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étreins-toi / hold your own
Dans ce recueil, Kae Tempest déploie une nouvelle traversée poétique de l'être humain, suivant le mythe de Tiresias, le prophète aveugle transformé par Héra.
Un jeune garçon, baskets aux pieds et écouteurs sur les oreilles, se promène en forêt un matin et délace d'un coup de bâton l'union d'un couple de serpents. Pour le punir de son acte, Héra le transforme en femme. C'est ainsi que débute son errance sublime d'être en être, se délestant de sa peau pour une renaissance à soi. Ce conte contemporain, sensuel et hypnotique, emprunte les sentiers des forêts antiques où se rencontrent des êtres non binaires, riches d'une sensualité non normée. Un hymne à l'Amour.
(version bilingue)
Un jeune garçon, baskets aux pieds et écouteurs sur les oreilles, se promène en forêt un matin et délace d'un coup de bâton l'union d'un couple de serpents. Pour le punir de son acte, Héra le transforme en femme. C'est ainsi que débute son errance sublime d'être en être, se délestant de sa peau pour une renaissance à soi. Ce conte contemporain, sensuel et hypnotique, emprunte les sentiers des forêts antiques où se rencontrent des êtres non binaires, riches d'une sensualité non normée. Un hymne à l'Amour.
(version bilingue)
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2014
176 people are currently reading
10654 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 469 reviews
January 23, 2015
This book of poetry blew me away. I smiled throughout and on occasion I cried. Structured around Tempests' modern interpretation of the Greek myth of Tiresias this book hosts a collection of poems on gender, age and love. Her writing is beautiful and her words poignant. She managed to voice what I'm sure are feelings many of us have experienced with a universality and simplicity I wish I could accomplish myself.
Whether you can't get enough poetry or have never read a poem in your life I'd urge you to pick this one up.
And when you do read it I'd suggest trying your hand at reading it aloud, the words will only double in the pleasure they provide.
My video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h853_...
Whether you can't get enough poetry or have never read a poem in your life I'd urge you to pick this one up.
And when you do read it I'd suggest trying your hand at reading it aloud, the words will only double in the pleasure they provide.
My video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h853_...
May 3, 2024
"Language lives when you speak it. Let it be heard.
The worst thing that can happen to words if they go unsaid....
Sometimes things are as simple as they seem.
It is as much about instinct as it is intellect....
The world is getting stranger every day; you're not strange for noticing.
You don't have to be young to be good at what you do. You just have to be good at it...
The pain of having fucked up things up so bad will never leave us...
If you've been an arsehole today, acknowledge it.
Try not to be one tomorrow...
If some people don't hate your work, you're not doing it right." -These things I know
This book has a focus on the story of the ancient Greek prophet Tiresias, a modern retelling of his life from childhood to prophet-hood, with the first poem trailing his most famous story, his change from a man to a woman and back to a man, and how he gets screwed over by the gods. The first poem in the selection, and some consecutive others in the different chapters, tell of his life before, during, and after his pains and loves, known as "childhood, womanhood, manhood, and blind profit," and they were so wonderfully written I was sadden once more by his story. However, my favourite poems were the ones that show universality between our society's issues today and Tiresias' struggles. Themes of war, love, school, gender, and sexuality, surround the book, mingling and using the myth as a basis, and leaving us in awe at the way Kate Tempest managed to do it all in such a small book.
"There'll be fires in the forests, floods in the cities.
And men too rich to swim will die.
The skin on our children will toughen and harden.
And still we will debase ourselves
For that piece of land or mineral
That rock or bomb or golden egg
That might allow one dying person to imagine
They are worth more than another." - Cruise Control
Whenever Tempest writes, I can feel her meaning like a punch in the gut, all of her poems have that impact, and I read all of these in one sitting. And I have yet to decide whether it was a good option or not. It ended when I wanted to prolong it, but on the contrary, I was unable to stop myself from digesting everything, and the poems seem more connected when read nonstop.
"Won medals for his bravery,
But just wants to forget it....
Not in the name of good or evil-
But in the name of home...
Your dad believes in fighting
He fights for you and I,
But the men that send the armies in
Will never hear him cry.
I don't support the war my son,
I don't believe it's right,
But I do support the soldiers who
Go off to war to fight....
Please don't go fighting wars,
But fight the men that start them
Or fight a cause that's yours.
It seems so full of honour, yes,
So valiant, so bold,
But the men that send the armies in
Send them in for gold,
Or they send them for oil,
And they tell us is for Britain
But the men come home like Daddy,
And spend their days just drinking." -Ballad of a hero
When I read this poem, I kept thinking of "Hero of War" by Rise Against, and when I do that, while reading a poem about the horrors of war, I get upset, and a tear might have slipped from my eyes. This is a topic that I've read a lot about, whether form history books, to psychology books, to articles, to novels, to poems. And after having read so many of them, it is harder for me to feel as if it is the first time I am reading about it, this poem did it without pause. Every sentence was understood, and recalled a memory of something else I've read, or seen, or heard. This beautiful verse will be added as a favourite on my list " war things to continually read."
"Soon we'll learn to disappear in pubic.
We'll learn that getting by is good enough.
We'll learn the way it feels to see injustice,
and shut our mouths in case it comes for us.
We'll learn to never think but copy blindly.
To ally with the mean and keep them near.
We'll learn to not be talented or clever,
and the most important lessons
for success in a career.
How to follow orders when you're bordering
on nausea and you're bored and
insecure and dwarfed by fear." -School
This is another poem that spoke to me. We have all gone to school, we have all had horrible teachers, and horrible classmates, some of us have experienced at least one of the things mentioned in this fragment. This is the true story of a student told through verse, when so many authors cannot manage to do it with four-hundred page novels, Tempest delivers.
