‘God Themselves’ is a collection of 72 poems that discuss existing in a Queer, Black, Female body within a religious space. It discusses themes of reverence, contemplation, celebration of spirit and mental illness. 

I read this as an audiobook as an ARC from NetGalley. Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me this ARC. I appreciate that the author includes a non-exhaustive list of trigger warnings at the beginning of the recording. 

I have been trying my best to get into poetry for a couple of months now and have found audiobook versions so much better for me personally to consume. I love the tone of the author’s voice and the pace that she was speaking in was great too. Due to my own negative experiences with religion as a queer person, I was a bit wary of that aspect of the book but I actually didn’t mind it so much. 

Personally, my favourite poems were number 7 “What To Do When There’s Nothing You Can Do”, and number 57 “This Is About Nakedness”. I took note of quite a lot of strong lines that really spoke to me while reading this. This is definitely a book I would have on my shelves and I’d love to check out more of the author’s work. 

Overall, I had a good time reading this and I devoured it in one sitting. I highly recommend this if you’re getting into or already into poetry. And I always recommend reading audiobooks that are narrated by the author themselves, I love it when they do that! 

Representation - Black; Mental Illness; Sapphic

TWs/CWs - Blood; Cussing; Death; Divorce; Drugs (Weed; mentioned); Eating Disorder; Gun Violence; Mental Illness; Police Brutality; Racism; Self-harm; Sex; Suicide; Suicide Ideation; Violence