We all know that she sings in cursive. Halsey: Where are you? I'm so sorry. But does she write in
cursive? Before we begin I'd like to say thank you to Book Of The Month for sponsoring this episode.
I get bare stressed about reading books. I feel like they have to be good and I don't have time
to research every corner of the internet for recommendations every month. My friend actually
told me about Book Of The Month and this is when I was trying to peep These Violent Delights and
trying to get it on pre-order. Book Of The Month are a super popular online book service and they
make reading so simple. Every month their team reads and reviews and curates basically the creme
de la creme of new and early releases. You get a selection of five different books and you get to
choose the book or books that you want to read for that month. I was looking at the website
and the page even have these like cute themes and emojis and even warnings for the readers. For the
month of June we've got a YA, a contemporary, fantasy, historical fiction - which means the
one that i was most excited for is actually in the blue box! So is The Maidens it's a horror-thriller
and i just need something scarier than my future to focus on this month. They give you a cute
little bookmark as well. They're only shipping to the US so this is the only time that i'm actually
jealous of Americans. If you're like a really slow reader like me or you don't like some of the
books for that month then it's fine you can skip months you can cancel your subscription and it's
all gucci and it ends up being cheaper if you get like a hardback as well. So it's normally $14.99
a month but I'm happy to be able to give y'all a discount so for the month of June you can get your
first book for $9.99 using the code PACKABOOK. For all my usa viewers count yourself lucky
and enjoy reading. Okay guys we did it. Well, Halsey did it. A celebrity poetry book that's
actually good? When you read crap like this for so long you start to become accustomed to it and
you think that there is nothing but badness in this world. But halsey is here to prove us wrong!
Disclaimer: this is an opinion so if you are a lit graduate who thinks that i am talking out of my
booty cheeks black hole then well.. c'est bon. i would leave me if i could. Back in
2014 halsey had tumblr by the throat! Grammy award-winning artist cursive singer they're also
the creator of my all-time favorite lyrics: You're dripping like a saturated sunrise.
You're spilling like an overflowing sink. You're ripped at every edge but you're a masterpiece -
So we always knew that her lyrics were gonna slap. So this is less Halsey,
more Ashley and it's really interesting to see bits of her poetry that
became songs. Some poems would feel better if it was spoken aloud or some sort of like spoken word
poetry. So Halsey's type of writing is super heavy on the metaphorical figurative language.
"So Halsey for your poetry what type of metaphorical language are we looking at
here?" Halsey: yes. I'll admit Halsey's poetry is not going to be up there with the literary canon
by any means some bits are not that great. I saw an amazon review that called this "tumblr poetry"
and i was like my g. And yeah some people think that her poetry is way too obvious and explicit
in its imagery but i think if anything it makes it more accessible and it's something that they
can refine in their next poetry collection. The topics are super heavy and a lot of it is about
abusive relationships... like a lot. She also talks about bisexuality and the experiences that
she has with women versus the trauma of trash men. She also talks about what it means to be feminine
and regaining control of your own narrative. And what I really like about Halsey's poetry is just
how rich and metaphorical her language is. This poetry is not for like 13-year-olds all right it's
very erotic it's very explicit. So let's dissect and cut a bish up. Lighthouse is a poem that
people suspected was about her ex G-eazy. "He was almost seven feet tall with black oily hair"
well you know.. "He would stuff his nose with cocaine for days on end until the rims of his
nostrils were caked with white like cement and bleeding sores leaking a yellow-orange pus" Just
the use of PLOSIVES!, SIBILANCE! combined with the really graphic imagery makes you so uncomfortable.
There's a lot of poetry where she uses this type of technique "globular bulbous chunks leaks from
the centre like giant blood clots bathing and buttercream" I think it takes a lot of courage and
bravery to be able to talk about your past trauma in such metaphorical but still explicit language.
