The Suicide Hotline Hold Music by Jessy Randall (Review by Sara Kafka)

Don’t let the 95 pages fool you, this book of poetry is a heavy hitter – it reminded me of my first time seeing a Kurt Halsey painting, or reading Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. The poems convey a strange sense of romance but refrain from over the top predictable happy endings and banter. There are some things that just hit you hard, pull at your heart strings, and make you feel like someone else on this planet gets you. Like actually gets you. Jessy Randall does exactly this with her collection of poems and quirky drawings, a series of snippets that could easily fit into today’s world of memes and quotes on social media. She captures the reality of what it feels like to interact with humans in different relationships. She hints at a modern day romance, with drops of sadness and subtle tones of empathy. Her poems evolve from the perspective of being a girlfriend, to a wife, and eventually a mother. Books like Suicide Hotline Hold Music give me hope for the future of art, literature, and people. Everyone should pick up a copy of this immediately. Review by Sara Kafka