What We Do with God by Daniella Toosie-Watson

Haymarket Books, 2025.

“The question in Daniella Toosie-Watson’s poem ‘The Bug’ is ‘Is this a leap?’ Absolutely. A leap over or onto a prone body or a chasm. A leap from one country to another state of mind. A leap into iterations of circumstances, then, at last, beyond. What We Do with God is a daring, vulnerable, and uncanny book that dares to consider ‘God’ transmutable. Toosie-Watson doesn’t shy away from animalia, mortality, the maternal, or God. Here, the body may change its form, and the form itself might change its mind. If there is a mind–body–spirit separation, Toosie-Watson isn’t having it. God and sex are not at war but intertwined, are . . . of a piece. Expect only the utterly unexpected. Even the titles startle, as in ‘The Dead Rat Will Remind You of Your Dad and You Won’t Sleep for Weeks.’ After reading this, I won’t. Toosie-Watson writes, ‘Love is not a coward,’ and upon reading this astonishing first book, you will know: neither is she.”

— Vievee Francis, author of The Shared World