When I was reading this poetry collection it just reminded me of that scene from Doctor
Who. The Master: Cream and beer and pork and beef had fat great big chunks of hot and wet and red-
Good for you mate. This t-shirt's sticking to him in a "cold sweat" and she describes "his
twisted face like pottery on an unmanned wheel". Her comparisons are so unconventional but they
make so much sense like you can literally imagine what that would look like and it just reminds me
of like a little kid, like my brother used to do this type of thing. Halsey uses this imagery of
like childishness juxtaposing with violence at the bottom where he says "I'm gonna [ __ ] kill you"
and her response is to "wrap my arms around his head like I was cradling a newborn" she's kind of
like the mother figure or the protectant of him. "I became a lighthouse dim glow beaming from my
eyes a man in my arms kerosene running low in the tower" So lighthouses are constructed to
withstand very powerful, you know turbulent storms and that's what her relationship is. So she was
taken advantage of at a very young age so this whole theme of innocence and sexuality threads
a lot of her poems and you come to understand the perspectives of when she's a bit older in
these relationships and she's also being taken advantage of in a similar way. There's two poems
that some people don't like because they say it's like the same poem and it's called summer fruits
and watermelon (sugar high). "Grainy sugar bites and juice and Chelsea smiles" and it's also very
innocent but then soon comes very quickly sexual in nature and towards the end she talks about "the
dying leaves flaking off and swaying to the pit of my stomach in an imaginary breeze landing with a
deafening thumps and remind my tongue there is no more watermelon just empty space" and
i think this might be about her miscarriage. So she actually had a miscarriage on stage. Another
one which is really similar "I lick his lips from watermelon spread across my cheeks and that pink
sugar chelsea smile is hiding underneath now I devour watermelon balancing on his knee I rock
my body back and forth so he can feel the heat he fills my mouth with watermelon no one hears me
scream to overdose on sugar is more painful than it seems my tummy hurts from watermelon he can be
so mean but smiles like a gentleman and looks my bloody clean now all I crave is watermelon
every time I leave". It feels more wanted here when she's like I crave the watermelon versus
in the first point I think that even though these two poems are probably about different people in
different settings they still feel kind of similar there is this underlying aggression and pain that
men bestow upon her in her relationships. Let's talk about the male gaze and the fun girl. The
male gaze is when women are visually positioned as an object for like heterosexual desire. The
literal second poem in this book is "it was my first day on earth and i realized i didn't measure
up and i never would" girl same. Inadequacy kind of extends to her relationship so in inventory she
talks about "you know girls who wouldn't ask him to pick up his dirty socks or turn away from him
on a shared mattress girls better than me" so she's comparing herself to a girl who wouldn't
ask for basic hygiene and decency such as picking up that yeah socks from the floor and that's when
you realize that she is comparing herself to an ideal woman in the eyes of a man that does
not exist. "I am the fun girl I'm the spit hanging down from your tongue girl I'm the choke me as
hard as you can girl and they give it all up for a man girl plaid skirt and white knee-high socks
girl" I think she's using epistrophe and i think it's really interesting how she chooses to use
the word girl - and again, it's that same childish innocence that is being sexualized.
Especially when in the same poem she calls them "now you don't expect men to be kind girl" because
she calls them men but she calls either the reader or herself a girl. There's also some poetry about
her like celebrity lifestyle how she has to travel from one country to another she acknowledges that
yes she has money uh and privilege and power now and she thinks that will make her invincible but
it doesn't. It doesn't make her invincible to you know sexual harassment or sexual abuse any
more than it makes her invincible to bad mental health. This is one poetry which just had me
shook it's about her having a fever in the hospital and so she's really ill she's imagining
this man at the end of her bed shovelling she's imagining goldfish swimming in her mouth and her
mom comes to comfort her by the end of the poem you realize that a mom isn't real. Her mother,
someone who is meant to protect her, is just as imaginary as the goldfish that was swimming around
her cheeks and the man at the end of her bed. In another poem she talks about how her aunt
invited her abuser into the home. Unknowingly, somehow i feel like all the matriarchal figures
failed to protect her. Honestly, there is a lot going on. Let's talk about bisexuality yeah anyone
who've had like uncomfortable experiences or trouble with men and they're kind of like craving
more women. Or they question like why do i date men but not women i feel like there's a
few poems in here that will be really relatable to you. I think some of the ones that really
impressed me were "Onanism". One of them was really creative it was called "Tongue Twister"
you know Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. And she kind of makes that into her own
little twist so i can definitely see why someone might call it like tumblr poetry insta poetry.
It's definitely not for everyone and I'm not saying this is like literally a masterpiece
amazing wonderful glorious I can't put it down. Because it is super heavy. Halsey still did that
and i think that she is still a very talented and creative writer. I don't follow Halsey's
life by any means so I don't know that much about her life but if you have any insights about this
poetry collection or just want to suggest some other poetries that you think I should read let
me know in the comments below. Please do give it a like or subscribe because it really helps my
channel out and it helps me continue doing this and you can follow me on twitter or on instagram
if you want to follow the daily depression. I hope you guys enjoy this and let's go. I know
it is too hot in the uk fam 18 degrees? Are you mad? okay okay okay okay yeah. Where are you and
i'm so sorry i cannot sleep i can't dream tonight i need somebody and always this extreme's dark