Overview

With an equal dose of fatalism and dark wit, Antigua captures the body's capacity to cage and cradle sadness. Diannely Antigua's Good Monsteranxiety, depression, and boundless need become monstrous shadows. Here, poems dance on bars, speak in tongues, and cry in psych wards. When ""God [becomes] a house [she] can't leave,"" language becomes the only currency left. We see the messiness of survival unfold through sestinas, a series of Sad Girl sonnets, and diary entries-an invented collage form using Antigua's personal journals. At the crux of despair, Antigua locates a resilient desire to find a love that will remain, to feel pleasure in an inhospitable body and, above all, to keep on living.

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9781556596902

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Reviews

"Praise for Good Monster ""Positions us in the molten place where vulnerability and strength live together, writing with and into a self-awareness that manages to feel inviting, welcoming, revelatory.""—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe ""As Good Monster remains in conversation with Antigua’s debut collection regarding an abusive stepfather, loss of faith, and sexuality, she deploys form (Sad Girl sonnets, sestinas, collages), direct language, and bold attempts at reconciling with the past to freshly illuminate a self that can avert the presence of trauma or perhaps even overcome it.""—Sara Verstynenm, Booklist ""Antigua’s sophomore collection is a raw, innovative exploration of the body after trauma. Through lyrical free verse, 'Sad Girl Sonnets,' and her invented collage form of the 'Diary Entry Poem,' Antigua investigates religious trauma, chronic pain, and mental illness. The result is a poetry collection of considerable courage and vulnerability.""—Skylar Miklus, Electric Lit ""It takes more than guts to write great poems about shattering truths, chronic pain and trauma, vulnerability in relationships and regrettable sexual encounters. . . . Working confidently with the line, Antigua uses form to hold up the intricate layers.""—Debbra Palmer, New York Journal of Books Praise for Diannely Antigua “For Diannely Antigua, the body is a site of trauma and awe; it is at once magical and damaged. Antigua's poems layer lyricism, religious language, and the tactile materials of daily life to build altars of affection for the people and things of her world.” —Whiting Award Selection Committee “The coming-of-age narrative that unfolds in Ugly Music is dark, certainly, haunted by childhood sexual abuse, depression, and the gendered power dynamics of a Pentecostal upbringing, but in navigating this darkness, Antigua evokes a richness of texture, sound, and color.” —Pleiades “Diannely Antigua’s Ugly Music is a beautiful disturbance of erotic energy. . . Antigua’s seduction is both intellectual and physical, a force strong enough to counter the emotional pains recounted here . . .” —Catherine Barnett “Diannely Antigua’s poems embody the struggles of a modern girl who confronts both her privilege and oppression, sexuality and sexual trauma.” —Muzzle Magazine “By blurring the lines between holiness and danger, self-sacrifice and self-preservation, humor and heartache, Ugly Music pushes boundaries and asks us to re-examine what we think we know.” —RHINO Poetry “Antigua takes the aspects of femininity women and girls are often punished for and polishes them until they sing.” —Kate Gaskin “Many poems center on the speaker’s relationship with her mother, and how the speaker, who’s now older, attempts to understand the moments they shared, however awkward, painful, or tragic they were. . .” —Heavy Feather Review "

