I got this chapbook as a gift from my creative writing director at the start of this year, as he had gone to college with Leigh and considered her one of his favorite poets. Technically, I started this around August, but I only got to reading the first poem or two (about five pages) before putting it down for four months out of pure school exhaustion. When I picked it up today, I finished the entire thing in one sitting.

Saying that I loved reading through it feels odd, because it was a pretty intense read, covering topics of domestic violence, cyclical behavior, generational trauma, and more, but I honestly did. In every poem, I found a line that hit hard and left me taking a second to just sit with it. She's obviously an incredibly skilled poet with a really amazing sense of structuring, word choice, and imagery, and I'm really glad I got to read through this chapbook!

My personal favorite pieces were The Deposition, Recognizing Lightning, On the Anniversary of the War on Terror, The Burning Ones, The Exchange, and Psalm 107.

That said, I think the only reason I didn't rate this book higher is that it just didn't fully fit the style of poetry I usually enjoy. I tend toward more full and reoccurring sets of imagery (that's why The Burning Ones is one of my favorites) and harsher language (think Hanif Abdurraqib and Danez Smith), so this just wasn't my favorite in the world. I wouldn't say don't read it for that reason, though, even if you feel you have the same taste as me-- Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows was absolutely worth the read regardless. I absolutely recommend it.