Grethel Ramos's collection of poems, For Something to Bite, is randomly sarcastic, consistently irreverent, at times belligerent, but always authentic to a nuanced, multidimensional, and multicolored world.

Ramos' striking combination of visceral feelings and eloquent verse, For Something to Bite, tells an urgent yet precise description of a world that is simultaneously cruel and tender, meaningless and glorious, grievous, and exhilarating. Her style is constant while her subject topics are fluid. The poems are marked by a delight for the complexity of human beings, unapologetic eroticism, lofty humor, and outspoken female empowerment.

With a voice that is both pure and effervescent, the poems challenge the notions of sexual politics, traditional feminism, motherhood, stereotypes, and social roles in ways not anticipated. The nuanced and multidimensional characters not only meditate on themselves and their interactions with their surroundings, but they also fight their threats- an oppressive society, gender prejudices, racial marginalization, hypocritical attitudes, and their cynical selves-with lyrical ferocity, meticulous assertiveness, and, above all, passion.

The pieces in the collection converge in the wake of emotion, a loyalty to the beauty of English sounds, and a taste for the universality of feelings. Ramos faces existential questions through the lens of stingy irony, topped with a dollop of captivating intensity. Each line conveys unfolding revelations, as every twist and turn does its jubilatory job. The incision of pain and the blurriness of darkness cannot be escaped, but the joy of living is a consolation.