Reliefs

by Jarad Bruinstroop

To be a man

is to scrutinise

all men.

And then lie about it.

In this striking debut, Jarad Bruinstroop offers a frank and tender exploration of Queer history, art, beauty and pain. These poems delight in the audacious power of vulnerability and the revolutionary potential of Queer joy. With skill and wit, Bruinstroop plumbs the manifold pleasures of language in search of connection, transcendence and home.

By bearing witness to the lives of Queer people past and present, Reliefs celebrates the resilience of the desiring body and pulses with renewed possibilities.

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Georgia Mckevitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful collection. Bruinstroop plays with form in such an inspiring way, I love the flow of consciousness in his poetic voice. Gorgeous concepts to explain observations. Love, love, loved it!

‘From the summit we watched dawn turn up
sunken treetops, excavate the opaque ocean
like a Roman floor mosaic. Close by,
a falcon hunter in the first light.
When the sun vaulted the horizon,
everything was thrown into relief.’
- Peak, page 93

[Madeleine Litchfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing in this book is exceptional, and it covers some very interesting themes. It isn’t the type of poetry I typically enjoy, however I still highly respect Jarad’s writing. The final poem ‘Peace Body Pain Body’ was my favourite, it was unlike anything I’ve ever read and will stay with me for a long time.

[theo :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book of poems about living in the world we do, and the experiences that many of us live in. Bruinstroop's poetry is filled with feeling, and deep emotion that makes his poems have an impact. It is relatable but also enlightening and interesting, incorporating parts of history, culture and life often unseen to the world. If you like poetry, and you find people and life interesting, you should give it a read! I'll definitely keep coming back to these poems, there is a lot to get from them.

[Loricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

cakeboy will haunt me to the day I die.

If you’ve been wanting to get into poetry but don’t know where to start, start here. Bruinstroop has written down my feelings on ways I didn’t think exist. It’s so raw and familiar, I was crying through every poem.
It was beautiful.

[Joe Lord · Rating 4 out of 5]

never thought i'd be reading a poem about sporties!

[Svetlana Sterlin]

Very potent! It’s not often that books make me cry.

“I wanted to write about peace. What would that give me?”

&

“We can only know peace through our bodies. See also: pain.”

[Madeleine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkable work.

Jarad Bruinstroop’s poetry is at once assured and aching, personal and far-seeing. I lost count of the number of times I had to put this book down – to take a breath, to underline a phrase, to wave it around in people’s faces and demand they look at it.

There is something of a tendency among poets to hold an ironic distance from our subjects – a glib gesture to pop-culture here, a cynical mention of a famous name there. Reliefs is a breath of fresh air. Throughout these poems, figures of myth and history (and a beautiful wealth of painters and paintings) are coloured with the same tenderness, liveliness, and poetic beauty as the inhabitants of (what feel like) the more personal poems. ‘Black-throated finch’ is just one spectacular proof of this – a work of assemblage and weaving unlike any I have seen.

Bruinstroop is a writer of remarkable skill, intellect, and sensitivity and Reliefs is spectacular.