Slut Songs is a deep catalog of tribute to a complex word. The title of this mesmerizing, potentially triggering collection from Jade Hurter represents shared songs of the horrors women collectively face, and understand in near-unison. Those who already have these songs of their own will pick up on the intense, evocative language, and the rhythm of a survivor who will not be trivialized. It’s easy to read poems like “Self-Portrait, Age Nineteen” and “Red Song”, call them brave, and just stick with that. Bravery engages us. Poems that balance rage with anxious, soothing calm, which are the poems of Slut Songs, demand something more than that. They have every right to ask us for everything we have.
Gabriel Ricard, staff writer