Poetry Book Review
Title: To Daughter a Devil
Author: Megan Mary Moore
Publisher: Unsolicited Press
Released: January 3, 2023
Pages: 98
ISBN: 978-1956692518
Stars: 5.0
To Daughter a Devil by American poet Megan Mary Moore is one of the fiercest, most visceral books of poetry I have ever read written by a woman. Inspired by classic horror movies like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby and the archetypal horror of being a female, from the Devil within to every devil we face, she has created a cohesive narrative of dark poetic perfection all women should read. I learned what a bezoar is. I had no idea. Moore writes poems about things that scare her, and they will scare you too.
She reveals the secret fears of all mothers of daughters, reminisces about seeing JonBenet Ramsay’s photo at a supermarket tabloid stand, what it is to be a bad seed, and how using a tampon must feel to the prepubescent. Moore also asks thought-provoking questions and covers everything about being a female child, from just knowing she was born bad to one burned as a witch and to the Enfield poltergeist, with such intelligence, insight, and courage that it has blown me away.
Her fascination with death, morbidity and natural and supernatural afflictions women face is just the kind of phantasmagoric poetry that captivates my imagination. I wish I could write something half as clever. “If Gregor Samsa Was a Girl” was simply brilliant. By the time I read “Our Love is a Two-Headed Calf, “If Swan Lake Had a Happy Ending,” “Madame Tussaud Makes a Death Mask of Marie Antoinette in Madeleine Cemetery,” “Eulogy for the Doe on the Side of State Road 128,” and “Snow White Receives a DM from Dopey,” I had goosebumps and was sighing aloud over how damn good Moore’s work is. I cannot wait to read more of her work.
It shows that Megan Mary Moore holds an MFA in poetry from Miami University. Her work has been published in numerous poetry outlets, magazines, and reviews. To Daughter a Devil was published by Unsolicited Press out of Portland, Oregon—a press I will watch.