The Dogs I Have Kissed

She writes primarily about relationships/love and the "terribly broken" lover that she is. I think reading that she puts herself at fault many times for her relationships was what I liked the most about her work overall. Everyone makes mistakes, has fears and isn't always brave so I really liked that she was able to acknowledge that in her work. It also didn't feel so much that the subjects in her poems were her past lovers. In a surprising way, it felt like she was her own subject. Like she's writing to herself about herself and I really liked that kind of style.

P.s. my favorite piece was definitely Little Matchstick Girl!

The book was in perfect condition upon receiving. No bent pages, typos, or creases, etc. As far as the poetry goes, it is pretty good. Trista Mateer is a good writer. With that being said, I wouldn't have bought the book if it wasn't on sale, only because I would have enjoyed more pages for the price. Overall, a good, quick read.

The book was in perfect condition upon receiving. No bent pages, typos, or creases, etc. As far as the poetry goes, it is pretty good. Trista Mateer is a good writer. With that being said, I wouldn't have bought the book if it wasn't on sale, only because I would have enjoyed more pages for the price. Overall, a good, quick read.

i actually love this poetry book ): !! i saw it mentioned on tiktok and immediately purchased the paperback version. i read it all in one go but find myself coming back to it n finding new meanings and analyses of them. (:

Worthy of your time. There are some better poetry books out there but this one is great. It's a great add to any collection.

Worthy of your time. There are some better poetry books out there but this one is great. It's a great add to any collection.

I agree with other reviewers that there does seem to be a certain amount of repetition with this book. Many of them mentioned teeth. I noticed the mouths. Lots of mouths, and coffee. And, yes...she seemed to be wet a lot🧐... This collection of poetry is about love and loss. The title made be think it was going to be much more hell hath no fury, but I didn't really get that feeling after reading it. If there had been more poems like Little Matchstick Girl I think it would have been fiery enough.

Alas, though it was not what I was expecting I still bookmarked several poems and highlighted a slew of lines of poetry. In particular, (and probably what pushed me to four stars) are all the lines about fruit. It's different. It's sexual. And, yes, sometimes it's wet😂.

Below are some of my favorite lines of the fruit variety🍑🍒...
[...]slippery mouths with wet tongues that twisted truth like cherry stems.

Maybe oranges are metaphors for life. Maybe I still don't know how many seeds I'm gonna find in you. Maybe oranges are just supposed to mean summer heat[...]

Questioning all of my other love poems. Writing odes to fruit and thinking about the taste of you. I miss you.

I mean can't get out of bed sad. I mean waking up with a pit in my stomach that didn't come from a cherry. It's nothing like a peach. If you plant it in the ground, nothing will grow from it. Nothing ever grows here. . Particular fruit titled poems that I liked were Plums (p37), Peaches (p46) and Coffee Cups and Fruit Poems (p76).

I don't want to bog this all down with just a lot of quotes, but I will now list some of my favorite poems. Particularly, one of my favorites were Texts I shouldn't Have Sent to My Ex (Part 1 & 2) , For Selene Who is Not Dead but Wanted to Be, Fresh Mint, and Water Me Until I Drown*

*This one probably spoke to be the strongest, mostly because it's the most relatable to my life/current events. The entire second stanza(?), paragraph(?) is highlighted on my iPad.

Ok! So I recommend, but not fiercely. Despite my affection for the fruit poems and the amount of lines I highlighted I don't know that I can say that this collection is super powerful. It's not what I expected, but it's not horrible either. I think, if you can get passed the mouths (and teeth?!) and slobber you could enjoy it. You should probably go in thinking of three stars though, the fruit thing was just my own weird personal affection towards this book. Also, I'm exhausted and perhaps hungry? I don't know... Enjoy!

Trista Mateer is a master of her craft. It's not often I come across poetry that moves and resonates as deeply as hers does

Like her other book, I consumed this in one sitting. I feel like that's the only way to fully enjoy her work and feel it in its depth. I can really appreciate how Trista ties in metaphors between poems; one could call it "repetitive" but I see it as more real. A link between memories, between poems. I feel as though I'm rambling. Anyways, I overall liked this collection so much. It made me feel things. And my favorite poem by Trista is in here, so I'm just glad that I own it now.

Not what I wanted it to be. Reviews and the back of the book just didn't reach my expectations