Aside from the main poems I gave excerpts off, check these others out: "Radical Empathy","Fine, thanks", "Man Down","The old dogs who fought so well", and "The woman the boy became."
This is an interesting book that will show a modern debate about sex between jealous Hera and cheating Zeus, a mother telling a child about her father's PTSD, a transgendered person becoming who they truly are, and the story of God fearing people to television loving ones. It is not a collection for people that loves Greek mythology, it is for all people that love the poetry format. You should read it. Really, really, read it.
The worst thing that can happen to words if they go unsaid....
Sometimes things are as simple as they seem.
It is as much about instinct as it is intellect....
The world is getting stranger every day; you're not strange for noticing.
You don't have to be young to be good at what you do. You just have to be good at it...
The pain of having fucked up things up so bad will never leave us...
If you've been an arsehole today, acknowledge it.
Try not to be one tomorrow...
If some people don't hate your work, you're not doing it right." -These things I know
This book has a focus on the story of the ancient Greek prophet Tiresias, a modern retelling of his life from childhood to prophet-hood, with the first poem trailing his most famous story, his change from a man to a woman and back to a man, and how he gets screwed over by the gods. The first poem in the selection, and some consecutive others in the different chapters, tell of his life before, during, and after his pains and loves, known as "childhood, womanhood, manhood, and blind profit," and they were so wonderfully written I was sadden once more by his story. However, my favourite poems were the ones that show universality between our society's issues today and Tiresias' struggles. Themes of war, love, school, gender, and sexuality, surround the book, mingling and using the myth as a basis, and leaving us in awe at the way Kate Tempest managed to do it all in such a small book.
"There'll be fires in the forests, floods in the cities.
And men too rich to swim will die.
The skin on our children will toughen and harden.
And still we will debase ourselves
For that piece of land or mineral
That rock or bomb or golden egg
That might allow one dying person to imagine
They are worth more than another." - Cruise Control
Whenever Tempest writes, I can feel her meaning like a punch in the gut, all of her poems have that impact, and I read all of these in one sitting. And I have yet to decide whether it was a good option or not. It ended when I wanted to prolong it, but on the contrary, I was unable to stop myself from digesting everything, and the poems seem more connected when read nonstop.
"Won medals for his bravery,
But just wants to forget it....
Not in the name of good or evil-
But in the name of home...
Your dad believes in fighting
He fights for you and I,
But the men that send the armies in
Will never hear him cry.
I don't support the war my son,
I don't believe it's right,
But I do support the soldiers who
Go off to war to fight....
Please don't go fighting wars,
But fight the men that start them
Or fight a cause that's yours.
It seems so full of honour, yes,
So valiant, so bold,
But the men that send the armies in
Send them in for gold,
Or they send them for oil,
And they tell us is for Britain
But the men come home like Daddy,
And spend their days just drinking." -Ballad of a hero
When I read this poem, I kept thinking of "Hero of War" by Rise Against, and when I do that, while reading a poem about the horrors of war, I get upset, and a tear might have slipped from my eyes. This is a topic that I've read a lot about, whether form history books, to psychology books, to articles, to novels, to poems. And after having read so many of them, it is harder for me to feel as if it is the first time I am reading about it, this poem did it without pause. Every sentence was understood, and recalled a memory of something else I've read, or seen, or heard. This beautiful verse will be added as a favourite on my list " war things to continually read."
"Soon we'll learn to disappear in pubic.
We'll learn that getting by is good enough.
We'll learn the way it feels to see injustice,
and shut our mouths in case it comes for us.
We'll learn to never think but copy blindly.
To ally with the mean and keep them near.
We'll learn to not be talented or clever,
and the most important lessons
for success in a career.
How to follow orders when you're bordering
on nausea and you're bored and
insecure and dwarfed by fear." -School
This is another poem that spoke to me. We have all gone to school, we have all had horrible teachers, and horrible classmates, some of us have experienced at least one of the things mentioned in this fragment. This is the true story of a student told through verse, when so many authors cannot manage to do it with four-hundred page novels, Tempest delivers.
Aside from the main poems I gave excerpts off, check these others out: "Radical Empathy","Fine, thanks", "Man Down","The old dogs who fought so well", and "The woman the boy became."
This is an interesting book that will show a modern debate about sex between jealous Hera and cheating Zeus, a mother telling a child about her father's PTSD, a transgendered person becoming who they truly are, and the story of God fearing people to television loving ones. It is not a collection for people that loves Greek mythology, it is for all people that love the poetry format. You should read it. Really, really, read it.
April 23, 2017
The framework of this poetry collection is based on the myth of the blind prophet Tiresias, who lived for some time in both the male and female gender. Truth be told, I'm still a bit cold on mythological beings, and these poems were my least favorite of the lot. It is clear that Tempest found quite a bit of symmetry with Tiresias, and many poems outside the Tiresias-specific poems also look at gender through lenses of love, relationships, and stereotypes. (But at one point, she uses the word tranny, something I see as a slur, and I can only hope that it is somehow different in her south London world.)
My #1 poem from the entire collection:
Thirteen (see the poet perform it on YouTube
My #1 poem from the entire collection:
Thirteen (see the poet perform it on YouTube
May 18, 2016
4.5 stars.
I don't know why I didn't pick this up sooner. This has got to be one of the best poetry collections I have ever read, if not my favourite collection I've picked up.
Kate Tempest was originally known for being a rapper, and this style comes through very strongly in Hold Your Own. Personally, I really enjoy a lot of rhyming in my poetry (although when I write poetry it is more prosaic), and I got this with Tempest's collection. The language is gritty, punchy, and erratic, but has some moments of real beauty and emotion. There were several poems in here that really made me sit up and pay attention, and others that made me laugh out loud at her wit and relatability.
