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Tenderling
Between the thorns of the Brothers Grimm and the labyrinthine chambers of Angela Carter, Emily Corwin's first full-length collection of poems is red of tooth, claw, and lipstick. Within this vivid cycle of fabulism and erotica, of witches and absent princes, metamorphosis and dreamscapes, Corwin's work is a grimoire, a map for the territories of the unconscious. Love and madness conspire, and the modern kisses sleeping memories awake...
- GenresPoetry
68 pages, Paperback
Published February 14, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 27, 2018
tenderling is crisp and fresh in its prowess and language. I got so sucked into the voice of these poems that I almost missed my exit on the subway--I was so involved in the brambles, the chiffon, the abracadabra of these poems that take the contemporary girl and her longing to new yet familiar places via myth and tale.
February 17, 2018
A solid and well-developed book with wonderfully descriptive imagery. The voice and themes unite the collection and leave you feeling fragile.
March 4, 2018
<3 <3 <3
May 31, 2018
Exactly what I want from poetry. tenderling is dark, sweet, modern, earthy, full of body horror and wicked images. A perfect little collection of short and striking poems
July 2, 2019
a beautiful, dark and moving collection by one of the Midwest's finest poets!!
January 18, 2023
I love the concept and the imagery, but I'm starting to think that poetry in general just isn't for me. I just feel so dumb every time I attempt to read poetry.
May 31, 2023
This was a great read! Lots of wonderful language and explorations of gender. Would definitely recommend to anyone who likes poetry!
July 24, 2023
I really dislike poems that prioritize imagery over meaning.
January 24, 2018
tenderling is a promise that exceedes itself. It lulls you in with honeysuckle horrorshow imagery as gentle and terrible as the first time you were earnest in your pillowtalk. tenderling scares and soothes, chilling your spine and bringing a hot, gentle sweat to your brow. Other reviews have made frequent call backs to the Grimm brothers' fairy tales, and it is an apt comparison. Here there is beauty. Here there is danger.
Just as fairy stories stay with you by utilizing fantastical settings and imagery to engage in very real and imediate concerns so does tenderling. Within these pages it's okay to be broken. It's okay to not be enough. Corwin helps you to accept how you are stronger for it.
As the book progresses, so to does the intensity, first cresting with "bestiary" and again with "pretty pretty princess vs. the underworld." Between and beyond is the space where nightmares are helpful friends and there's nothing more fearsome than the vulnerability of being loved.
The cyclonic forces of these poems reach out from their pages.
They take you hard by the wrist.
They invite you to dance and play.
Just as fairy stories stay with you by utilizing fantastical settings and imagery to engage in very real and imediate concerns so does tenderling. Within these pages it's okay to be broken. It's okay to not be enough. Corwin helps you to accept how you are stronger for it.
As the book progresses, so to does the intensity, first cresting with "bestiary" and again with "pretty pretty princess vs. the underworld." Between and beyond is the space where nightmares are helpful friends and there's nothing more fearsome than the vulnerability of being loved.
The cyclonic forces of these poems reach out from their pages.
They take you hard by the wrist.
They invite you to dance and play.
January 17, 2018
As always, Corwin’s poetry is breathtaking, with fairy tale images woven throughout visceral imagery of femininity. An excellent collection.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews