Sophia Blackwell’s new collection, The Fire-Eater’s Lover, is about performance of all kinds. Whether it’s the rituals of seduction, the trials and triumphs of squeezing into a red vintage dress or the adrenalin of putting a microphone to your lips, these poems are filled with the joy of performing.
The Fire-Eater’s Lover conjures together scraps of everything from classic blues songs to job rejection letters, marriage proposals and medical questionnaires, and whips them into a circus of illicit sex, love lost and found, bittersweet goodbyes and moments of illumination.