This third collection of poetry by Ms. Versella speaks loudly of her love of words. It's about a boy who unfurled the closed up petals of her heart again. A song to a society she is always internally at war with. It is her search for spirituality. It is a battle cry. These few wild stanzas are the etchings of her soul tattooed upon her flesh. Magic through lead and ink. May these words glitter before you like a comet across the night sky.
"The lives women lead always cost. We pay with our flesh." Tender is the Body is a raw exploration of womanhood. Alise Versella caresses the supple and delicate, eulogizes the sensual, and stokes the fires of feminine outrage all in equal measure.
"When Wolves Become Birds" is poetry about women becoming powerful and, "making their own heavens from the pearly gates of their teeth / a smile that bites back / like a dog in the junkyard..." "When Wolves Become Birds" asks, "so what if we scratch a little, if we sting a little, if the blood reminds the spineless we are still here?" This is Olivia Gatwood's "New American Best Friend" meets Silver RavenWolf's "To Stir a Magick Cauldron," casting and conjuring female empowerment with the talons of a bird of prey. To those girls figuring out how to shed their insecurities and trust again in the broad expanse of their wings. To women finding themselves at a crossroads in life. This book will remind you of your strengths: Wolf Girl, Get Back Your Wings, and Dare to Fly.