Body change and control by others. "Thinning up" and "juicing up" for others' benefit and not for the woman's own. Photoshopped models. Confidence in self. Rape. Trust in men. The soul-crushing boredom and emptiness of being in the "appropriate" society. The virgin/purity myth. Double standards. And how come women have to bleed and be bruised to show how worthy they are? And why is sex and safe sex not taught properly, with facts, in the majority of schools in America, which stubbornly drill in abstinence-only education? (Some schools won't even allow sex ed teachers to say the word "condom". What. The. Fuck?)
Within this dark poetry corner is an uncomfortable truth that women and young girls are still seen as property to some extent. Their worth is their relationships with men, and their looks - pressured to suit a socially-accepted notion of beauty. These standards of beauty are in fact impossible, for real women don't look like that, but real women are continuously told to strive to achieve the "perfect", thin, cake-like mould anyway.
I think the poem I'll remember the most is 'If Tampons Were For Guys', because it shows exactly what would happen if guys had menstruation cycles - funny and sadly true at the same time. And there is a poem about the sordid school dress code that seems focused on shaming girls for showing skin, and offending boys by basically comparing them to animals in constant heat. If boys fail academically, it's the girl's fault. If girls fail academically, it's their own fault. Because... they exist. And the poem beautifully states that there are no other words, no excuses, for this sexist mindset that seriously needs to grow up and move on from the dark ages.
And 'Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty' is pretty dark.
Some of the poems are a little vague and confusing for those unfamiliar with most poetry. But the little book is not always sombre, and is overall well-written and witty. The black-and-white photos accompanying the poems also help set the mood and atmosphere, depending on the poem.
Christine Heppermann is a talented and informative poet who knows exactly what she writes. Fairy tales are more mature and more revealing about the state of women in society than we might realise, and through this perspective 'Poisoned Apples' speaks volumes about how these tales are relevant in modern times. Although poems about abortion rights and child beauty pageants would have been nice as well.
Gothic and beautiful for its intellect rather than for pretty, pretentious phrases and purple prose, 'Poisoned Apples' is worth the read for any feminist. Meaning for everyone.
Fairy tales show us how far we have come as a society, and how far we have left to go to be better still.
Here is the introductory blurb:
Once upon a time...
you were a princess,
or an orphan.
A wicked witch,
fairy godmother,
prom queen,
valedictorian,
team captain,
Big Bad Wolf,
Little Bo Peep.
But you are more than just a hero or
a villain, cursed or charmed. You are
everything in between.
You are everything.
Yes, yes you are. We all are.
Final Score: 4/5
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