Snake Handling for Beginners is a felicitous, engaging collection of poems by Sandra Kasturi, a powerful female voice that is both playful and polished. Travel with her through territories that are peculiar, charming, and often prickly. Break bread with the characters and creatures that populate her mythologies, alternate histories, darkened woods, and deep oceans - like the elderly Gilgamesh, a woman in love with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, dinosaurs, Mongolian death worms, weasels, bog bodies, and even children. Become immersed in how her steady voice deconstructs preconceived ideas, giving us license to dream our own odd dreams. Relish the control of craft, and ability to incorporate humour, as she creates worlds of ideas that lead the reader to serious conclusions. Hers is a lens of acutely observed experiences that takes the reader on an adventure of life deeply observed.