In her debut poetry collection, Kelly Davio invites the reader into a
world where sin is virtue and virtue is vice, where the ominous lingers
just beneath the surface, and the everyday is imbued with the fantastic.
In these intelligent, compassionate, and harrowing poems, Davio gives a
modern voice to metaphysical tradition. The poems in this collection
dismantle the specter and judgment of a life shaded by Judeo-Christian
religious consciousness. Grounded in Davio's radical religious childhood
and subsequent break with the church, her writing examines the world
from the viewpoint of the spiritual dissenter, questioning the mores and
motivations of religion, family, and self. In sections that explore
concepts of revelation, sin, and virtue, these poems tilt the world at
uncharacteristic angles, revealing the ragged edges at the margins of
belief. At times solemn, at times exuberant, Burn This House is an
intense volume, its darkness lit by the flames of wit, intellect, and
curiosity.