A review by asphaltmonkey
Tender Delirium by Tania de Rozario
5.0
It is very much just a stereotype, but often we have the impression of poetry as soothing, grass bank river flowing, bright moon in the sky. But this is a different beast altogether. Tender Delirium is explosive, akin to of setting off a grenade inside you and chronicling the blood and guts, rage against the machine style.
Tania compiles a mixture of prose and poetry, charting childhood memories and trauma alongside love and loss. "Stuff your jellybean kisses back into your pockets," she says, unapologetic. In others, she details the bitter tang of regret that stays with you through the years. "No rewind button for the soul, no second chance for the petty player, no backup plan for those who risk everything on nothing, all at once."
In Keep we bear witness to her complication relationship with her own craft. The act of keeping, collecting and recording can be terribly tiring and traumatic. She "tortures photos into paintings", "keep [...] time to footsteps walking away from me". It's a a chronicle of one's life, gazetted into sections, like a small town record of who's who.
There were passages in there so cutting, so poignant, powerful and human and relatable. She takes longing and memories right from the tip of her tongue, setting them down with tender precision.
Somehow Tania manages to walk that line between being honest and transparent and authentic without spelling the end of privacy. We see her personal growth through her writing, and there is a softening of attitudes towards the end. It evolves into something less chip on the shoulder and more relaxing into the arms of a lover. It is a journey of exploring identity, finding love and relationships, loss, reconciliation, coming home and leaving forever.
Tania compiles a mixture of prose and poetry, charting childhood memories and trauma alongside love and loss. "Stuff your jellybean kisses back into your pockets," she says, unapologetic. In others, she details the bitter tang of regret that stays with you through the years. "No rewind button for the soul, no second chance for the petty player, no backup plan for those who risk everything on nothing, all at once."
In Keep we bear witness to her complication relationship with her own craft. The act of keeping, collecting and recording can be terribly tiring and traumatic. She "tortures photos into paintings", "keep [...] time to footsteps walking away from me". It's a a chronicle of one's life, gazetted into sections, like a small town record of who's who.
There were passages in there so cutting, so poignant, powerful and human and relatable. She takes longing and memories right from the tip of her tongue, setting them down with tender precision.
Somehow Tania manages to walk that line between being honest and transparent and authentic without spelling the end of privacy. We see her personal growth through her writing, and there is a softening of attitudes towards the end. It evolves into something less chip on the shoulder and more relaxing into the arms of a lover. It is a journey of exploring identity, finding love and relationships, loss, reconciliation, coming home and leaving forever.
"When you leave, the sun will shine on us at different times."