Title: Poetic Remedies for Troubled Times from Ask Baba Yaga by Taisia Kitaiskaia

Genre: Verse, advice, fantasy

Format read: Concrete volume

Bought or borrowed? Bought this (along with a few other items) from Drinking glass Bookshop in my last order of 2020 from them!

Motivation: I'g non going to lie, I liked the look of the cover, and the sound of the championship. I mostly saw the "Ask Baba Yaga" part and non the "Poetic" part. Simply I'm trying to like poetry and read more of it then it all worked out in the cease. And spoiler: I loved reading this and have reread passages many times over already.

Look at this photo and tell me you don't as well just desire to buy this book with no other information about it. It'southward just so practiced! (from Glass Bookshop'due south instagram)

Content warnings: some advice asked for Baba include mention of (sexual) assault, corruption, loss, and mental wellness concerns

Summary

(From the jacket) "In this follow-up to Inquire Baba Yaga: Otherworldly Communication for Everyday Troubles, poet and writer Taisia Kitaiskaia one time over again embodies the legendary witch of Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga, to provide life advice to the questioning and the pain. Answering real questions from readers, Baba Yaga provides reponses in the form of brusque poems taht are lyrical, surreal, sometimes funny, and always honest. During these difficult days, Poetic Remedies for Troubled Times provides literary cocky-help for readers who appreciate Baba Yaga's strange, surprising manner and hitting honesty."

Thoughts, Feelings

I had some really good cries, reading this.

The world is especially difficult right now, and lonely, and frustrating, and exhausting. Piece of cake decisions take been rendered hard; difficult decisions rendered nearly impossible. Hope? Hard to come by.

Enter, Baba Yaga/Taisia Kitaiskaia.

As I explained nether "Motivation", I didn't know that this was the 2d of 2 volumes, nor did I know that Ask Baba Yaga actually started as an advice cavalcade in The Hairpin magazine. I fell prey to the splendid curation and drool-worthy bookstagramming of Glass Bookshop, and in the middle of the winter holiday flavor, while I was pitiful virtually missing my family, I ordered this book. And honestly, my guardian angel in charge of bringing me books is burdensome their job correct now. This volume is such a gift.

The entry in Poetic Remedies that truly made me sob was page 87, "How can I keep my ancestral traditions live?" If you are following my instagram account (notation: pls? if you are into that?) and watch my Stories, you might take seen in the last couple of weeks that I've been going on some deep dives into Filipino history and civilisation, trying to find myself more in information technology. It's been something on my mind a lot especially because I wasn't able to see my aunties and experience their food in over a year at present. And then at two in the morning, sleepy and lonely, Baba Yaga'southward response to this question opened the floodgates for a deeply cathartic cry.

I suppose you could say that this is the magic of poetry at work.

I take canis familiaris eared and drawn large stars on many other pages in this piddling tome, to mark Baba/Taisia's remedies to the many troubles I've been experiencing lately, too. And while there is enough of comfort and wonder to exist had in Baba Yaga'southward responses, a smashing deal too lies in the reader questions themselves. Everything about this book has helped me experience less alone when I'm in the depths of my depressions and worries. I'm so grateful for this work. I will be picking upwards Otherworldly Advice for Everyday Troubles (the first volume) sometime soon, and keeping Poetic Remedies near to manus for the foreseeable hereafter.

Quotes

It but seems off-white for me to share the abovementioned advice-that-made-me-cry.

"Love Baba Yaga … I long for the sociology and stories of my people, but my grandparents are gone, and my parents keep repose. How tin can I keep our traditions alive when I see the burn down of my ancestry slowly dying?

BABA YAGA: […] the tales live deep in yr mind-forest, without anyone saying. ; Year family gate may be closed, but there are other ways into the village. ; Seek out those who share year longing, kneel with them at the fire. ) And await to hte plants of the erstwhile land, the bones and books yr people left : all will wake something. Nigh of all, know this: You lot are the living story: the tales loop&dive in your blood like fish. Y'all are the , all-time kindling for the burn down, so Speak out loud to yrself, and you will hear the many things you know but take not nevertheless discovered."

p 87, "How tin I go along my ancestral traditions alive?", emphasis added

I suppose, unrelated specifically to this book: become ready for a bunch of Filipinx books, forthcoming on the weblog.