Bruises, Birthmarks & Other Calamities

Nadine Klassen (she/her) is a German poet, living in her cozy hometown with her boyfriend and their dog. Her work focuses on mental health, trauma, relationships and identity. It has been published by Wild Roof Journal, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Anti-Heroin Chic and others. She likes to write the occasional song on her guitar that's been missing a string for the better half of a year, practice drawing, or crochet sweaters with puffy sleeves. Bruises, Birthmarks & Other Calamities is her firstborn chapbook.




This chapbook knocked me off my feet and simultaneously had me flipping back and forth between each poem, as they are crafted in such a clever way. Klassen weaves together topics beautifully such as mental health, family, and sexuality. "I count all the good-bi's in the poem: bilingual, bisexual, bipolar." Her words leave you yearning for more and simultaneously shine a light on your own reflection, as she has a talent to challenge your own thinking. Klassen teaches us about mental health in a beautiful but informed way: "I keep my foot heavy on the pedal. Even in music I search for monotony." You are going to flip back and forth between these poems as your subconscious chews away at what it means. I can only wait for what Klassen has in store for us next.

Sita Gaia, author of Knocking On The Body's Door (Prolific Pulse Press LLC 2021).




In Bruises, Birthmarks & Other Calamities, Nadine Klassen finds beauty in the "madness of firecracker-blood" that is her experience of living through the mental health rollercoaster. She has a unique ability to simultaneously shake and soothe you with her marvellous metaphors and triumphant unravelling on the page. This book made me feel less alone and will be a comfort to anyone who has lived "a diagnosis treated only with a grave". Klassen makes room for her trauma, her healing, and her love in this collection of poems that remind you to not be afraid "of your laugh lines telling the jokes". Bruises, Birthmarks & Other Calamities is a must-read for anyone who is in love with language, who wants to make room within themselves to be inspired and held by the glorious "rebellion of beautiful things" that is Nadine Klassen's poetry.

Melissa Sussens, New Contrast National Poetry Prize runner up




Nadine Klassen writes like she invented language. She is one of the most promising and electric writers I have ever had the privilege of working with.

Megan Falley, author of Drive Here and Devastate Me (Write Bloody Publishing, 2018)