{"id":20283,"date":"2025-11-21T07:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=20283"},"modified":"2025-11-11T20:24:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T01:24:58","slug":"review-take-up-your-skin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take Up Your Skin and Others <\/i><\/a>by Jennifer Crow
\nSelf-Published (November 2025)
\nReviewed by Joshua Gage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jennifer Crow is grateful for friends whose words, artwork, and photography inspire both poetry and hope. Her work has appeared in a number of print and electronic venues over the years, most recently in Not One of Us<\/em>, The Wondrous Real<\/em>, and Abyss & Apex<\/em>. Her newest chapbook, <\/span>Take Up Your Skin <\/span><\/i>is available directly from her or free to subscribers of her Patreon page.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jennifer Crow is known as a myth-punk poet, a genre in which classical folklore and faerie tales get hyper-poetic post-modern makeovers, and this new collection is no exception. There are poems voiced by selkies and victims of the fae, but also poems dedicated to Mary Shelly. Furthermore, there is a great essay about the necessity of public libraries titled \u201cNot All Homes Are Houses\u201d that grounds the collection in contemporary reality and contemporary horrors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crow\u2019s style is distinct and lush. For example, the opening lines of \u201cCasting Pearls\u201d establish a dark mood for the reader:<\/span><\/p>\n

Her body makes pearls out of cruelties:
\n<\/span>each sharp word, every blow
\n<\/span>absorbed, recast, until layers of nacre
\n<\/span>cradle harsh realities,
\n<\/span>until pain becomes beautiful
\n<\/span>iridescence shimmering
\n<\/span>in moonlight.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This language is typical for Crow, and readers who like their poems thick with imagery and Confessionalist approaches will enjoy this collection thoroughly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jennifer Crow is an award-winning poet whose dark fantasy and myth-based poems are famous for their language as much as their retellings of ancient fairy tales. Her newest chapbook, <\/span>Take Up Your Skin<\/span><\/i>, is a private delight for anyone willing to support her on her poetic journey, and would be at home on the shelves of any reader interested in horror poetry. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow Self-Published (November 2025) Reviewed by Joshua Gage Jennifer Crow is grateful for friends whose words, artwork, and photography inspire both poetry and hope. Her work has appeared in a number of print and electronic venues over the years, most recently in Not One of Us, The … Continue Reading! “Review: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[3530,506,2083,79,3529],"class_list":["post-20283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-jennifer-crow","tag-joshua-gage","tag-poetry","tag-reviews","tag-take-up-your-skin-and-others"],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow - Cemetery Dance Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Joshua Gage reviews Jennifer Crow's poetry collection, Take Up Your Skin and Others, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cemetery Dance Online\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-take-up-your-skin\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-take-up-your-skin\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"headline\":\"Review: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-21T12:00:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-take-up-your-skin\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":300,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Jennifer Crow\",\"Joshua Gage\",\"poetry\",\"Reviews\",\"Take Up Your Skin and Others\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-take-up-your-skin\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-take-up-your-skin\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-take-up-your-skin\\\/\",\"name\":\"Review: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow - Cemetery Dance Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-21T12:00:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"description\":\"Joshua Gage reviews Jennifer Crow's poetry collection, Take Up Your Skin and Others, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-take-up-your-skin\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-take-up-your-skin\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-take-up-your-skin\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reviews\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/reviews\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Review: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"description\":\"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow - Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Joshua Gage reviews Jennifer Crow's poetry collection, Take Up Your Skin and Others, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cemetery Dance Online","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/"},"author":{"name":"Cemetery Dance Online","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"headline":"Review: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow","datePublished":"2025-11-21T12:00:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/"},"wordCount":300,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["Jennifer Crow","Joshua Gage","poetry","Reviews","Take Up Your Skin and Others"],"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/","name":"Review: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow - Cemetery Dance Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-11-21T12:00:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"description":"Joshua Gage reviews Jennifer Crow's poetry collection, Take Up Your Skin and Others, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-take-up-your-skin\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reviews","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/reviews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Review: Take Up Your Skin and Others by Jennifer Crow"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Cemetery Dance Online"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p81cXa-5h9","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20284,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20283\/revisions\/20284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}