A review of the new book of poetry, Dirty Beautiful Words by Brooklyn Brayl.
So, if the title didn’t get me, mellifluous as it is, I was hooked by the second poem. In Brooklyn’s own hand, “It’s all just poems I’ve bled before” and her words truly bleed with raw emotion.
The collection of poems is a larger than life yet humble coming out story of a transgendered soul struggling out of her cocoon. But this review isn’t about that, because Brooklyn’s words transcend her own hardship and she brings a voice not just to transgendered youth, non-binaries, queer gender, questioners, and those struggling with the seething monster we call identity, but also to everyone who has ever looked in the mirror and been enchanted yet poisoned by what they saw.
There is much evocation here, without getting dreary and emo, a line that is often hard to walk with class, not to mention five inch heels.
Her words literally jump out at you and she creates a tension between the mundane and the mysterious, between the subtle and the erotic, between the god and the goddess.
Succinct social commentary woven with harsh truths and raw vulnerability make her lyrical poems something magical, a force all their own, and truly pleasurable to read.
A little dirty, a lot beautiful, and completely surprising, Brooklyn Brayl’s Dirty Beautiful Words is an excellent debut and brings a fresh, vibrant voice to a generation who is tired of saying what is expected and ready to tell it like it is.
I highly recommend this to anyone. You can find Dirty Beautiful Words on Amazon.
The Scribe's Apprentice 