Libidacoria
Kristie LeVangie
iUniverse
ISBN Number: 978-0-595-48616-8

Reviewer: Kristina Marie Darling


          In her recent collection of poems, Libidacoria, Kristie LeVangie explores the complex subject of female sexuality, which she depicts as a source of both liberation and subjugation. Presented as an interconnected book-length sequence, the poems in LeVangie’s edgy new work treat the narrator’s relationships and trysts as a process of self-discovery, which often encompasses broader questions about the society she inhabits. Recurrently questioning aspects of both traditional gender roles and contemporary feminism, Libidacoria adeptly negotiates social criticism with stylistic innovation, proving a finely crafted and thought-provoking read.

          Throughout the book, the narrator presents readers with a mixed assessment of both traditional gender roles and the sexual freedom experienced by contemporary women. Although, in many of the poems, such trysts are depicted in a positive light, offering both gratification and empowerment, the narrator continually refers to the more conventional idea of a stable and committed relationship, suggesting nostalgia for tradition. As a result, the book is characterized by a recurrent tension between outmoded ideas about gender and new ones, suggesting that both have positive and negative points for the narrator. She writes, for example, in a poem entitled, “A sour aching pit,”

I devour more men
Than I’d like to admit.

Fed a lot of lies
And some harsh bullshit.

I pick my teeth
With their limp bones.

I stand it as much
As my conscience condones.

My sanity saved
By the promise I gave

That one day I’d quit
When my match was made.

          In this passage, LeVangie presents an embittered speaker, yet one who still retains a great deal of agency. As the woman in the poem “devours more men/Than [she’d] like to admit” and “picks her teeth/With their limp bones,” she reacts against the constraints women have faced in the past when pursuing relationships, evoking a thoroughly modern and unencumbered vision of female sexuality. While doing so, LeVangie’s speaker still harkens back to the more traditional idea of committed relationships, particularly as she portrays “devouring men” as merely a means of ultimately finding a stable relationship. Calling into question both of the competing doctrines available to women, namely tradition and the reaction against it, LeVangie depicts both as being finally incomplete, as her speaker rejects each in its entirety, striving instead to negotiate a balance of the two.

          In conveying these themes, Kristie LeVangie uses uncompromising language while parodying the tropes of more conventional love poetry, suggesting that the traditional gender roles depicted within such works remain neither attainable nor desirable for her narrator. By invoking such literary devices as the direct rhymes that appear near the end of most of her works, the author revisits the conventions of love poetry in a darkly ironic manner, implying that her narrator, like many other contemporary women, struggles to negotiate the old with the new. This trend is exemplified by LeVangie’s poem, “A cyber slut waiting,” in which she writes,

But I ride the line to giving in.
First, the phone call.
Then, the hotel room.
Then, our world is broken.
I’ll adore you as long as you are my token.

          In this excerpt, LeVangie combines the conventions of nineteenth century love poetry with the modern motif of online dating, suggesting that the two remain incompatible. Invoking end rhymes and high diction, the poem highlights the incongruity between the speaker’s experience and the idealized vision of romance that these tropes represent. For the narrator of Libidacoria, who continually seeks out a new ideal for which to strive in her relationships, the models available to women often prove limited and inapplicable to a changing social landscape.

          While revisiting the tropes of conventional love poetry, LeVangie continually explores the impact of technology on idealized notions of romance, suggesting that women today inhabit a transformed and fundamentally different social environment. Although her narrator attempts to negotiate traditional gender roles with contemporary ideas about feminism, LeVangie continually presents this process as a highly individual one, prompting modern women to ponder such questions for themselves. She writes, for example, in “Great things we have ending here,”

Then, you said the “L” word
Changing everything.
That’s the one thing I’m unable to give.
An inadequacy of mine.
It’ll work out fine.
You’ll go on to marry a nice girl,
And I’ll continue to starve.
That’s what I call home.

          In this passage, LeVangie suggests that, although technology and feminism have transformed women’s roles in society, men often find themselves swayed by traditional ideas about gender and marriage. For the speaker in this poem, this fact remains insufficient to persuade her to adhere to this definition of womanhood, yet its presence still remains a source of suffering in her life. “Great things we have ending here,” like other works in the book, uses the narrator’s experience as a vehicle to further address larger questions regarding societal norms, gender roles, and relationships.

          Libidacoria is a carefully crafted and stylistically inventive read. Ideal for readers who enjoy poetry and feminist writing alike, Kristie LeVangie’s new book is highly recommended.