REBEL REVIEWS: Behind the Ghost Metropolis by Annette Dabrowska

 Rebel Reviews is a new section of Punk Monk written by C.E. Hoffman. Click here to learn more/submit a review request. 

What is behind the ghost metropolis? 

I wonder this as I flip (okay, scroll) through Dabrowska’s earnest, bloody poems. 

This is the kind of material Punk Monk loves to publish, and I love to read. Annette describes her debut collection as reflecting “the darker side of the mind - loneliness, mental health, trauma, but also hope, travel, and strength.” 

Couldn’t have said it better myself. This collection is sincere. Searing. Surreal. So. Fucking. Relatable. I feel like my shadow can chill a minute, ‘cause Annette’s busy tearing up the room. 

Don’t expect fancy shit. Expect instead the kind of gothy goodness we scribbled under the stairs, under our beds, in the corners of our parents’ basements. It brings me back to Buffy (which I’m binging for spooky season btw), Hedwig and the Angry Inch, me at thirteen obsessing over Emily Dickinson. It’s nostalgia. It’s pain. It’s beauty in mangled places. 

There’s devilishly good lines in here, like, “I can’t stay sober when I cheat on you.” (Doesn’t get more real than that!) Annette’s a punk Sylvia Plath. All the emotion, none of the pretence. There’s some Kathy Acker in there, too. Maybe a smatter of Elizabeth Smart. 

I love the dashes of light amidst the darkness- an important antidote to our personal poisons. Whether likening self-destructive sex to “the hunt”, or bemoaning inner turmoil, Dabrowska unblinkingly dissects the darker hollows of the human condition. Could this have been stronger as a chapbook? Maybe. But there is a joy in becoming entrenched in someone else’s world, particularly one as rough n’ raw as this. 

Anyone who has struggled with trauma or mental illness is sure to see themselves staring out from these pages, and that makes Behind the Ghost Metropolis worthy of the name “art.” 

I especially like the short pieces. My poetic muse comes out in four-line spurts too. It’s nice to see more minute spasms gracing a page. 

You see so much of Annette’s process- personally as well as poetically. It is a great risk to be so intimate. (All good art is a great risk.) Through her words, I’ve gotten to know her, and I’m grateful she gave me the chance. 

Freedom’s a real theme here. And all that longing that comes from wanting to escape what’s inside. Pain reads better like this: plain language. Just saying what you need to say; saying what needs to be heard. 

It’s sad, too. But I feel like I get it. Maybe we share a diagnosis, or at least a few experiences. Either way, it’s nice to remember none of us are really alone. 

Honestly? It’s like she pulled some of these poems straight out of my own heart. 

“Now it’s my turn to live.” Promises are made here, the kind of promises that we the struggling make and break again and again, but we never fucking give up. 

It was the first poem that got me. The one about lying on the floor, attacked by all those nasty little demons in our souls. Annette’s courage helped me tap into my own. We cry together. We heal, too. 

And slowly, we stand up. 

Annette Dabrowska’s debut poetry collection Behind The Ghost Metropolis is set for release January 18, 2025. 

In her query email, Annette asked me, 

“Worth reading?” 

Fuck yeah it is.

--C.E. Hoffman