[redacted]

by Trista Mateer

Taking National Poetry Month’s poem-a-day challenge one step further, for her fourth collection, Trista Mateer has not only compiled a chapbook of her 2016 ‘30 for 30’ poems, but she has also chosen to include nearly everything else written in the month of April. This comes in the form of handwritten notes and poetry fragments, iPhone note poetry, tweets, Craigslist ads, and more. This mix of poetry and prose spans a single month and covers topics such as heartbreak, gender, sexuality, and forgiveness.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, LGBT, Ebooks, Queer Lit, Contemporary

62 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2016

About the author

Trista Mateer is the bestselling author of multiple poetry collections, including Aphrodite Made Me Do It and Honeybee. She is a passionate mental health advocate, currently writing in South Carolina. Connect with her on Instagram and Tiktok @tristamateer or at tristamateer.com.
​
Her newest collection, Artemis Made Me Do It, is available for preorder now and releases in September 2022!

Reviews

[Kyra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every airport poem smashes into my heart. Which is to say, Trista is one of the most accessible, emotional poets writing today.

[Tania Duarte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read Trista before, but I'm honestly in love with this book. In love with how raw and honest her words come across, and also how many of them hit very close to home. Something that caught my attention, in the best way possible, was the way she made poems out of such "21st century" things like tweets and e-mails (that e-mail poem? Your e-mail apology doesn't mean shit? Mind!!! blown!!!). So clever, so beautiful, so heartbreakingly real.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Redacted" is the most personal book of poetry I have read. Trista shows a certain sense of vulnerability by allowing readers glimpses into her personal life - iPhone messages and notes, inner contemplation, and late night musings. A beautiful stand alone, "Redacted" showcases why poetry is still very, very much alive.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trista's poems are always brilliant, but these felt particularly like a conversations she was having with herself - examining and interrogating poet, poems and public persona - in a way I don't think she did so much in her previous collections. This isn't self-critical as a hollow disclaimer, the poems feel genuine and charming - soft and difficult and beautifully messy, as so many of us find our 20s to be.

[Emrys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw, real, wonderful.

[Kira Schumacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as character inspiration goes, I always find it in Trista Mateer's books and this one just has been full of heart-wrenchingly honest feelings and thoughts and relationships, and just the whole package. This has been a direct improvement to my saturday. And my own writing, in that matter. ♥

[Sasha Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

she tells a good story, i always enjoy trista mateer's work but this might just be my favorite, i even ended up writing a poem while reading.

[Erin Clements · Rating 5 out of 5]

[redacted] is an absolute work of art. It's brilliant, one of my favorite chapbooks I've ever read. I highlighted so much of the text that approximately half the book is now yellow, but I relate to it in ways I never expected.

[Bug · Rating 2 out of 5]

i read this for the poem ‘cold spot’ but nothing else really stood out to me

[magda · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 ꙳
ja myślę, że jakkolwiek nie spłycić definicji poezji ( nie wspominając o tym, że teoretycznie nie istnieje owa ) to nie podchodzi ani trochę.

[Caitlin Conlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

JESUS this was good. Holy shit. The mixed media, the words, the everything. Everything about this touched me so intimately.

[Sam Blondell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

Wonderful poetry written to strike a match in your heart and gut. Reminding you of your own history of love

[Kelley Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw, honest, and beautiful.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

the poet knows the exact taste of regret and never tries to wash it out of her mouth. the poet holds onto grudges until her fingers bleed.

God, I LOVED this. This collection is EVERYTHING - and it's currently FREE in the Kindle store in honour of National Poetry Month/NaPoWriMo, as this collection was written during NaPo a few years back. So go and pick it up right now, you have no excuse not to.

there's a reason our star sign looks like a wishbone.

This collection was super interesting. It was a conglomeration of poems in multi-media forms - some through texts or tweets or emails, some handwritten, or accompanied by teeny cute illustrations or pictures of dried flowers. It added a little extra something to the whole thing, seeing all these different snippets of life and creativity. As someone who has personally written poems on anything from receipts to bits of torn crisp boxes in times of sudden inspiration (shelf-stacking and poetry sometimes come hand in hand for me, oops), I felt the whole thing was really homely and had a great DIY feel to it.

The poems themselves were so raw and personal, which I really appreciated. They were often painful to read, and so direct. I can only aspire to be as unflinchingly blunt as Trista Mateer is in this collection. There were beautiful lines, sad lines, scary lines and some amazing metaphors contained within them, and the whole thing just felt so authentic.

Overall, I loved this. I think it's probably one of my favourite collections of poetry I've ever read and I recommend it for sure!!

so the poem hurt you. it was supposed to

[Isabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I say that a book was like reading the poet’s diary. Here I almost want to take out the ‘like’ – this book is the epitome of honesty and openness. It seems like a book dedicated to apologising to everyone Trista feels she has ever hurt in person or via her poetry (and in places explaining to some, that if her words hurt them, good!) I did find it captivating but not as a ‘poetry’ book but simply as the story of the writer – it includes tweets and phone entries and intimate conversations.

[Farah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read

Something a bit different. The style of writing is different from what I’ve become accustomed to of poetry books and something I quite enjoyed experiencing. It’s always quite a privilege when somebody bares their soul to you and allows you to see who they are. I feel like the author did that again and again throughout each poem and it made the poems hold so much more weight. If you’re looking to understand others or even understand yourself more, then this is definitely a good place to start.

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trista Mateer is one of my favorite modern poets, and is, in my opinion, vastly underappreciated in comparison to other "instagram poets." Her work is honest and specific in a way that makes it feel nitty-gritty and down-to-earth, and she experiments with format and theme in interesting and deliberate ways. [Redacted] is currently available FOR FREE on Kindle, so you should definitely go give it a read-- it's a great and very quick introduction to her work if you haven't read any before.

[Brandy Shark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so lucky to keep finding poets whose voice is similar to mine in experience and longing. Like Amanda Lovelace and Rupi Kaur, many of Trista Mateer's poems are poems that I could have written myself, if only I had had the words. Trista speaks for me, though we do not know each other, she echoes my experiences of love and men as if she has been by my side through it all.

I'm very excited to read more of her work.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

[redacted] is a wonderful, powerful collection of poetry about womanhood, healing from trauma, queer identity, heartache, and mental illness. Mateer is a strong poet who mixes media in this book--some poems will be screenshots from her Twitter feed, others will be scanned, hand-written poems with dried flowers on the page--making it nearly double as an art book. Highly recommend. It's a quick read, but you will want to go back through it.

[Shannon O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Effortlessly amazing

Once again Trista has left me breathless with her words. She never shys from speaking the truth and being blunt about how she feels and deals with things. Her poetry is so raw and beautiful I am once again in love with her books. She touches upon all her past romances and lovers the struggle of letting go, but reminding the reader that it is okay to hold on until you’re ready to let go.

[Moriah Conant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relatable

As a poet, I relate to a lot of the things that Trista said and expressed. Does the person I’m thinking of read my poems? Should I have shared that? Am I romanticizing the bad days?

Would definitely recommend.

Warning: contains some graphic sexual poems.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

Really enjoyed this collection - I love Trista's work! So gorgeous and infinitely re readable. Recommend this to anyone who enjoys poetry and beautiful stringing together of words

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite collection from Trista Mateer. It made me feel like already shattered glass breaking all the more when stepped on.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of poems whose forms are as different as night and day, from classic formats to prose to lists to tweets, but that share their honesty, rawness, heartbreak, feeling.

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

review tk

[Bex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't mind me, just devouring every poem Trista Mateer has ever published at 4am. Her poetry is so addictive and I cannot get enough. Keep them coming please, Trista!!

[L]

The titles are the best parts.

[Emma Whipkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Trista Mateer’s art and poetry. It is always honest and powerful and this book was just incredible. I can’t wait to read more of her work

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

ow ow ow

[Rhiley Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short poetry collection filled with a lot of meaning and emotions. Not my favorite thing in the world, but overall very enjoyable!