Praise for Good Monster “Positions us in the molten place where vulnerability and strength live together, writing with and into a self-awareness that manages to feel inviting, welcoming, revelatory.”—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe “As Good Monster remains in conversation with Antigua’s debut collection regarding an abusive stepfather, loss of faith, and sexuality, she deploys form (Sad Girl sonnets, sestinas, collages), direct language, and bold attempts at reconciling with the past to freshly illuminate a self that can avert the presence of trauma or perhaps even overcome it.”—Sara Verstynenm, Booklist “Antigua’s sophomore collection is a raw, innovative exploration of the body after trauma. Through lyrical free verse, 'Sad Girl Sonnets,' and her invented collage form of the 'Diary Entry Poem,' Antigua investigates religious trauma, chronic pain, and mental illness. The result is a poetry collection of considerable courage and vulnerability.”—Skylar Miklus, Electric Lit “It takes more than guts to write great poems about shattering truths, chronic pain and trauma, vulnerability in relationships and regrettable sexual encounters. . . . Working confidently with the line, Antigua uses form to hold up the intricate layers.”—Debbra Palmer, New York Journal of Books “Through richly layered images and precise language, Antigua conveys the speaker’s growing self-awareness as she comes to terms with a formative childhood trauma.”—Leonora Simonovis, Harriet Books, Poetry Foundation “Antigua blends Eros and Thanatos until they’re practically indistinguishable. . . . In the end, she seems to be making peace with her inner demon, giving life to an old metaphor, offering roses in the final poem.”—Charles Rammelkamp, The Lake “As Antigua elucidates, 'We can’t heal / or hurt alone.' So, too, can we not heal—or hurt—without a combination of the confessional and the measured. Good Monster offers both, melding the mind and heart with candor and care. Sometimes it’s hell on earth to suffer—or survive. Antigua’s poems may confess to near death experiences, but she exists within the present continuous, the ongoing, the now.”—Hannah Bonner, Adroit Praise for Diannely Antigua “For Diannely Antigua, the body is a site of trauma and awe; it is at once magical and damaged. Antigua's poems layer lyricism, religious language, and the tactile materials of daily life to build altars of affection for the people and things of her world.”—Whiting Award Selection Committee “The coming-of-age narrative that unfolds in Ugly Music is dark, certainly, haunted by childhood sexual abuse, depression, and the gendered power dynamics of a Pentecostal upbringing, but in navigating this darkness, Antigua evokes a richness of texture, sound, and color.”—Pleiades “Diannely Antigua’s Ugly Music is a beautiful disturbance of erotic energy. . . Antigua’s seduction is both intellectual and physical, a force strong enough to counter the emotional pains recounted here . . .”—Catherine Barnett “Diannely Antigua’s poems embody the struggles of a modern girl who confronts both her privilege and oppression, sexuality and sexual trauma.”—Muzzle Magazine “By blurring the lines between holiness and danger, self-sacrifice and self-preservation, humor and heartache, Ugly Music pushes boundaries and asks us to re-examine what we think we know.”—RHINO Poetry “Antigua takes the aspects of femininity women and girls are often punished for and polishes them until they sing.”—Kate Gaskin “Many poems center on the speaker’s relationship with her mother, and how the speaker, who’s now older, attempts to understand the moments they shared, however awkward, painful, or tragic they were . . .”—Heavy Feather Review

“For Diannely Antigua, the body is a site of trauma and awe; it is at once magical and damaged. Antigua's poems layer lyricism, religious language, and the tactile materials of daily life to build altars of affection for the people and things of her world.” —Whiting Award Selection Committee “The coming-of-age narrative that unfolds in Ugly Music is dark, certainly, haunted by childhood sexual abuse, depression, and the gendered power dynamics of a Pentecostal upbringing, but in navigating this darkness, Antigua evokes a richness of texture, sound, and color.” —Pleiades “Diannely Antigua’s Ugly Music is a beautiful disturbance of erotic energy. . . Antigua’s seduction is both intellectual and physical, a force strong enough to counter the emotional pains recounted here . . .” —Catherine Barnett “Diannely Antigua’s poems embody the struggles of a modern girl who confronts both her privilege and oppression, sexuality and sexual trauma.” —Muzzle Magazine “By blurring the lines between holiness and danger, self-sacrifice and self-preservation, humor and heartache, Ugly Music pushes boundaries and asks us to re-examine what we think we know.” —RHINO Poetry “Antigua takes the aspects of femininity women and girls are often punished for and polishes them until they sing.” —Kate Gaskin “Many poems center on the speaker’s relationship with her mother, and how the speaker, who’s now older, attempts to understand the moments they shared, however awkward, painful, or tragic they were. . .” —Heavy Feather Review 

Author Information

Diannely Antiguaand has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.She currently serves as the poet laureate of Portsmouth, NH, and is the youngest and first person of color to hold the title.As host of the Bread & Poetry podcast, she aims to make poetry more accessible to the community, interviewing poets and non-poets alike about what poetry means to them.

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