I will definitely be picking up Tempest's other collection Brand New Ancients, and might even try and see if there is an audiobook of this collection kicking about, as I've heard Tempest's delivery is incredibly powerful.
I don't know why I didn't pick this up sooner. This has got to be one of the best poetry collections I have ever read, if not my favourite collection I've picked up.
Kate Tempest was originally known for being a rapper, and this style comes through very strongly in Hold Your Own. Personally, I really enjoy a lot of rhyming in my poetry (although when I write poetry it is more prosaic), and I got this with Tempest's collection. The language is gritty, punchy, and erratic, but has some moments of real beauty and emotion. There were several poems in here that really made me sit up and pay attention, and others that made me laugh out loud at her wit and relatability.
I will definitely be picking up Tempest's other collection Brand New Ancients, and might even try and see if there is an audiobook of this collection kicking about, as I've heard Tempest's delivery is incredibly powerful.
November 9, 2020
Some Couple
There's always some couple
in ravenous stages of loving
just when we've argued ourselves into cunts.
We'll be fuming,
walking along, saying nothing,
when suddenly,
here they come, skipping in front —
whispering,
smiling,
tickling,
cooing,
it makes me feel
empty
and angry
and dead.
But when I look at you
silently screwing
I know
I'd much rather
have this love instead.
November 27, 2015
Give her a face that is kind, that belongs
To a woman you know
Who is strong
And believes in the rightness of doing things wrong.
This book challenged the part of me that would read poetry (or anything) in the hope of finding glowing nuggets of wisdom to live by. Because this book had them in droves as plentiful as the dark, uncomfortable avenues that it walks through. And you are left wondering that maybe that's where the glowing nuggets were found.
This collection is a modern-day interpretation of the story of Tiresias, a blind prophet who appears in numerous Greek myths, in the periphery of such characters as Odysseus, Oedipus, and Antigone. But he is probably most well-known as a man whom the gods temporarily transformed into a woman. The poems in this book are divided into four sections that are each inspired by a stage of his/her life: childhood, womanhood, manhood, and "blind profit", transporting us from precarious innocence to merciless clear-sightedness. The struggle of creativity and expression, and of course the fluidity of gender, are felt throughout. The uncertainty and conflict at each step brings into focus what it means to hold one's own, or to choose not to.
Sensitive people are frequently beaten up by things insensitive people can't see.
If you've been beaten up, good for you.
If you've never been beaten up, good for you.
If you get beaten up all the time, you should take up boxing.
Aside from the story itself, what makes this book gripping is the way that the poems are written. Often, a thought will march from one stanza to the next, where a new thought then springs, forming a chain that's hard to break out of. You don't want to stop reading mid-thought, or mid-stanza. The rhythm is addictive, the rhymes are surprising.
There are a few poems that seem weaker than others - either with verse that seems a bit repetitive or simplistic, or with messages that are a little too obvious and heavy-handed. But even so, as part of the whole, they add something valuable to the collection/story arc.
The strength of the links between these poems and the original stories about Tiresias could be debatable - at times this book seems to wander rather far. However, there are passages that vividly bring mythic characters back to life (the arguments of Zeus and Hera comes to mind). And it is fascinating to see Tiresias transformed again, this time into a modern everyman (everywoman, everychild, everyprophet...)
To a woman you know
Who is strong
And believes in the rightness of doing things wrong.
This book challenged the part of me that would read poetry (or anything) in the hope of finding glowing nuggets of wisdom to live by. Because this book had them in droves as plentiful as the dark, uncomfortable avenues that it walks through. And you are left wondering that maybe that's where the glowing nuggets were found.
This collection is a modern-day interpretation of the story of Tiresias, a blind prophet who appears in numerous Greek myths, in the periphery of such characters as Odysseus, Oedipus, and Antigone. But he is probably most well-known as a man whom the gods temporarily transformed into a woman. The poems in this book are divided into four sections that are each inspired by a stage of his/her life: childhood, womanhood, manhood, and "blind profit", transporting us from precarious innocence to merciless clear-sightedness. The struggle of creativity and expression, and of course the fluidity of gender, are felt throughout. The uncertainty and conflict at each step brings into focus what it means to hold one's own, or to choose not to.
Sensitive people are frequently beaten up by things insensitive people can't see.
If you've been beaten up, good for you.
If you've never been beaten up, good for you.
If you get beaten up all the time, you should take up boxing.
Aside from the story itself, what makes this book gripping is the way that the poems are written. Often, a thought will march from one stanza to the next, where a new thought then springs, forming a chain that's hard to break out of. You don't want to stop reading mid-thought, or mid-stanza. The rhythm is addictive, the rhymes are surprising.
There are a few poems that seem weaker than others - either with verse that seems a bit repetitive or simplistic, or with messages that are a little too obvious and heavy-handed. But even so, as part of the whole, they add something valuable to the collection/story arc.
The strength of the links between these poems and the original stories about Tiresias could be debatable - at times this book seems to wander rather far. However, there are passages that vividly bring mythic characters back to life (the arguments of Zeus and Hera comes to mind). And it is fascinating to see Tiresias transformed again, this time into a modern everyman (everywoman, everychild, everyprophet...)
October 25, 2016
It's ok to feel alone.
Usually you are.
That's what poetry's for.
Kate Tempest is a fierce and fearsome talent and this poetry is absolutely amazing. Loosely based around the life of mythical gender bending blind prophet, Tiresias, Hold Your Own manages to take on themes of love, acceptance, violence, feminism, social justice and more. Parts made me laugh, parts made me cry, but it all made me feel and I guess that's what poetry does best.
