Final Girl

If you would have told me Daphne could top "Why Things Burn", I would have called you crazy. But after reading Final Girl, I am officially in awe of her talent. Daphne is an artist who sits you down and makes you pay attention, and I wholly recommend "Final Girl" as I think it asserts her talent as one of the foremost poets of our generation.

When Daphne Gottlieb speaks, you have no choice but to listen. I purchased FINAL GIRL at a literary reading during Chicago's 2004 Printers Row Book Fair. The poetry is centered around the survivor of a teen-slasher/horror flick, the one who has lost all of her friends along the way and the only one capable of defeating the killer. I finished the entire book that evening - this is the first poetry book I've been able to read from cover to cover in one sitting. Daphne's poetry is firey and abbrassive, centering on the colorful cast of characters that inhabit the world of horror movies. She gives well-rounded three-dimensional voices to the stereotypes, builds up the greater story behind the small details and is willing to spit back in any adversary's face despite the consequences. She gives a reason and a purpose to the promsicuous girl who is always killed first in the poem, "Slut". She relates these stereotypical characters to their place in the real world and the violence they encounter from hate crimes, muggings and illness. Many of the poems relate to the death of Daphne Gottlieb's mother, as she occasionally writes about the Final Girl's desperate attempts to save her parents from the inevitable. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in performance prose and the theater of the bizarre. There is a very thick line between fictional suspense/horror and reality, but Gottlieb successfully blurs that line. She describes a vampire culture in all senses and scribes an aggressive plan of action against the dangers of a world, city-life and other human beings, while at the same time, displaying one's need for companions and other survivors. The writing is energetic and can cause a smirk as well as a horrified gasp. This is a must-have!

In her new poetry collection, Daphne Gottlieb takes us by the hand and leads us through a horror movie of her own labyrinthine invention, through to the sharp relief of survival. Using American iconic figures and the mythologies of horror movies, she explores what it means to survive, whether it's love or captivity or the death of one's mother or our ubiquitous pop culture appetite. By the last poems, like the last girl alive at the end of a slasher flick, we are battered and renewed, with dirt under our nails and a fierce determination to live. "Final Girl" is an invigorating vision of strength and courage.

I've had the good fortune to see Daphne Gottlieb read twice, and each time I've found myself sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation. She has that effect and is one of a handful of poets I know who manage to reproduce that on the page as well as on the stage and Final Girl is no exception. It is a stellar read, managing to be subtle or clear as needed.In other words, this is poetry that makes me laugh when it should, moves me to honest tears and makes me think throughout. "My Mother Gets Dressed" in particular stands out as brutally beautiful read while "The Other Woman" is, to my ears and eyes, a stunning take on what could be adultery or maybe something much more profound. Gottlieb is like that.She's not an easy read. Although she's not an impenetrable writer, there is an effort involved in reading her work. Like most of my favorite poets, what you get out of her work is directly proportional to how much energy you put into reading it.But much more to the point is this: ignoring the labels, this is simply good poetry that manages, by equal measure, to reveal and conceal everything needed to make the poem clear while leaving room for personal interpretation. Read this if you're after a little blood in your poems.