suvata's review against another edition
2.0
I think a little poetry will clear my head after reading the very intense Abandoned by Blake Crouch.
lilith_knight's review
4.0
"I touch you, straighten the sheet, you turn over
in the bed, tender, sun comes through the curtains
Which of us will survive
which of us will survive the other"
I always adored the juxtaposition of love and violence in literature, especially in poetry. The way we cut ourselves in small pieces so we can fit into the hands of our lovers. The way we destroy each other through passion, when every kiss is a bullet, and the relationship turns into a battlefield. What can I say, toxic relationships in literature are kinda hot.
"I can change myself
more easily
than I can change you"
And Margaret Atwood does exactly that. Her poems are raw, full of both tenderness and resentment for the one she loves. She knows the love is destroying her, and yet this catastrophe leaves a sweet taste in her mouth.
"If I love you
is that a fact or a weapon?"
Death plays a big role in this collection, she wishes the death of her lover, not of the in real life person, but of the person she has created in her mind. Of the person she loves and wants to let go. She wishes he would die inside her, so she can be free and immortalize him in her art, maybe as a form of catharsis for them both.
"Please die I said
so I can write about it"
and
"of course you'll die
but not yet, you'll outlive
even my distortions of you"
In general, Power Politics is a beautiful collection about the power plays in a relationship, the love, the resentment, the anger, the tenderness. All these feelings exist simultaneously between the lovers, interwoven with one another like limbs. Atwood paints beautiful pictures with her words, sometimes touching the mythical, and others the more mundane, in all cases melancholic. While it doesn't top Dearly for me, that I read earlier this year, it's still a collection that I'll revisit in the future.
"I should have used leaves
and silver to prevent you
instead I summoned
you are not a bird you do not fly
you are not an animal you do not run
you are not a man
your mouth is nothingness
where it touches me I vanish
you descent on me like age
you descend on me like earth"
in the bed, tender, sun comes through the curtains
Which of us will survive
which of us will survive the other"
I always adored the juxtaposition of love and violence in literature, especially in poetry. The way we cut ourselves in small pieces so we can fit into the hands of our lovers. The way we destroy each other through passion, when every kiss is a bullet, and the relationship turns into a battlefield. What can I say, toxic relationships in literature are kinda hot.
"I can change myself
more easily
than I can change you"
And Margaret Atwood does exactly that. Her poems are raw, full of both tenderness and resentment for the one she loves. She knows the love is destroying her, and yet this catastrophe leaves a sweet taste in her mouth.
"If I love you
is that a fact or a weapon?"
Death plays a big role in this collection, she wishes the death of her lover, not of the in real life person, but of the person she has created in her mind. Of the person she loves and wants to let go. She wishes he would die inside her, so she can be free and immortalize him in her art, maybe as a form of catharsis for them both.
"Please die I said
so I can write about it"
and
"of course you'll die
but not yet, you'll outlive
even my distortions of you"
In general, Power Politics is a beautiful collection about the power plays in a relationship, the love, the resentment, the anger, the tenderness. All these feelings exist simultaneously between the lovers, interwoven with one another like limbs. Atwood paints beautiful pictures with her words, sometimes touching the mythical, and others the more mundane, in all cases melancholic. While it doesn't top Dearly for me, that I read earlier this year, it's still a collection that I'll revisit in the future.
"I should have used leaves
and silver to prevent you
instead I summoned
you are not a bird you do not fly
you are not an animal you do not run
you are not a man
your mouth is nothingness
where it touches me I vanish
you descent on me like age
you descend on me like earth"
fairyhill's review
4.0
when i look for you i find water or moving shadow there is no way i can lose you when you are lost already...
akingston5's review
"If I love you, is that a fact or a weapon?"
•••
Reading poetry for the #SealeyChallenge this month! Atwood explores power in intimate and political spaces, finding the universal in our personal experiences.
•••
Reading poetry for the #SealeyChallenge this month! Atwood explores power in intimate and political spaces, finding the universal in our personal experiences.
raluca_p's review
4.0
“After all you are quite
ordinary: 2 arms 2 legs
a head, a reasonable
body, toes & fingers, a few
eccentricities, a few honesties
but not too many, too many
postponements & regrets but
you’ll adjust to it, meeting
deadlines and other
people, pretending to love
the wrong woman some of the
time, listening to your brain
shrink, your diaries
expanding as you grow older,
growing older, of course you’ll
die but not yet, you’ll outlive
even my distortions of you
and there isn’t anything
I want to do about the fact
that you are unhappy & sick
you aren’t sick & unhappy
only alive & stuck with it.”
ordinary: 2 arms 2 legs
a head, a reasonable
body, toes & fingers, a few
eccentricities, a few honesties
but not too many, too many
postponements & regrets but
you’ll adjust to it, meeting
deadlines and other
people, pretending to love
the wrong woman some of the
time, listening to your brain
shrink, your diaries
expanding as you grow older,
growing older, of course you’ll
die but not yet, you’ll outlive
even my distortions of you
and there isn’t anything
I want to do about the fact
that you are unhappy & sick
you aren’t sick & unhappy
only alive & stuck with it.”
lhaylameansnight's review against another edition
2.0
Penso di aver letto questo libro nel momento sbagliato della mia vita.
Penso sia un libro maturo.
Non il mio preferito di poesia ne della Atwood..
Magari adatto ad altre persone!:)
Penso sia un libro maturo.
Non il mio preferito di poesia ne della Atwood..
Magari adatto ad altre persone!:)
chancethesecond's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
“Please die I said / so I can write about it.”
Atwood’s short collection of poetry is anything but sweet. Cutting, brilliant, and unnerving. Yes. Sweet? No.
Atwood’s short collection of poetry is anything but sweet. Cutting, brilliant, and unnerving. Yes. Sweet? No.