In her chapbook Awaken, Michigan poet Jade Driscoll deftly navigates violence, mental health, and girlhood with bravery, openness, and vulnerability. Driscoll’s stark voice and powerful imagery is seen best in lines like “Never again will I let metal / split my skin or let another boy think / he is the vital thrum of my blue veins” in the poem “split wrists” and “when constellations and whispering winds / lost to periwinkle and ripe peach flesh” in the poem “siren sunrise.” Both Driscoll’s sharp, striking account of mental illness and her experiments with form make this chapbook compellingly readable while still surprising readers with moments like “maybe I could find myself / by tearing myself apart” in the poem “once a week” and “each time i dive into water // I wish for suffering that never comes” in the piece “each time i dive into water.” Despite her necessary honesty in exploring suicide and violence against the self, Driscoll ultimately leaves the audience with hope and dignity, both in the penultimate poem “jade (adj.)” with the unforgettable line “Everything beautiful and powerful and necessary is jade.” as well as with ending the final poem “my sunshine” with the lines: “that they know how wonderful life will be every time I / choose to / stay.” Other standout poems of the collection include “molly comes to my birthday party,” “on watching Dead Poets Society in sophomore english five weeks after trying to kill myself,” “split wrists,” and “jade (adj.).”

Hallie Fogarty
June 9, 2023