Sex Depression Animals
The Ohio State University Press
$16.95
You can purchase a copy here.
Reviewed by Jennifer Schneider
Mag Gabbert’s Sex Depression Animals opens with a quotation from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a Latin narrative poem that chronicles history while directly engaging with the complexity of the same across an expansive range of universal themes. The epigraph: “My mind now turns to speaking of bodies that turn into new bodies” is an especially well-suited choice for the collection, as Sex Depression Animals not only explores metamorphosis (and its many forms) through a narrative of lived examples ranging from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, the collection exemplifies the concept through its playfully experimental use of form and language.
Gabbert actively defies preconceived notions of self, identity, and form in a five-part collection that embraces change and brilliantly illustrates the process of deconstruction and rebuilding of self. Altered states of matter, of being, and of thinking present a common thread, theme, and, ultimately, outcome of the collection.
In ”The Breakup,” for example, Gabbert highlights change at, through, and of its sometimes hidden-in-plain-sight levels –
remembering the sensation of his hands, my spine shivers
he spin s
me in a hive
In “Goat’s” closing lines, Gabbert writes:
Because hell is an animal with other animals inside it.
Because every choice I’ve made involved sacrifice.”
Because I’m always the one that got away.
The collection is simultaneously personally contemplative and an active source of prompted contemplation. The compact pieces (the majority span no more than one or two pages), with similarly succinct titles, form a collective body of work that transforms initial conceptions of the nouns and adjectives that title the pieces.
In “Bathtub,” Gabbert writes:
I did not have to worry
about finding orange lipstick
on my teeth or whether I was clean
shaven I did not need
to argue over the semantics
of ‘date’ and ‘please’
In “Rhinoceros,” Gabbert writes:
I once mistook
the word blubbery
for blueberry
while exploring the kingdom of Basma
now called Sumatra
Each piece reveals new ways of being and of consuming poetry. The work alters thinking and explores altered states of language, in a variety of ways and on multiple levels.
In “Steam,” the collection’s opening piece, Gabbert writes:
last week I read
about a Chinese scientist
with the surname ‘He’
who had altered a set
of babies’ genes
I kept thinking He
was a deified pronoun
as in He who created
you out of ashes
Throughout the collection, form takes on former pains with a force that lingers in language. At the line level, each piece is a masterclass in poetic devices. Substantively, each piece offers further teachings in transformation, growth, resilience, and incessant curiosity.
The collection’s 42 poems, rich in both imagery and inquiry, transcend simple descriptors.
Questions like
I’m also wondering why lately
people always touch me
on the elevator and at parties
and bars why men always graze
my arm with their fingers
asking what each
of my tattoos ‘means’ (“Bathtub”)
and
I used to wonder
whether Jesus ate meat
how his words became flesh
and why he always broke bread
saying this is my body” (“Egg”)
permeate the collection. Readers are prompted, pushed, and pulled in directions both surprising and distinct while Gabbert masterfully navigates complex waters.
“Ship” offers one, of many, examples:
maybe we find ships
Romantic because that word is
both a noun and a verb
It’s a spunky, lively collection that invites readers to engage, and reengage, with life’s most enduring and complicated topics. The collection is of roots and rooted in experiences both relatable and deeply personal. Gabbert shares generously, and graciously. End-of-text notes provide context, both personal and historical, for many of the pieces.
Imagine even the root of your name – the name you
were given – meaning to scrape, gnaw, or eat away” (“Rat”)
and
once during recess my girlfriends asked
the boys to judge a flying beauty contest
and when they got to me one said mouse-like
mammal we think you’re cute but not pretty
the word’s root often translates to striking
or disgraceful thing as seen in flagellum (“Bat”)
The collection lingers at the intersection of disparate and disappearing realities. Themes of invisibility, alteration, and multiple states of being thread the collection while sustaining the duality often associated with truths, experiences, and perspectives.
Gabbert’s love of language is contagious, as is the pull of her poetic prowess. The collection shines with a surprising boldness that flexes in malleable and surprising ways. The collection is as playful as it is poignant; it’s also celebratory.
Sex Depression Animals is a brilliant depiction of the messiness of a life well-lived and lessons well-earned. “Recipe for Quiet Ferocity,” the work’s closing piece, provides an apt metaphor for the collection as a whole. Each piece is strong, quirky, and full of curiosity. From objectification to objective evaluation, Gabbert does not hold back. Instead, she shares generously and with a depth of awareness that humanizes the speaker and lingers long after each reading. The collection is a gift from a gifted poet - a “recipe for quiet ferocity” that will be enjoyed and again.
Jen Schneider is an educator who lives, writes, and works in small spaces throughout Pennsylvania. She loves words, experimental poetry, and the change of seasons. She’s also a fan of late nights, crossword puzzles, and compelling underdogs. She has authored several chapbooks and full-length poetry collections, with stories, poems, and essays published in a variety of literary and scholarly journals. Sample works include Invisible Ink, On Habits & Habitats, On Daily Puzzles: (Un)locking Invisibility, A Collection of Recollections, and Blindfolds, Bruises, and Breakups. She is currently working on her first series, which (not surprisingly) includes a novel in verse. She is the 2022-2023 Montgomery County PA Poet Laureate.