Highly recommended.
Usually you are.
That's what poetry's for.
Kate Tempest is a fierce and fearsome talent and this poetry is absolutely amazing. Loosely based around the life of mythical gender bending blind prophet, Tiresias, Hold Your Own manages to take on themes of love, acceptance, violence, feminism, social justice and more. Parts made me laugh, parts made me cry, but it all made me feel and I guess that's what poetry does best.
Highly recommended.
December 17, 2016
Earlier collection of poetry than Let Them Eat Chaos, which I read as a first.
Hold Your Own is structured around myth of Tiresias. Regardless of mythological influance that is used to give this collection a structure, similar critic of our uniforming educational, social systems can be found among those angry verses. It's also a study of growing up, relationships, some touching poems especially in the latter section.
I could go one but for me the testimony of her work is the fact that Tempest speaks to me, regardless of how "scholars" judge her "performance poetry", it just does speak to me.
Hold Your Own is structured around myth of Tiresias. Regardless of mythological influance that is used to give this collection a structure, similar critic of our uniforming educational, social systems can be found among those angry verses. It's also a study of growing up, relationships, some touching poems especially in the latter section.
I could go one but for me the testimony of her work is the fact that Tempest speaks to me, regardless of how "scholars" judge her "performance poetry", it just does speak to me.
February 4, 2023
“Doing what you please
is not the same
as doing what you must”
Favorite poems:
- Tiresias
- For my niece
- The boy Tiresias
- The woman Tiresias
- Ballad of a hero
- Progress
- Fine, thanks
- Party time
“To really see the state of things is lethal.
It’s safer to just see what we can bear.”
is not the same
as doing what you must”
Favorite poems:
- Tiresias
- For my niece
- The boy Tiresias
- The woman Tiresias
- Ballad of a hero
- Progress
- Fine, thanks
- Party time
“To really see the state of things is lethal.
It’s safer to just see what we can bear.”
June 7, 2020
Most of the time the simple words and rhymes work well. Sometimes it just felt too easy and juvenile. And some poems clearly work better when read aloud as a slam by miss Tempest.
But overall a great collection
But overall a great collection
March 25, 2024
True love takes its toll
On souls
Who are not used to feeling whole.
They tangle limbs and feel the shudders,
All the world is nothing.
Lovers:
Promising each other not to take the vital parts,
While even as they mutter it, they’re giving up their hearts.
For something I randomly picked on my audiobook app, this was pretty much amazing. Just not having the words to describe what an intense experience listening to this was. I have to insist that if you want to read this, listen to the audio narrated by Tempest - sometimes they sing out, and the result is so melodic and beautiful. Yeah, the performance is just amazing.
Before I had music and rhyming,
I was too big and I walked like a boy,
and I was too soft for the school that I went to
and I was too smart and it made her suspicious.
I had to be tenderised.
There's a lot of exploration of gender identity - the arguably main 'character' of this collection, Tiresias, shifts genders a bunch of times - and queerness, with a lot of humor, power, sensuality, anger and so much passion. It feels like that's as deep as I can go in the way of commentary. But it has to be enough.
Language lives when you speak it. Let it be heard.
The worst thing that can happen to words is that they go unsaid.
Let them sing in your ears and dance in your mouth and ache in your guts. Let them make everything tighten and shine.
Poetry trembles alone, only picked up to be taken apart.
On souls
Who are not used to feeling whole.
They tangle limbs and feel the shudders,
All the world is nothing.
Lovers:
Promising each other not to take the vital parts,
While even as they mutter it, they’re giving up their hearts.
For something I randomly picked on my audiobook app, this was pretty much amazing. Just not having the words to describe what an intense experience listening to this was. I have to insist that if you want to read this, listen to the audio narrated by Tempest - sometimes they sing out, and the result is so melodic and beautiful. Yeah, the performance is just amazing.
Before I had music and rhyming,
I was too big and I walked like a boy,
and I was too soft for the school that I went to
and I was too smart and it made her suspicious.
I had to be tenderised.
There's a lot of exploration of gender identity - the arguably main 'character' of this collection, Tiresias, shifts genders a bunch of times - and queerness, with a lot of humor, power, sensuality, anger and so much passion. It feels like that's as deep as I can go in the way of commentary. But it has to be enough.
Language lives when you speak it. Let it be heard.
The worst thing that can happen to words is that they go unsaid.
Let them sing in your ears and dance in your mouth and ache in your guts. Let them make everything tighten and shine.
Poetry trembles alone, only picked up to be taken apart.
December 4, 2023
Powerful poetry. Intense rhythm. Hard truths.
It all felt so, real.
Reflections on gender, age, love, losing innocence, holding your own in this life to be yourself and find happiness.
What it means to be a woman, a man, both and none. How society wants us all to conform and how some get bullied for not doing it. The loneliness of feeling and thinking differently. The knowledge that with "some alike minds" we can be alone together.
"These Things I know", my absolute favorite poem of the collection.
"Language lives when you speak it. Let it be heard. The worst thing that can happen to words is that they go unsaid."
How sadly true. Some unsaid words will weight you down all your life, wishing you had spoken them. To be brave and speak up. Sometimes, a mere wish.
It all felt so, real.
Reflections on gender, age, love, losing innocence, holding your own in this life to be yourself and find happiness.
What it means to be a woman, a man, both and none. How society wants us all to conform and how some get bullied for not doing it. The loneliness of feeling and thinking differently. The knowledge that with "some alike minds" we can be alone together.
"These Things I know", my absolute favorite poem of the collection.
"Language lives when you speak it. Let it be heard. The worst thing that can happen to words is that they go unsaid."
