Teeth in the Back of My Neck by Monika Radojevic

An assertive and enthralling debut collection of poems by the winner of Merky Books' New Writers Prize, combining arresting imagery with gut-punching honesty

Book Review by Andrés Ordorica | 05 May 2021
  • Teeth in the Back of my Neck
Book title: Teeth in the Back of My Neck
Author: Monika Radojevic

Monika Radojevic’s poems grapple with the intersections of race and womanhood with a bite fitting of this debut’s title; her ability to weave gut-punching honesty with arresting imagery makes for a standout collection. Humour and anger are used with deft expertise to shine a light on the active role capitalism, gender-based violence, and western societies play in disenfranchising and demoralising immigrants and women of colour.

In her poem The Great Divide, the speaker wrangles with female relatives’ differing opinions on how best to combat daily misogyny. 23ANDME explores the idea of lineage and inherited trauma through the act of taking a DNA test. For many immigrants of diasporic communities, this poem will speak volumes. Radojevic is aware of the problematic nature of such tests, but she longs to do it ‘so no one will ever ask again: / what are you? / Because I shall have answers!’

The collection crescendos through tightly observed pain before ending on If My Body Speaks, a love poem to a body surviving. The speaker’s outrage and sadness are visceral, but as personal as these poems may read there is a universality in the questions asked. Radojevic is no doubt a poet with a bright future and Teeth in the Back of My Neck is a testament to the powerful things she has to say. An assertive and enthralling collection of poetry.

An illustration of a black bear trap and chain, with a yellow flower sitting across the trap. Text on the image reads 'Teeth in the Back of my Neck, Monika Radojevic, poems'. A second block of text reads 'Winner of the #Merky Books New Writers' Prize'


Merky Books, 4 May, £10