Poems to Be Afraid Of by Pixie Bruner
Authortunities Press (September 3, 2026)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Poems to Be Afraid Of is a detailed exploration of fear and phobia. Each poem is dedicated to one type of fear, detailing those fears intimately and artfully, forcing the reader to be as afraid as the speakers of these poems are. Some of these are simple detailing of lists, such as in the Chroma series.
Chroma 9 (8.1) begins with the lines:
The endless dark mouth of the sky
the interstices on the pool deck
where no light can pry beams down into.
Bituminous asphalt, sulfured night terrors,
Rottweilers and labs, sleek shadow cats
that absorb sunlight like event horizons.
This is simply a list of things that are black, but Bruner works to make them ominous, overpowering, and terrifying. This is a technique that Bruner leans on a lot in this book, and it works to overwhelm the reader with a series of visceral images meant to linger.
Elsewhere, Bruner uses experimental techniques to engage the reader, almost making the poems illegible. For example, a poem like “Polyamorphobia” has lines running forward and backward, overlapping each other to make parts unreadable. This, of course, parallels the content of being afraid of polyamory, the multiple voices one must pay attention to in a polyamorous relationship, and works to disturb the reader. Bruner returns to this technique elsewhere in the book, mirroring her words graphically or, in the case of “Graphophobia,” avoiding them all together. Furthermore, the poems are often illustrated or presented on a graphic background that informs the poems and heightens the fear.
Poems to Be Afraid Of by Pixie Bruner is advertised as “a book as concept art,” which it very much is. Rather than simply present a traditional book of poems, Bruner has worked to create a full, immersive experience for readers. While the poems are steeped in the visceral language of fear, the book itself serves to present them in ways that challenge the readers and their expectation of a poetry collection, and any fans of horror poetry will want to read this book.