How sadly true. Some unsaid words will weight you down all your life, wishing you had spoken them. To be brave and speak up. Sometimes, a mere wish.
November 3, 2016
"She would piece herself together
Like some relic found in ash and clay,
A precious, ancient necklace.
When she was complete again,
She’d wolfwalk into town.
And drink down every wave that came
To break her spirits down.
She was wild and wonderful.
A star throughout the district.
A red light dreadnought.
Queen among misfits."
Like some relic found in ash and clay,
A precious, ancient necklace.
When she was complete again,
She’d wolfwalk into town.
And drink down every wave that came
To break her spirits down.
She was wild and wonderful.
A star throughout the district.
A red light dreadnought.
Queen among misfits."
January 15, 2020
2.5*
oh... I really thought this would be good, judging by the number of positive reviews it got here. I feel like this collection would be suited for someone who's around 15, edgy, and not particularly interested in poetry, or just getting into it. her mythological reinterpretations ruined it all for me, though the rest of the poems weren't great either; pretentious as this may sound, I did find them far too simplistic, cheesy & superficial, though I'd expected Kate Tempest to differ from rupi kaur and the whole lot of commercial Instapoets...
here's a poem I did enjoy, though:
My family are worried.
Me and my dad are fighting with our hands.
My sisters can't reach me.
I've stopped coming home at night.
I've dropped out of school to sit around and laugh at people.
Waiting in the pool room for the Triad with the coke, walking through the rain with a bar of hash strapped to my chest, I feel like punching every stranger in the face.
My friends pass me the laughing gas.
When other kids throw parties, they hope that we won't come.
When I meet her, she is just like me.
I wake before her and start drinking.
She sees me at the foot of her bed,
Smoking skunk out of her window,
watching all the chaos come to life below us.
And she whispers things I've never heard a person say.
When we walk down the street holding hands grown men stuff theirs down their jeans and stare openly.
Groups of boys follow us to ask her why she's with me.
When we stand kissing at a party,
a man we've never met
grips the back of both our heads
and sticks his tongue into our mouths.
When the rumours start
I don't believe them.
Before her there were things that I trusted.
But now there is a loneliness so deep it sends me foetal.
And dark endless raves where she makes us both a spectacle and all I want all the friends I've lost, the certainty of knowing I have nothing.
(Sixteen)
oh... I really thought this would be good, judging by the number of positive reviews it got here. I feel like this collection would be suited for someone who's around 15, edgy, and not particularly interested in poetry, or just getting into it. her mythological reinterpretations ruined it all for me, though the rest of the poems weren't great either; pretentious as this may sound, I did find them far too simplistic, cheesy & superficial, though I'd expected Kate Tempest to differ from rupi kaur and the whole lot of commercial Instapoets...
here's a poem I did enjoy, though:
My family are worried.
Me and my dad are fighting with our hands.
My sisters can't reach me.
I've stopped coming home at night.
I've dropped out of school to sit around and laugh at people.
Waiting in the pool room for the Triad with the coke, walking through the rain with a bar of hash strapped to my chest, I feel like punching every stranger in the face.
My friends pass me the laughing gas.
When other kids throw parties, they hope that we won't come.
When I meet her, she is just like me.
I wake before her and start drinking.
She sees me at the foot of her bed,
Smoking skunk out of her window,
watching all the chaos come to life below us.
And she whispers things I've never heard a person say.
When we walk down the street holding hands grown men stuff theirs down their jeans and stare openly.
Groups of boys follow us to ask her why she's with me.
When we stand kissing at a party,
a man we've never met
grips the back of both our heads
and sticks his tongue into our mouths.
When the rumours start
I don't believe them.
Before her there were things that I trusted.
But now there is a loneliness so deep it sends me foetal.
And dark endless raves where she makes us both a spectacle and all I want all the friends I've lost, the certainty of knowing I have nothing.
(Sixteen)
March 26, 2017
Die Gedichte von Kate Tempest haben im Original einen guten flow, man merkt den musikalischen Background. In der Übersetzung kommt das nicht so gut rüber, da man auf einige Reime verzichten muss. Die Zweisprachigkeit der Ausgabe ist hier ein echter Gewinn.
April 1, 2020
Wow. I thought and try reading out of my comfort zone. I never pick up poetry, not even sure why. But boy was I wrong not to! Kate Tempest's voice spoke, or rather screamed, right into my heart. I loved it !
January 20, 2024
Mükemmel.
April 28, 2021
Kate Tempests zweiter Gedichtband "Hold Your Own" beginnt mit dem Langgedicht "Tiresias".
Nach den ersten Seiten dachte ich "Hm, okay. Wenn das nun so weitergeht... 😒".
Also erstmal schnell im Internet nach Teiresias gesucht, den ersten Text nochmal gelesen und dann hat es Klick gemacht. 🧨 Die antike Figur des Teiresias und das, was Kate Tempest daraus in ihrem Gedichtband gemacht hat, faszinierten mich auf einmal. ☺
Laut griechischer Mythologie war Teiresias (kurz gefasst) ein blinder Prophet, der sowohl Mann als auch Frau und schließlich wieder Mann war, in einer Streitfrage gegenüber Hera und Zeus die Wahrheit sprach und dafür bestraft wurde. Er gilt nicht nur als unfehlbarer Seher, sondern verkörpert ebenso die geschlechtliche Ambivalenz.
Kate Tempest überträgt ziemlich kreativ den Lebenslauf Teiresias in die aktuelle Zeit und nimmt uns mit durch die Stationen Kindheit, Frausein, Mannsein und Greissein mit all den Erlebnissen, Empfindungen, Fragen und Unsicherheiten, die das jeweilige Sein begleitet. Teiresias wird dabei zu einer Symbolfigur der Selbstsuche und des titelgebenden Sich-Behauptens.
