Book Review: White Noise by Rhonda Parrish

A collection of zombie poems – incredible – and it’s even better than it sounds!

This slim volume comprises twenty poems, all themed around zombies.

The poems are diverse in their scope. Some are like a complete zombie story in a few words. Poems such as Slippery When Wet, Maybe Not, The Hardest Promise I Ever Kept, Should I Die, The Bunker, Cover Up, and After The Storm all provide the guts, pain and pathos that you’d expect from the best zombie fiction.

Datura Stramonium, When The Screaming Stopped, Last Thoughts, Beneath, Obscured, and Loneliness are more thoughtful, ruminating on the nature of the zombie. They linger with you, provoking thoughts about life, the beautiful language and imagery.

There are even funny poems. Both White Noise and Hunger left me chuckling.

My favourite poems were the ones that packed a weighty emotional punch. Genesis, Breakfast In Bed, Attachment, Fluffy, and The Cleansing all left me feeling a bit sad, but in a good way.

The reason I keep going back to Rhonda Parrish’s work is because it speaks to me so strongly. No matter the circumstances, she fills her characters with heart and humanity. There is depth to her work; it seeks to peel back the superficial veil and reveal a greater truth underneath. No matter how dark things seem, there is always a glimmer of hope.

Her poems are as multi layered and satisfying as her fiction, and I thoroughly enjoyed this collection.