Our Wild Magic

by Amanda Linsmeier

our wild magic



for the cursed

the wicked

the wild

the charmed

for those in their ever after

and for those on their way



A fairytale-inspired poetry collection

in five parts from author Amanda Linsmeier.

Genres: Poetry

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Amanda Linsmeier has been a book nerd as long as she can remember, and it was that great love of reading—especially R.L. Stine novels and fairytales—that eventually brought her to writing her own stories. In high school, she won the senior class vote for “Most Romantic Girl”, a title she’s still ridiculously pleased with. She feels most joyful when writing, scream-singing her favorite songs, playing in the water, and laughing with her beloved family. She lives in a magical place with a man who smells like maple syrup and woodsmoke, their wonderfully wild children, a dog, and an assortment of half-feral cats.

Reviews

[Gwen Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!

Heart-wrenching, raw, and so honest. It’s like Linsmeier has captured everything it is to be a woman and woven a spell of words with it, so you want to wrap yourself in it like a cloak. Will reread over and over!

[Jamie McLachlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this collection! As soon as the paperback is available, I’m going to buy one so I can mark up my favourites. Most often, I read a book once and rarely ever read it again, even if I loved it! My excuse is there’s too much to read to look back. But Our Wild Magic will definitely be something I pick up again. I look forward to reading more poetry books from Linsmeier.

[Tehreem Tahir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This poetry book is so deep and mellow! I loved it because it was really nice to read and it was beautiful! Amanda Linsmeier really poured her heart onto these pages which is amazing and beautiful to see! 💕

[Molly Ringle · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the same way fairy tales speak to us with their wildness, cruelty, and bright hope, Linsmeier’s poems use beautiful imagery of magic and myth to illustrate our everyday human emotions. This collection soothed and inspired me, for while anxiety and fear are the deep dark forest, the right words are the spell that can fix us, whether we’re the wronged hero or the wicked witch—and of course all of us contain both.

Some of the poems reference a specific story (Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz, Goblin Market, The Six Swans...), while others use just a hint of archetypal detail, though with a pleasing theme of magic and wildness running throughout. An ultimately uplifting feel for those of us who like that kind of thing!

[Autumn Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our Wild Magic is truly a magical read. Her words pour off the page and dive deep into the soul of the reader. Every emotion you can imagine is found woven throughout her pages. The only way to describe Our Wild Magic is simply, phenomenal.

[Shelby Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Linsmeier's writing is eloquent and raw, with a sprinkle of enchantment. Her talent for crafting poetry shines through in this alluring collection. Definitely pick this one up, as well as her other works.

[Christy Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems so beautiful, I'm seriously going to have one of them printed and framed and placed in my bedroom. I love this collection!!

[Julie]

This reminded me a bit of how I felt after reading rupi kaur. I loved the poems in the last two portions, but didn't really click with the earlier ones. It wasn't that they were sexual, I just. Didn't get it. I expected it to be more fairy tale-esque, too.

A lot of gorgeous poems and still a collection I may want to revisit, but I didn't love it.

[amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amanda Linsmeier has done it yet again. I was in love with "Like Waves" for its brutal honesty about things that many women endure, but I think "Our Wild Magic" takes the cake. The poems cover so many vital topics, some of which I felt the need to pause after reading to take it all in. Her writing style is unique and beautiful, some poems rhyme and some flow in a way that cannot truly be described without some faux pas remarks about rivers and oceans. I cannot wait for the world to receive this beautiful collection, and for the world to recognize this amazing author.

Some of my favorite poems (in no particular order)...
-Jekyll & Hyde (anxiety, I hate you)
-Eternal
-She Kept Singing
-Medicated
-Spark
-Battlefield
-Cinderella
-Beasty
-Violets
-We Walked in Spring
-Enchanted
-Immortality
-Curses

[I received an Advanced Reading Copy of this collection (I know right? How am I so lucky?)]

[Bianca M Schwarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although some of the entries in OUR WILD MAGIC are no more than a line, each poem in this collection is powerful in its own right, and arranged together they form a tapestry as rich as life itself.
Amanda Linsmeier's observations are so astute, her emotions so heartfelt, reading her words feels like talking ones best friend. These poems are intensely personal, style never getting in the way of the author's truth. Yet, there is such rhythm in the language, such beauty in the flow of words, they paired themselves to melodies in my head at times.
I was half way through when I realized that this book would need a space on my favorites shelf. Now I think it may live on my table so I can revisit each day and remind myself that there is hope and beauty, and perhaps even a new Ever After for those of us whose Ever After is no longer happy, because life is creative and forever renewing itself.

[N.L. Shompole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Editorial Blurb:
Quietly powerful, Our Wild Magic delves into the heart of womanhood with a tender sincerity that kept me turning the pages. Among my favorite poems in the collection were those that defied expectation by turning well known fairy-tale tropes on their head. Our Wild Magic is a wonderful balancing act between shorter bite-sized poems and longer works that demand the readers complete attention in order to truly savor the nuances of Amanda Linsmeier’s writing.

[BeautyandtheBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is truly something magical about her words. You’ll find the good, the bad, the ugly, and all the beautiful truths that make us human but with a twist of fairy tale vibes. You feel it. All of it. So many of her poems resonated with me, and I think it takes a strong person to show the most vulnerable parts of ourselves. I LOVED this collection!!

[Morgan Nikola-Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Editorial Blurb: Amanda Linsmeier writes with the sort of naked candor that is just as sobering as it is whimsical. Reading Our Wild Magic is like sitting down to tea with an old friend--one who has just returned from holiday in the Underworld.

[Kelly Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful book of poetry from this author. It's raw, uninhibited, and soulful. It's honest and sometimes a little wicked. If you like poetry even a little, pick this one up. If you're not too much into poetry (like me), do yourself a favor and get this one. You'll love it!

[Sasha Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was romantic, magical and whimsical. I was blown away. I loved how every section starts with an aesthetic - especially since those are kind of my thing. This book was complete magic

[Laurie Breitsprecher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant collection of brilliant poetry that is beautiful and breathtaking.

[Lexi Vranick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instant classic. That's what kept coming to mind as I read this gorgeous collection of poetry. It's an instant classic. Drawing from stories we all know and love- the fairy tales and myths that have fascinated people for centuries -Linsmeier takes readers on a journey. She uses the whimsy of make-believe worlds, the magic we longed for as children, to show us how our own lives can read like a storybook. We go through trials. We fall down. We have hard times, we struggle, but we persist. We rise up, over and over again, even when it's hard to do. It's what makes us human.

This collection feels like it's existed for a long time. It feels like it has a history, and that's why I kept this feeling that could easily become a modern classic. Amanda is a wonderful poet. She is honest and truthful. She expertly weaves tough-stuff material into language that sings. She has something incredible special with this book, and I truly cannot wait to see what she does next.

[Isabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our Wild Magic will appeal to any romantics, as it did to me - a whimsical book, which is ultimately rooted in reality. Amanda describes our own lives as 'enchanted' - more than any story.
There are different styles of poetry throughout and i enjoyed the variety. There are patterns within the sections - for example, the black out poems taken from Linsmeier's favourite poets, prose poetry and very short and compact poems.

Poems such as 'Snow White' had echoes of Amanda Lovelace's 'The Princess Saves Herself In This One' - Amanda wants us to wake ourselves up and stop waiting.

The black out poems were the strongest for me: 'suddenly/twist out of element, a kick of air/ recoiling under ripples, leaving/ torn to repair/ and I experience a small completeness'- think Amanda has an eye for drawing out powerful imagery from the original poems.

For me, the fairtytale similes and metaphors felt overdone and occasionally, the book fell into a few cliques. Word and imagery repetition make some poems feel similar.

[Chelsea Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this volume from Pressed Poet. One reason why I purchased it was because of the shining reviews here on Goodreads. My consensus: This volume has some shining lines, and a few overall stunners. However, the rhyme scheme is limiting and the speaker lacks vulnerability. My favorite poems in this collection were the blackout poems. "Thunderstorms" and "Love Letter to the Earth" were my favorite free-verse / non-blackout poems because they were the most vulnerable and honest.

While the concept is whimsical, some critiques I have regard the frequent ABCB rhyme scheme. Paired with the concept, it got tiring after a while. This volume lacks some vulnerability too - I get the feeling that the poet is hiding too many details. For example: The first section, "Cursed" focuses on a lover (lovers?) who wronged the speaker in some way, and yet I have no idea what the bad guy even did after 25 poems of scorned love (and the heavy use of second-person feels accusatory to the reader after a while). I'd like to see this poet play more with vulnerability and free-verse, or at least play with different rhyme schemes.

[Kelsey Zukowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently discovered Amanda Linsmeier through her novels, Starlings and Six of Sorrow, and was swept away with poetic, stirring style that wonderfully captured inner strength and righteous hope among the darkness. When I found this poetry collection I knew it was a must and it didn't disappoint.

Pulling inspiration from fairy tales and classic horror lore offer a captivating, connective, and powerful introspective take on womanhood covering everything from intoxicating infatuation, to self-love and growth, to harder realizations of what it means to be a survivor and an empath in an often cruel world- yet ultimately shows the strength and hope from within us all that creates an undeniable, never ceasing personal brand of magic.

Beautiful, heartfelt, honest, captivating, gritty, provocative, and powerful.

[Rachel Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this! I love how it's spilt in 5 different parts (my favorites being wicked and ever after) and gives it a sense of progression which is always nice. All the tie ins to fairy tales makes for a really interesting and lyrical read.

[Cheyenne Raine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never previously read any of Linsmeier's books (I had read some of her poetry) and reading this book brought wave after wave of awe and magic. A must read, and re-read! Such a beautiful collection of words, art, and photography!

[Ashley Kettering · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book of poetry. I’m already planning my future lesson plans and plan to have my students refer to this collection. It’s heart wrenching and beautiful.

[Shannon O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this collection, it was magical and dreamy. This collection used many references to fairytales in a unique way while also giving a modern twist.

[katieㅤ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

a beautiful collection about the joys and adversities, as well as the inner struggles and conflicts, that one encounters throughout multiple stages of life. i loved the fairytale references and the inclusion of black-out poems.