Kate Tempest ist vor allem als Rapperin bekannt. Ihre Sprache ist direkt, auch etwas "rotzig". Der Rhythmus ihrer Worte reißt einen – jedenfalls im englischen Original – automatisch mit. Die direkt gegenüberstehende Übertragung von Johanna Wange ins Deutsche (sicherlich keine dankbare Aufgabe!) ist zum Textverständnis hilfreich, aber leider ohne diesen besonderen Zauber.
Und wie es so treffend in einem Gedicht heißt "Language lives when you speak it. Let it be heard.", kann ich euch sehr empfehlen Kate Tempest und ihrer starken Stimme z. B. einmal auf youtube zuzuhören.
Nach den ersten Seiten dachte ich "Hm, okay. Wenn das nun so weitergeht... 😒".
Also erstmal schnell im Internet nach Teiresias gesucht, den ersten Text nochmal gelesen und dann hat es Klick gemacht. 🧨 Die antike Figur des Teiresias und das, was Kate Tempest daraus in ihrem Gedichtband gemacht hat, faszinierten mich auf einmal. ☺
Laut griechischer Mythologie war Teiresias (kurz gefasst) ein blinder Prophet, der sowohl Mann als auch Frau und schließlich wieder Mann war, in einer Streitfrage gegenüber Hera und Zeus die Wahrheit sprach und dafür bestraft wurde. Er gilt nicht nur als unfehlbarer Seher, sondern verkörpert ebenso die geschlechtliche Ambivalenz.
Kate Tempest überträgt ziemlich kreativ den Lebenslauf Teiresias in die aktuelle Zeit und nimmt uns mit durch die Stationen Kindheit, Frausein, Mannsein und Greissein mit all den Erlebnissen, Empfindungen, Fragen und Unsicherheiten, die das jeweilige Sein begleitet. Teiresias wird dabei zu einer Symbolfigur der Selbstsuche und des titelgebenden Sich-Behauptens.
Kate Tempest ist vor allem als Rapperin bekannt. Ihre Sprache ist direkt, auch etwas "rotzig". Der Rhythmus ihrer Worte reißt einen – jedenfalls im englischen Original – automatisch mit. Die direkt gegenüberstehende Übertragung von Johanna Wange ins Deutsche (sicherlich keine dankbare Aufgabe!) ist zum Textverständnis hilfreich, aber leider ohne diesen besonderen Zauber.
Und wie es so treffend in einem Gedicht heißt "Language lives when you speak it. Let it be heard.", kann ich euch sehr empfehlen Kate Tempest und ihrer starken Stimme z. B. einmal auf youtube zuzuhören.
March 23, 2024
Rhyme can be good!
February 19, 2021
I've been wanting to read more poetry recently, so when my sister asked me if I wanted to borrow this collection I jumped at the chance. And then couldn't put it down. At all.
The anthology centres on the character of Tiresias, a blind prophet from Greek mythology who served Apollo, but there's also significant focus on human nature and empathy. The collection is split into four sections: childhood, womanhood, manhood, and blind prophet.
Kae Tempest's writing style is nothing short of phenomenal. Their words are so evocative of different emotions that it seems like they've lived all the lives they're writing about. They has the ability to express feelings I've had in vivid detail more eloquently than I could. Reading their poetry is like talking to a friend about a situation you both experienced. They understand. Every stanza is infused with such feeling that I found my own feelings resonating with them - I chuckled out loud, I teared up, and smiled wryly.
The rhythm too is so intense in certain poems that it felt like my heart was pumping faster in time to the beat. It's easy to tell that Tempest started out as a rapper and spoken word poet because some of their poems lend themselves so fluidly to the slam style that I found myself reading them out loud.
I really liked the womanhood collection and found it very powerful, but there were other poems that just spoke to me. My favourite was probably These things I know from the Manhood section.
Here are just a few lines (not in chronological order):
Language lives when you speak it. Let it be heard.
The worst thing that can happen to words is that they go unsaid.
Let them sing in your ears and dance in your mouth and ache in your guts. Let them make everything tighten and shine.
It's as much about instinct as it is about intellect
And if you feel it, it's alive.
Let it be magic.
These are not engines we're making.
It's OK to feel alone.
Usually you are.
That's what poetry's for.
It's good to care about things so much you feel exhausted.
Don't read women's magazines. They're bad for your stomach.
And the poem Tiresias. It's epic poetry. It's 24 sides long and absolutely stunning. This is just one stanza:
When she was complete again,
She'd wolfwalk into town.
And drink down every wave that came
To break her spirits down.
She was wild and wonderful
A star throughout the district.
A red light dreadnought.
Queen among misfits.
Kae Tempest makes me want to write poetry that instigates feeling in others the way they instigated it in me.
The anthology centres on the character of Tiresias, a blind prophet from Greek mythology who served Apollo, but there's also significant focus on human nature and empathy. The collection is split into four sections: childhood, womanhood, manhood, and blind prophet.
Kae Tempest's writing style is nothing short of phenomenal. Their words are so evocative of different emotions that it seems like they've lived all the lives they're writing about. They has the ability to express feelings I've had in vivid detail more eloquently than I could. Reading their poetry is like talking to a friend about a situation you both experienced. They understand. Every stanza is infused with such feeling that I found my own feelings resonating with them - I chuckled out loud, I teared up, and smiled wryly.
The rhythm too is so intense in certain poems that it felt like my heart was pumping faster in time to the beat. It's easy to tell that Tempest started out as a rapper and spoken word poet because some of their poems lend themselves so fluidly to the slam style that I found myself reading them out loud.
