Overview

"Debut Poetry Chapbook by Crystal Ignatowski. Crystal Ignatowski's poetry has been featured in Barren Magazine, Four Way Review, River Mouth Review, Ghost City Press, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, and more. She is a Best of the Net nominee and the recipient of the 2018 Poets on the Coast Fellowship. She lives in Oregon with her husband and children. ""Crystal Ignatowski's Rabbit Hole is a two-pronged exploration of its title-the ""rabbit hole"" is both the endless deep dive into a history and also an Alice in Wonderland-esque entrance into another realm. The speaker of these poems fluctuates between feeling small in moments of shame and feeling large in her remembrance, and in the contrast Ignatowski demonstrates the allure of escaping, how returning to the site of harm might return some of the power we've lost. But sometimes, we go down the rabbit hole because of our need for the familiar; comforts yes, but the old pains we know, too."" Taylor Byas, author of I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times (2023) ""How we name ourselves and how we tell stories, how we cannot stay the same, no matter what befalls or uplifts us, how we bend - these are the emotional tenets of Crystal Ignatowski's Rabbit Hole. The poems herein challenge their speakers and their readers to let go, beginning in the shimmering 'uterus of a diamond' and chasing some version of salvation as light or lineage, as men, as vices, as beauty even, given to us whether we accept it or not. From the absinthe-tinted daydream of the title poem, to the pastoral reverie of 'Quiet Spaces, ' the wistful laments of 'Never Have I Ever' and 'Silo, ' Ignatowski's artful lines and lingering images seek both understanding and determination that the journey down, into and through is worth it. And here, in these brilliant poems, it is."" Ben Kline, author of It Was Never Supposed to Be and Dead Uncles"

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9781952869983

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Reviews

"Crystal Ignatowski's Rabbit Hole is a two-pronged exploration of its title-the ""rabbit hole"" is both the endless deep dive into a history and also an Alice in Wonderland-esque entrance into another realm. The speaker of these poems fluctuates between feeling small in moments of shame and feeling large in her remembrance, and in the contrast Ignatowski demonstrates the allure of escaping, how returning to the site of harm might return some of the power we've lost. But sometimes, we go down the rabbit hole because of our need for the familiar; comforts yes, but the old pains we know, too. Taylor Byas, author of I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times (2023) The poems of Crystal Ignatowski's Rabbit Hole, spare and dreamlike in their details, devastate, operating with the urgency and intimacy of the biographical and of confessional address. One can't help themselves, reading these pages, when they think of the phrase ""born out of necessity."" Ignatowski confronts here, with daring candor, both the inevitability and plasticity of an individual life, so that naturally, when she writes ""I always wished I had/ the pleasure/ of another name,"" one couldn't imagine it written any other way. Edward Sambrano III, poet, critic, and educator Rabbit Hole by Crystal Ignatowski is a spellbinding journey through the surreal and poignant landscapes of memory, identity, and self-discovery. Ignatowski's chapbook weaves imagery and raw emotion to take readers down a path where the ordinary transforms into the extraordinary. From contemplating the anatomy of a name to the hidden spaces within to exploring familial connections and personal trauma, each poem invites introspection and wonder. There is no single word for the feelings molting / inside me these last five months, sharp as quills-Rabbit Hole responds to the moment, carries the quiet weight of a gun, and the ephemeral nature of love and loss. These are poems I want to go down the rabbit hole with-I want every reader to dive into this collection and allow yourself to be both lost and found with its lyrical embrace. Kelli Russell Agodon, Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon Press) How we name ourselves and how we tell stories, how we cannot stay the same, no matter what befalls or uplifts us, how we bend - these are the emotional tenets of Crystal Ignatowski's Rabbit Hole. The poems herein challenge their speakers and their readers to let go, beginning in the shimmering ""uterus of a diamond"" and chasing some version of salvation as light or lineage, as men, as vices, as beauty even, given to us whether we accept it or not. From the absinthe-tinted daydream of the title poem, to the pastoral reverie of ""Quiet Spaces,"" the wistful laments of ""Never Have I Ever"" and ""Silo,"" Ignatowski's artful lines and lingering images seek both understanding and determination that the journey down, into and through is worth it. And here, in these brilliant poems, it is. Ben Kline, author of It Was Never Supposed to Be and Dead Uncles"

Author Information

Crystal Ignatowski's poetry has been featured in Barren Magazine, Four Way Review, River Mouth Review, Ghost City Press, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, and more. She is a Best of the Net nominee and the recipient of the 2018 Poets on the Coast Fellowship. She livesin Oregon with her husband and children.

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