Body's a Bad Monster

Book excerpt: Body’s a Bad Monster is a harrowing exploration of trauma and freedom told in captivating poetic prose from social media sensation Rowan Perez, also known as @rid.inkskinned. In Body’s a Bad Monster, our narrator shares—sometimes voluntarily, sometimes reluctantly—their voice with a dissociative state called “Mouse”; Mouse and the narrator take turns inhabiting the “body” to tell the story of three monumental relationships in the narrator’s life as they unravel over time. Readers are guided along as Mouse moves in and out of love, pain, heartbreak, and redemption. Author Rowan Perez, a prolific and innovative writer, expertly uses non-traditional poetic devices—like a lease agreement for her dissociative voice and erasure text to intentionally refuse to engage with male voices or violence—to explore themes of religious trauma, queerness, and body dysmorphia. Body’s a Bad Monster is an engaging, one-of-a-kind journey from a bold and talented voice.