I really liked the womanhood collection and found it very powerful, but there were other poems that just spoke to me. My favourite was probably These things I know from the Manhood section.
Here are just a few lines (not in chronological order):
Language lives when you speak it. Let it be heard.
The worst thing that can happen to words is that they go unsaid.
Let them sing in your ears and dance in your mouth and ache in your guts. Let them make everything tighten and shine.
It's as much about instinct as it is about intellect
And if you feel it, it's alive.
Let it be magic.
These are not engines we're making.
It's OK to feel alone.
Usually you are.
That's what poetry's for.
It's good to care about things so much you feel exhausted.
Don't read women's magazines. They're bad for your stomach.
And the poem Tiresias. It's epic poetry. It's 24 sides long and absolutely stunning. This is just one stanza:
When she was complete again,
She'd wolfwalk into town.
And drink down every wave that came
To break her spirits down.
She was wild and wonderful
A star throughout the district.
A red light dreadnought.
Queen among misfits.
Kae Tempest makes me want to write poetry that instigates feeling in others the way they instigated it in me.
January 16, 2019
Hold Your Own is a sharp book of poems inspired by the myth of the prophet Tiresias, who lived as a man, then woman, then man again, before being struck blind by Hera and then given the gift of prophecy by Zeus. The myth gives Tempest fertile ground to run on, though she hardly needs more than herself.
This is feminist poetry in the most basic form of feminism, focusing on equality and empathy. Both the female and male perspectives are gut wrenching in their sense of emotional turmoil. This collection is making me look inward to find what she's talking about. It's making me examine my relationship with myself, my romantic relationship, and my relationship with my immediate community.
I'm going to have to read this again. And write some quotes down in pretty handwriting to stick on my desk, maybe my mirror. And send the book to a friend. And read it again. And somewhere in there I'll defy a few oppressive social constructs.
This is feminist poetry in the most basic form of feminism, focusing on equality and empathy. Both the female and male perspectives are gut wrenching in their sense of emotional turmoil. This collection is making me look inward to find what she's talking about. It's making me examine my relationship with myself, my romantic relationship, and my relationship with my immediate community.
I'm going to have to read this again. And write some quotes down in pretty handwriting to stick on my desk, maybe my mirror. And send the book to a friend. And read it again. And somewhere in there I'll defy a few oppressive social constructs.
April 27, 2017
Mooie bundel, meer een verhaal in gedichten.
Favoriete gedichten: Thirteen (p. 31), The Point (p. 79), Sixteen (p. 35-36), What we lose (p. 57)
"Before her there were things that I trusted
But now there is a loneliness so deep it sends me foetal
And dark endless reves where she makes us both a spectacle
and all I want are the friend I've lost,
the certainty of knowing I have nothing."
"Although there's beauty everywhere,
its shadow is regret.
Still, something in the coming dusk
whispers not to fret
Don't matter that we'll lose today.
It's not tomorrow yet."
Favoriete gedichten: Thirteen (p. 31), The Point (p. 79), Sixteen (p. 35-36), What we lose (p. 57)
"Before her there were things that I trusted
But now there is a loneliness so deep it sends me foetal
And dark endless reves where she makes us both a spectacle
and all I want are the friend I've lost,
the certainty of knowing I have nothing."
"Although there's beauty everywhere,
its shadow is regret.
Still, something in the coming dusk
whispers not to fret
Don't matter that we'll lose today.
It's not tomorrow yet."
September 8, 2018
Videorecensione: https://youtu.be/5XTJtq8S1tQ
July 27, 2021
4.5 probably the best poetry book i'll read this year.
It's not that i'm not a fan of free verse, but usually i see myself more draw to more complex estrutures, like sonets and whatnot, feeling that they're more worth of admiration. This ends here.
Tempest deserves all the praise for compiling such a coehesive work, at the same time so particular and universal with a beautifully layed out mithology background. For most of the book, the poems progress in such a beautifull way and really only gets better at each part and theme. I found myself repeating some verses, and then entire poems like "Fine, thanks".
Definetly this will not be the last time i'll be reading this author.
Poetry trembles alone, only picked up to be taken apart.
It's not that i'm not a fan of free verse, but usually i see myself more draw to more complex estrutures, like sonets and whatnot, feeling that they're more worth of admiration. This ends here.
Tempest deserves all the praise for compiling such a coehesive work, at the same time so particular and universal with a beautifully layed out mithology background. For most of the book, the poems progress in such a beautifull way and really only gets better at each part and theme. I found myself repeating some verses, and then entire poems like "Fine, thanks".
Definetly this will not be the last time i'll be reading this author.
Poetry trembles alone, only picked up to be taken apart.
August 5, 2020
Neen, niet elk gedicht in deze bundel is alle sterren waard. Jammer genoeg vind ik de bundel zelfs zwakker worden naar het einde toe, maar ook dan is hij nog absoluut lezenswaardig.
De bundel staat wel vol met zes, zelfs zeven sterren waardige dichtregels en de eerste helft is onwaarschijnlijk sterk.
In sommige gedichten voel je de beat en hoor je de ritmische stem van Tempest bijna fysiek de dichtregels proclameren.
Een bundel die existentieel en zinnelijk is en vlijmscherpe maatschappij kritiek combineert met tijdloze relevantie. En dat allemaal toegankelijk en swingend. Straf. Heel straf.
De bundel staat wel vol met zes, zelfs zeven sterren waardige dichtregels en de eerste helft is onwaarschijnlijk sterk.
In sommige gedichten voel je de beat en hoor je de ritmische stem van Tempest bijna fysiek de dichtregels proclameren.
