Reviews

Hold Your Own: Poems by Kae Tempest

kipepeo's review against another edition

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challenging emotional fast-paced

4.0

Utterly lovely. Tiresias’s myth is incredible and it was tackled brilliantly in this book. I don’t often read poetry with metre and rhyme anymore, but wow this blew me away. 

lydia_arvidsson's review against another edition

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4.5

reread<3

khloud96's review

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4.0

This collection of poems tells the tale of Tiresias, when he was punished and became a woman for years.
The poet brilliantly talks about her stories through out the tale. Although I'm not a big fan of the myths, but the poems are brilliant and powerful.

Some quotes I liked:

“How many yous will you carry,
Weeping and desperate to marry?
How many yous will you churn out?
Turn out the light for the night.
She has burned out but she’ll be alright.
She is coming up.
Child of her time.”

"And you've got a soul worth living for"

"The worst thing that can happen to words is that they go unsaid"

mythology_nerd333's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.0

larissakoedood's review against another edition

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fast-paced

kenzielireads's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

hilbohaggins's review against another edition

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5.0

This was a fantastic collection of poetry written with so much eloquence and fluidity. The poems are centered around a modernized version of Tiresias, who was a famous prophet in Ancient Greek mythology. To put it in as few words as possible: Tiresias was a man who got himself into some trouble and was then cursed to spend part of his life as a woman. The book is split into four sections: Childhood, Womanhood, Manhood, and Blind Prophet. The last grouping was my favorite of the four; it really touched on some heavy truths of mankind. Regardless, the whole book contained deeply emotional poetry that I think everyone can connect to in one way or another and it's written in a way that is so universal.

(Also the physical copy of the book is just stunning)

marthedbsr's review against another edition

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5.0

Kae weet hoe poëzie te schrijven wauwie

polly_baker's review against another edition

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5.0

"you feel like someone just lay you down on your back and showed you the sky."

Like a hot blade through a heart of butter. I ache.

thevampiremars's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

Tiresias haunts this anthology.

I feel like Tempest sometimes gets a little carried away. They try to include every aspect of the Tiresias myth (childhood, womanhood, manhood, blinding, clairvoyance) in the poems about that figure, plus they get a bit lost in their admittedly enthralling rhythms. Basically, I think some of the poems overstay their welcome. But that’s okay.

I like “Tiresias” despite its flaws. I also like “Man down” and “The downside”

CONTENT WARNINGS: sexual content, some body horror, injury, war