Careless Whispers by Oquirrh Keyes is a raw and confessional poetry collection about desire, secrecy, power, betrayal, and the slow, brutal process of reclaiming the self after an affair built on half-truths and emotional control. The book moves from the first spark of a D/s relationship, through rituals like shared songs, cuffs, coffee, hidden online personas, and charged meetings, into the painful unraveling of lies: the wife, the matching details, the dating apps, the parking lot goodbye. It reads less like a neat narrative and more like memory sorting itself after impact.

I was struck by how bodily this book feels. Keyes writes in fragments, but the fragments have heat in them. A mud-soaked day at Bonneville becomes both romance and omen. A cuff becomes proof, then a noose, then something quietly pried loose with pliers. A pot of chili, a family Christmas photo, a shared location bubble, even a nickname given to a child, all become evidence of how intimacy can invade ordinary life until nothing feels untouched. I liked that the poems don’t pretend the speaker was only a victim or only a strategist. She wants, she plays, she notices, she returns, she leaves, and then she returns again. That honesty gave the collection its ache.

The writing is best when it trusts a small image to carry the damage. The dandelions and clouds poem, for instance, has a lovely quietness after so much fire, and the Oquirrhs section gives the speaker a landscape large enough to heal inside. I also appreciated the recurring visual language of keys, cuffs, screens, watches, cars, and mirrors. It gives the book the feeling of a private exhibit, each object labeled by pain. The repetition of accusation and revelation can feel blunt, but I think that bluntness is part of the book’s temperament. It isn’t trying to be coy. It’s trying to name the thing that nearly erased her.

Careless Whispers is intimate and steady. It has a pulse that feels earned, especially as the speaker moves from obsession toward self-possession. I’d recommend it to readers who like emotionally candid poetry about toxic love, erotic power, betrayal, and recovery, especially those who appreciate confessional writing that’s messy, sensual, wounded, and unwilling to lie about what longing can cost.

Pages: 152 | ASIN: B0GWB24MN6