Een bundel die existentieel en zinnelijk is en vlijmscherpe maatschappij kritiek combineert met tijdloze relevantie. En dat allemaal toegankelijk en swingend. Straf. Heel straf.
April 1, 2021
3,5.
Slimme, moderne versie van de Tiresias-mythe. Interessante, doorleefde gedichten over gender en bijhorende stereotiepen. Maar een wat wisselvallige bundel, vooral de gedichten over Tempests schooltijd vond ik de anekdote niet overstijgen. Een aangename kennismaking met het werk van Kae Tempest op papier. Ik ken hun werk als muzikante en performer nog niet goed maar ik ben nu wel getriggerd om me er in te verdiepen. Daarnaast: mooie, rijke vertaling.
Slimme, moderne versie van de Tiresias-mythe. Interessante, doorleefde gedichten over gender en bijhorende stereotiepen. Maar een wat wisselvallige bundel, vooral de gedichten over Tempests schooltijd vond ik de anekdote niet overstijgen. Een aangename kennismaking met het werk van Kae Tempest op papier. Ik ken hun werk als muzikante en performer nog niet goed maar ik ben nu wel getriggerd om me er in te verdiepen. Daarnaast: mooie, rijke vertaling.
February 8, 2022
I only enjoyed the first poem because it is very memorable, whereas I cannot for the life of me even tell you about the other poems on here (that's how poetry is for me, just flies over my head)
March 21, 2018
2,5*
The first poem was amazing, a 5 stars for me. I was hoping they would all follow the same structure, but most of the following poems didn't connect to me, and some I found completely indiferent, unfortunately.
The first poem was amazing, a 5 stars for me. I was hoping they would all follow the same structure, but most of the following poems didn't connect to me, and some I found completely indiferent, unfortunately.
October 11, 2023
"Lovers: Promising each other not to take the vital parts / While even as they mutter it, they're giving up their hearts."
I find it incredibly hard to form on opinion on these poems – there were passages that felt hard-hitting and emotionally charged, others left me either completely puzzled or worse: bored.
Hold Your Own is a collection of poetry by the British spoken word performer Kae Tempest. Here, they explore gender and youth, sex and love as well as a sense of belonging and alienation. There are four sequences, titled childhood, manhood, womanhood and blind profit.
I loved the fact that this was concept-driven. It's ultimately what made me pick this up: all the poems are structured around the story of Tiresias, a blind prophet. In Greek Mythology, he one day disturbs two copulating snakes in a forest and is punished by the goddess Hera, who turns the man into a woman. Tempest uses this scenario to explore what it means to feel strange in your own body and what difference it makes to be either a man or woman. Six years after the publication of this, the author came out as non-binary as well, proving that their chosen subject matter was a highly personal one, but it's also highly relatable to anyone who ever had any growing up to do, as this reads like coming-of-age-poetry.
There's a heaviness and a frustration to these poems. While Tempest also explores potentially lovely scenarios such as falling in love, they are quick to tackle the darker sides of things. I'm impressed with how broad and big their subjects were, while the words were mostly simple – almost prosaic, Tempest writes sharply and to the point. And yet, there's a lot of struggle in here: not feeling comfortable in your body, feeling like you're exposing yourself too much in a relationship, sensing danger by opening up to others. There's also a lot of talk about stereotypes, which clearly infuriate Tempest:
"The boys have football and skate ramps. They can ride BMX and play basketball in the courts by the flats until midnight. The girls have shame."
I'm a bit confused about her using the term tranny bar – is this meant to be subversive? Or was this not as problematic in 2014? That sort of ambiguity doesn't work well in written poetry I guess, so instead I'll leave you with my probably favourite line of the collection. Although simple, I feel like it hits the nail on the head when it comes to that idea of you losing your sense of magic when you become an adult:
"When I was young I could speak to animals, these days I don't know what to say."
I find it incredibly hard to form on opinion on these poems – there were passages that felt hard-hitting and emotionally charged, others left me either completely puzzled or worse: bored.
Hold Your Own is a collection of poetry by the British spoken word performer Kae Tempest. Here, they explore gender and youth, sex and love as well as a sense of belonging and alienation. There are four sequences, titled childhood, manhood, womanhood and blind profit.
I loved the fact that this was concept-driven. It's ultimately what made me pick this up: all the poems are structured around the story of Tiresias, a blind prophet. In Greek Mythology, he one day disturbs two copulating snakes in a forest and is punished by the goddess Hera, who turns the man into a woman. Tempest uses this scenario to explore what it means to feel strange in your own body and what difference it makes to be either a man or woman. Six years after the publication of this, the author came out as non-binary as well, proving that their chosen subject matter was a highly personal one, but it's also highly relatable to anyone who ever had any growing up to do, as this reads like coming-of-age-poetry.
There's a heaviness and a frustration to these poems. While Tempest also explores potentially lovely scenarios such as falling in love, they are quick to tackle the darker sides of things. I'm impressed with how broad and big their subjects were, while the words were mostly simple – almost prosaic, Tempest writes sharply and to the point. And yet, there's a lot of struggle in here: not feeling comfortable in your body, feeling like you're exposing yourself too much in a relationship, sensing danger by opening up to others. There's also a lot of talk about stereotypes, which clearly infuriate Tempest:
"The boys have football and skate ramps. They can ride BMX and play basketball in the courts by the flats until midnight. The girls have shame."
I'm a bit confused about her using the term tranny bar – is this meant to be subversive? Or was this not as problematic in 2014? That sort of ambiguity doesn't work well in written poetry I guess, so instead I'll leave you with my probably favourite line of the collection. Although simple, I feel like it hits the nail on the head when it comes to that idea of you losing your sense of magic when you become an adult:
"When I was young I could speak to animals, these days I don't know what to say."
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