A Burning Lake of Paper Suns is a book of twisting love poems, scintillating through a heart bursting at its seams. With the decadence of stars and pomegranates, Ellen's poems illustrate the transfiguration of a girl to a monstress. Here she is ravenous, and tender for what desire haunts. Yearning alchemizes through the bones of this book, each page a siren song to lure readers into a blooming grave, where they may find themselves on the threshold of myth and miracle.
These are stunning poems--they offer glimpses, moments, pauses, and deep dives into the poet's and persona's worlds, inner and outer. Surprising, startling imagery, effectively-employed juxtapositions, fresh and original voice. Really appreciated this entire collection, beginning to end.
“A Burning Lake of Paper Suns” is a solid poetry collection with rich imagery and the themes of death, monsterhood, love, and girlhood.
The strongest part of Webre’s poems was the theming. Not only was the imagery evocative and delicious to imagine, but it avoided common pitfalls and cliches I have noticed in similar works. The idea of poetry focusing on the dichotomy between life and death or monsters and women is nothing new, but Webre brings some fresh ideas on how to view and consume those intertwining contrasts.
In terms of formatting, there was a variety in the types and shapes of poems. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the themes with a teen and up rating in mind.