Lauren Bulla navigates that very predicament over the course of her poetry collection, Porcelain Cherries, released in April 2024. The writer, poet, and artist from North Carolina toys with language, powerful imagery, and nuanced answers to her heartache. While it may seem desolate and daunting, fear not: there’s space for humor as well. She takes us through three chapters: “Puppy Love (Revelations),” “Sometimes Regret is Cherry-Colored (?),” and “I’ve Got a Funny Bone for a Reason (Gotta Laugh to Keep from Crying).”
During the three sections, Bulla’s surprising use of language, punctuation and grammatical symbols comes to the surface.
As great poets do, Bulla manufactures language to provoke enthralling feelings in the reader. Additionally, the images Bulla paints are hard to forget, particularly when they’re short and clear. “Puppy Love” revels in swift sonnets that leave the reader enchanted. We see Bulla reminiscing on comfort, with seemingly sweet adventures turning sour.
In “Teething Stage,” for instance, she talks about a messy infatuation, with cutting lines like, “a little too envious of what it’d be like to exist under your skin” and “siren eyes, they change color when it suits me to.” In “Turbulence,” she perfectly captures how amusing and dangerous it can be to get immersed in a complicated relationship, knowing from the start how much of a mistake it can be:
In “Sometimes Regret is Cherry-Colored,” Bulla delves deeper into the gore of fleeting relationships and the chaos they can bring.
This time, she dips her toes more into specific scenes and detailed descriptions. “Dessert Wine,” a highlight, lingers on the confusion, with devastating lines like, “Cynic or realist | | Romantic or lunatic,” then takes a snapshot of the night and her feelings around it. In the equally affecting “It’s So Odd (What the Fuck Are You Making That Face For?),” Bulla ponders whether she’s missing out on love because she hasn’t fallen properly for someone, daringly proclaiming, “falling never/ / ever appealed to me.”
To add complexity and humor to the collection, Bulla eases up in the third section, “I’ve Got a Funny Bone for a Reason (Gotta Laugh to Keep from Crying).” The first poem, “New Age Dating,” sets the tone with lines like, “all the boys are twinks, all the girls are gay.” However, the epic swan song, “If My Past Lovers Ever Saw Me,” deserves all the roses. Here, Bulla bares it all, detailing who she is and proudly declaring that she is now her own lover, finding power in that feeling.
Despite all the pain, Bulla knows loving herself is the path to continue on. And that’s the perfect message to comfort readers during this cold, strange winter.
