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the delicacy of embracing spirals
One of Publisher's Weekly's Most Anticipated Poetry Books for Fall 2023!
the delicacy of embracing spirals investigates the ways in which the personal narrative of Black queer womanhood can be expressed through, a radically human lens.
“mimi tempestt writes like a third testament in which God (or our understanding) finally matures. Like a painter longed for by a million canvasses. No peer. No rival. Just a cosmos enjoyed by friends; alive in the most exciting mind of our generation.” —Tongo Eisen-Martin, author of Blood on the Fog With a visual sensibility that explodes across the page, the collection begins with microcosmic poems of personal struggle and spirals out to macrocosmic texts of social and political critique. The book culminates in a fantastic account of the staging of a play with life-threatening consequences.
the delicacy of embracing spirals investigates the ways in which the personal narrative of Black queer womanhood can be expressed through, a radically human lens.
“mimi tempestt writes like a third testament in which God (or our understanding) finally matures. Like a painter longed for by a million canvasses. No peer. No rival. Just a cosmos enjoyed by friends; alive in the most exciting mind of our generation.” —Tongo Eisen-Martin, author of Blood on the Fog With a visual sensibility that explodes across the page, the collection begins with microcosmic poems of personal struggle and spirals out to macrocosmic texts of social and political critique. The book culminates in a fantastic account of the staging of a play with life-threatening consequences.
144 pages, Paperback
Published October 3, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 7, 2024
No other poetry collection matches this one. This needs to be essential reading.
March 29, 2024
This was my first poetry book, and I have a feeling nothing else will ever live up to it.
January 24, 2024
Unabashedly earthly and raw, one feels as if they are falling in and out of each poem mimi tempestt sets forth in the delicacy of embracing spirals.
From ancestors to absinthe, tempestt seamlessly swirls through an uneven balance of pleasure and perception. She not only reflects but indulges the reader to reflect, deflect, and analyze dynamics within family and, by extension, within one’s self.
She covers the fluidity of existence and the noticeable yet fleeting changes of our past, present and future selves converging. While reading I found myself laughing hysterically, crying, and confounded by the indignation I share about my own existence. The stagnation and pacing is a whirlwind of exhaustion and ecstasy; if life is but a moment, it is certainly captured in her imagery. the delicacy of embracing spirals does just that, nudging the audience to accept the ashamed and feared parts of ourselves with intimate and intricate snippets of life in poetic melancholy.
I have yet to read a more captivating presentation on the performance of being a poet and by virtue, always seemingly being on stage. But make no mistake, the stage and everyone on it is a pointed critique of roles often projected as a misconstrued yet ignorant attempt to make a monolith of being Black and a woman. tempestt refuses to be bound or defined by any singularities and is not afraid to show all the ugly and unpleasant aspects of healing. The fluidity and sharpness of tempestt’s voice immerses the reader in every intentional, crude, and honest image she creates.
Read more reviews at https://www.wearetheana.com/
From ancestors to absinthe, tempestt seamlessly swirls through an uneven balance of pleasure and perception. She not only reflects but indulges the reader to reflect, deflect, and analyze dynamics within family and, by extension, within one’s self.
She covers the fluidity of existence and the noticeable yet fleeting changes of our past, present and future selves converging. While reading I found myself laughing hysterically, crying, and confounded by the indignation I share about my own existence. The stagnation and pacing is a whirlwind of exhaustion and ecstasy; if life is but a moment, it is certainly captured in her imagery. the delicacy of embracing spirals does just that, nudging the audience to accept the ashamed and feared parts of ourselves with intimate and intricate snippets of life in poetic melancholy.
I have yet to read a more captivating presentation on the performance of being a poet and by virtue, always seemingly being on stage. But make no mistake, the stage and everyone on it is a pointed critique of roles often projected as a misconstrued yet ignorant attempt to make a monolith of being Black and a woman. tempestt refuses to be bound or defined by any singularities and is not afraid to show all the ugly and unpleasant aspects of healing. The fluidity and sharpness of tempestt’s voice immerses the reader in every intentional, crude, and honest image she creates.
Read more reviews at https://www.wearetheana.com/
June 29, 2025
Embracing our life spirals can lead to the delicacy of what we take in from ups and downs.
Mimi Tempestt spits a raw exploration of text, essays and a play that pulls the hot seats from radicals and political critique. Other poems take on personal struggles and memories. The structures used in the formatting of these poems I found hard to follow at times, like it was trying to be too different.
Don’t get me wrong, there is some powerful wordage in this collection that highly recommend reading and that cover by Brian Kwon is simply amazing!
Favorites:
Oracles in a Séance playing Russian Roulette
Casting Call #2
Moon Conjuncts Saturn
Untitled #5 (futura free)
Sometimes to prove it everything to lose?
Mimi Tempestt spits a raw exploration of text, essays and a play that pulls the hot seats from radicals and political critique. Other poems take on personal struggles and memories. The structures used in the formatting of these poems I found hard to follow at times, like it was trying to be too different.
Don’t get me wrong, there is some powerful wordage in this collection that highly recommend reading and that cover by Brian Kwon is simply amazing!
Favorites:
Oracles in a Séance playing Russian Roulette
Casting Call #2
Moon Conjuncts Saturn
Untitled #5 (futura free)
Sometimes to prove it everything to lose?
October 27, 2023
Unlike any poetry collection I've ever read.
Read
February 11, 2025dizzying, confusing, delightful !
June 8, 2025
incredible from beginning to end
April 21, 2025
Mimi Tempestt is a modern-day Allen Ginsberg. Cutting-edge, gritty, and revolutionary.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews