NONFICTION

How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler's Memoir

by Amber Dawn
Arsenal Pulp. May 2013. 176p. ISBN 9781551525006. $15.95; ebk. ISBN 9781551525013. LIT
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A Vancouver-based novelist who won the 2012 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for emerging LGBT writers, Dawn (Sub Rosa) tells the story of her life as a sex worker, which took her from the street to a massage parlor to an inward-looking life. She's moved away from the sex industry but continues to struggle with issues of self-esteem and identity. In the end she advocates for more discussion and openness about the hardships sex workers face. Through writing both poetry and prose (collected here), Dawn makes sense of her daunting situation, but her graphic descriptions of sexual activities are at times overwhelming. Her mastery of style in some of her poems is admirable. The final section reads especially well, communicating thoughts and feelings that have universal relevance and are not solely about the life of a sex worker.
VERDICT An emotionally difficult but revealing read about the sex industry and the lifestyle of sex workers in which Dawn encourages more frankness and discussion in the future.
Reviewed by Gina Kaiser, J.W. England Lib., Univ. of the Sciences in Philadelphia , Apr 15, 2013
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