Primal and evocative.
TOSKA is a heartrending collection of poems that seems to have been dredged from the very soul of the author, Zoe Dabbs. The work elicits a variety of emotions ranging from sorrow and grief to shock and anger, definitely not for the faint of heart! Dubbed as a ‘semi-autobiographical poetry debut’, TOSKA surely gives us insight into the frustrations, disappointments, grievances and hopelessness Dabbs has endured. Poetry is subjective, but it seems the overall theme centers on living life by treading water and dealing with the tidal waves of distress as they roll us over, all the while struggling to stay afloat.
This brief anthology is primal and evocative, filled with the hypocrisies and ironies hiding in plain sight. The poems become more and more grim as you move through the collection. “Trying to find the color and the answer in the boxes bleached by time,” is a vivid example of the desperation that bleeds from the pages. The poems are deliberate and too raw to be anything but honest. If you are looking for an afternoon of introspection, read TOSKA. It will force you to think deeply about the way you live life and the way you view your choices and circumstances.
