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jvillanueva8's review
4.0
This collection didn’t blow me away as much as I’d hoped, but it’s still a really solid book of poetry. It’s sort of funny reading Tara Hardy right after Ocean Vuong— while Ocean is so soft, lyrical, “poetic”, Tara is very literal, firm, visceral. Much of this read like prose with line breaks, but she uses language to blend together trauma and illness into something beautiful. There are no boundaries around her subjects, they’re all a part of the same whole.
siriface's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Terminal illness
Moderate: Sexual assault and Incest
jenniechantal's review
5.0
Grieving and living sit
at opposite ends
of a teeter totter, smiling
at each other, daring
the other to hop off.
---
Rage is the lung of illness
---
I really needed this collection! Tara Hardy has captured the mess of grief, pain, fear, hope, despair, healing, power, loss, change, and love that a person experiences when they become ill, don't recover, and must live with serious chronic illness. This book is SO relevant and necessary and I would recommend it to everyone who wants to better understand the feelings and experiences of people who are chronically ill (in particular queer, femme, survivors) and to those of us who are ill and want and need our experiences to be seen and heard, who want to feel we aren't alone.
Standout poems include: "Fatigue", "Why", "First Thoughts", "Lessons", "Smitten", "Cure" , "Grief body"and "Wishes she still Were".
Many of these poems are written to be heard as Tara Hardy is a well-known slam poet. If you are able, check out her videos on YouTube, or read them aloud to yourself. A lot of them come alive this way!
at opposite ends
of a teeter totter, smiling
at each other, daring
the other to hop off.
---
Rage is the lung of illness
---
I really needed this collection! Tara Hardy has captured the mess of grief, pain, fear, hope, despair, healing, power, loss, change, and love that a person experiences when they become ill, don't recover, and must live with serious chronic illness. This book is SO relevant and necessary and I would recommend it to everyone who wants to better understand the feelings and experiences of people who are chronically ill (in particular queer, femme, survivors) and to those of us who are ill and want and need our experiences to be seen and heard, who want to feel we aren't alone.
Standout poems include: "Fatigue", "Why", "First Thoughts", "Lessons", "Smitten", "Cure" , "Grief body"and "Wishes she still Were".
Many of these poems are written to be heard as Tara Hardy is a well-known slam poet. If you are able, check out her videos on YouTube, or read them aloud to yourself. A lot of them come alive this way!
ahsimlibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Damn. This collection of poetry by disabled queer Northwest poet is intense but also beautiful. It explores themes of incest, rape, illness, queerness, recovery and more.
"Advice to Daughters with Cruel Mothers" slayed me. Some lines:
2. Don elaborate outfits of which your mother would disapprove. Wear them in public with friends. When you get home at night, look in the mirror and approve of yourself.
4. Break up with critical female mentors. You are not more worthy if you can endure their unkindness. You are recreating history.
5. Do a yearly sweep of mean people. If you feel bad about yourself after seeing a friend, slip out of that friendship like a hand outgrowing a glove. Seek friends in whose eyes you are birthday cake.
7. Grant yourself the right to not answer her calls. For a week, for a year, five years. Do what it takes to keep your heart above water. Do not feel guilty about it.
I am going to have to buy this one.
"Advice to Daughters with Cruel Mothers" slayed me. Some lines:
2. Don elaborate outfits of which your mother would disapprove. Wear them in public with friends. When you get home at night, look in the mirror and approve of yourself.
4. Break up with critical female mentors. You are not more worthy if you can endure their unkindness. You are recreating history.
5. Do a yearly sweep of mean people. If you feel bad about yourself after seeing a friend, slip out of that friendship like a hand outgrowing a glove. Seek friends in whose eyes you are birthday cake.
7. Grant yourself the right to not answer her calls. For a week, for a year, five years. Do what it takes to keep your heart above water. Do not feel guilty about it.
I am going to have to buy this one.
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