Olivia Loccisano’s Forbidden Nursery Rhymes for Little Girls isn’t your average chapbook of poems. It’s a haunting, unsettling exploration of the complexities tied to girlhood, wrapped in the dark veil of erotic horror. In this bold reimagining of classic nursery rhymes, Loccisano exposes the rot beneath the sweet, innocent stories we grew up hearing. But rather than simply rehashing the familiar tunes, she flips them on their heads, revealing the buried fears, anxieties, and traumas that lurk in the shadows of these childhood tales.
Erotic Horror as a Tool of Transformation
At first glance, eroticism and horror might seem like strange bedfellows, but in Loccisano’s hands, they’re inseparable. In Forbidden Nursery Rhymes for Little Girls, eroticism doesn’t aim to seduce—it disturbs. The poems serve as a chilling tool to examine how female sexuality is surveilled, sculpted, and often suppressed from an early age. Through these retellings, Loccisano dissolves the boundary between fear and desire, crafting a space where the two are intertwined.
The eroticism in these rhymes isn’t about pleasure; it’s about discomfort. It’s a discomfort that comes from recognizing the hidden forces shaping a girl’s understanding of her body, her autonomy, and the world around her. By confronting these dark elements, the poems force readers to reconsider the innocence of nursery rhymes and the unsettling truths they’ve always contained—if only we dared to look closer.
The Loss of Bodily Autonomy and the Threat of Violence
One of the most striking themes in Loccisano’s chapbook is the loss of bodily autonomy. In each of these poems, the young girl is not in control. Instead, she’s subject to forces beyond her understanding or influence—forces that shape her body, her desires, and her fate. These experiences mirror the way society often imposes expectations on women, forcing them into predefined roles and silencing their voices in the process.
In Loccisano’s retellings, the nursery rhymes that once seemed harmless now feel like ominous warnings. These poems evoke the anxiety of growing up in a world where violence—both physical and psychological—is a constant threat. The young girls in these stories are confronted by a reality that’s far from fairytale-like. They’re forced to navigate a world that too often treats them as objects, not subjects, of their own lives.
This sense of violation permeates the chapbook. It’s not just a loss of control over the body; it’s the violation of space, identity, and safety. The innocence once associated with childhood is replaced by a dark awareness that, as a girl grows, she’s vulnerable to forces beyond her control—forces that threaten to strip her of her autonomy and her sense of self.
Erotic Horror as a Commentary on Female Sexuality
Forbidden Nursery Rhymes for Little Girls doesn’t just retell familiar stories; it’s a commentary on how female sexuality has been historically viewed and controlled. From a young age, girls are taught to be cautious, to be aware of their bodies, and to protect themselves from the world. But in Loccisano’s chapbook, the body isn’t just something to be protected—it’s something that’s surveilled, sculpted, and often suffocated by the expectations placed upon it.
The eroticism in these poems is never meant to be comforting. It’s not about titillation; it’s about the discomfort that comes with being watched, judged, and constrained. Loccisano expertly uses erotic horror to explore how society teaches girls to view their bodies as both a source of power and something to be ashamed of—a paradox that leads to a complicated, often painful relationship with sexuality.
These retellings blur the lines between fear and desire. The horror comes not from the outside world but from within, as the girls in the poems confront the dissonance between the bodies they inhabit and the roles they’re expected to play. It’s an exploration of how girls are taught to be both desirably feminine and simultaneously removed from their own desires. The poems serve as a mirror to the violence that comes with this cultural expectation—a violence that’s not always physical but psychological and emotional.
A Glimpse into Olivia Loccisano’s Dark Imagination
Olivia Loccisano’s work is well known for its dark fantasy and body horror themes, and Forbidden Nursery Rhymes for Little Girls is no exception. As a filmmaker and writer, Loccisano has always been interested in the transformative power of the body. Her short films, such as First Blood and Pocket Princess, have garnered critical acclaim for their exploration of bodily transformations and the complex relationships women have with their own bodies.
Her writing is equally unsettling. In this chapbook, Loccisano brings her expertise in dark fantasy and magical realism to bear on the most innocent of subjects—the nursery rhyme. By distorting the familiar, she forces readers to confront the uncomfortable truths about growing up as a girl in a world that often feels hostile and controlling.
Her work has been supported by prestigious institutions like the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, and it’s clear that her unique perspective continues to resonate with audiences across different mediums. Forbidden Nursery Rhymes for Little Girls is a bold step forward in her career, one that promises to leave readers both disturbed and fascinated by the world she’s created.
In the end, Loccisano’s chapbook is more than just a collection of poems; it’s a call to reexamine the narratives we’ve been fed since childhood. Forbidden Nursery Rhymes for Little Girls invites readers to look beneath the surface of those seemingly innocent rhymes and confront the dark, unsettling truths they’ve always carried.
We had the privilege of interviewing Olivia Loccisano. Here are excerpts from the interview.
Hi Olivia, It’s great to have you with us today! Please share about yourself with our readers.
Hi, my name is Olivia Loccisano. I am a filmmaker, screenwriter, and writer from Toronto, Canada. My work focuses on transformations of the body through dark fantasy, body horror, and magical realism. I focus on narratives that explore how women and girls navigate strange realms of their lives and the world through their own imagination and rituals.
Please tell us about your book.
“Forbidden Nursery Rhymes for Little Girls” is a micro-chapbook of erotic horror retellings of nursery rhymes. Like the original nursery rhymes, they are written in the second person. Through the erotic-horror retellings, the book intends to expose the rot beneath the sweet rhymes we are told as children, and to reveal the buried anxieties tied to girlhood: the loss of bodily autonomy, the threat of violence, and suffocating expectations. In the poems, the erotic doesn’t arrive to seduce —it surfaces to disturb and to complicate. Eroticism becomes a tool to examine how female sexuality is surveilled, sculpted, and suppressed from an early age. Erotic horror dissolves the boundaries between fear and desire, illuminating how a girl’s coming of age is often marked by violation: of space, of self, of safety.
Please share your journey with our readers.
As a filmmaker, my films also explore the themes that this book does. I am fascinated by how young girls experience transformation—physically, emotionally, and socially. Through my films “First Blood” and “Pocket Princess”, I’ve explored the body as a site of both horror and power, using elements of magical realism and body horror to subvert traditional femininity. I’m drawn to the quiet intensity of girlhood—the rituals, the relationships, the unspoken rules—and how these shape identity. My work continues to evolve as I deepen my interest in telling stories that expose what’s hidden beneath the surface of becoming.
Thank you so much, Olivia, for giving us your precious time! We wish you all the best for your journey ahead!