Book details

  • Genre:poetry
  • Sub-genre:Women Authors
  • Language:English
  • Pages:72
  • Hardcover ISBN:9798350948813

For Something to Bite

By Grethel Ramos

Overview

The collection of poems “For Something to Bite” is randomly sarcastic, occasionally irreverent, at times contemptuous, but always authentic to a nuanced, multidimensional, and multicolored world. The ability to surprise, along with the merciless honesty, makes the collection enjoyable and revelatory to readers, whatever their roots, whatever their preconceptions of the world, whatever their points of view about the possibilities of poetry.

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Description

A striking combination of visceral feelings and eloquent verse, “For Something to Bite”, offers an urgent yet precise description of a world that is simultaneously cruel and tender, meaningless and glorious, grievous and exhilarating. The style is consistent, while the subject matter is fluid. The poems are marked by a delight in the complexity of human beings, unapologetic eroticism, lofty humor, outspoken female empowerment, and more.

With a voice that is both pure and effervescent, the poems challenge the notions of sexual politics, traditional feminism, motherhood, stereotypes, and social roles in ways not anticipated. The nuanced and multidimensional characters not only meditate on themselves and their interactions with their surroundings but also fight their threats—an oppressive society, gender prejudices, racial marginalization, hypocritical attitudes, and their cynical selves—with lyrical ferocity, meticulous assertiveness, and, above all, passion.

The pieces in the collection converge in the wake of emotion, a loyalty to the beauty of English sounds, and a taste for the universality of feelings. The poems face existential questions through the lens of stingy irony, topped with a dollop of captivating intensity. Each line conveys unfolding revelations, as every twist and turn does its jubilatory job. The incision of pain and the blurriness of darkness cannot be escaped, but the joy of living is a consolation.

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About The Author

Born and raised in Cuba, Grethel Ramos has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finances from the University of Havana and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from Florida International University. She was a Pushcart Nominee in 2018. She has been awarded the John Wolin SJMC Scholarship, the Abel Mestre Scholarship, and the Janet Chusmir Memorial Scholarship. Her poetry has appeared in several publications, including South Florida Poetry Journal, Burningword Literary Journal, The Satirist, Singapore Unbound, Inlandia: A Literary Journey, Wingless Dreamer, and Eunoia Review, among others.  Her poetry rejects the cheap comforts of dogmatic conventionality and welcomes the disclosure of the dissonances in human nature. As a storyteller, she is especially concerned with misogynist attitudes, violence against women, feminist theory, social privilege, gender roles, and stereotypes.

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