girl, isolated: poems, notes on healing, etc.

by Trista Mateer

A poignant portrait of mental health struggles set against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, Trista Mateer's newest compilation of poetry and art crafted in quarantine hits almost too close to home. Mateer expertly pulls her feelings apart on the page over the course of a year and invites an audience to watch as she puts everything back together. girl, isolated as a collection is similar in its intent and theme to poetry books like When the World Didn't End by Caroline Kaufman and Where Hope Comes From by Nikita Gill.

"I am writing to you now because I am having a hell of a time / because I don't know what else to do / because the words are kindling / and the poem is a little fire holding back the dark."

Sometimes speaking to ex-lovers, sometimes speaking to herself, and sometimes speaking quite directly to the reader, the poems in girl, isolated offer the accessibility and comfort of a conversation between friends. A little over-sharing. A little pick-me-up. A little call-for-help. This collection is sure to resonate with anyone who's struggled with grief, anxiety, or depression. This collection short poems, long poems, truisms, doodles, mixed media art, script pieces, notes, thoughts, and an interactive journal section as well.

Genres: Poetry, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Contemporary, LGBT, Queer, Self Help

189 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2021

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.
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Her newest collection, Artemis Made Me Do It, is available for preorder now and releases in September 2022!

Reviews

[Morgan Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi. This was everything I wanted and more. Please read this.

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

This collection made me sad, in the best ways. It tapped into a lot of how I felt in the start of the pandemic and the feelings I have now as things are changing. Mateer writes poems that make you feel like you’re not alone. This collection broke my heart at times but in such a good way. I really loved this new collection.

[Issy · Rating 1 out of 5]

milk and honey style poetry that tries too hard. there were 1 or 2 mediocre poems and some cute tumblr-esque quotes i would have eaten up if i were 15, but otherwise lacking. i recognise and appreciate the poet’s vulnerability throughout, but the collection was really really not my style.

[Jessi ❤️ H. Vojsk [if villain, why hot?] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love is an act of creation
and you are the creator.
Wrap it in gold and ribbon.
Gift it to yourself.

[♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

🥀 I hope you still go outside to feel the sun but I also hope everyone stays six feet away from you ///
I am back in the town where we fell in love and every place we used to go is closed

🥀 Lonely is lonelier when you say it out loud and I’d swear by that
When I’m not checking to see if someone texted me I’m waiting to check
Passing time until I can look at the phone once again hoping I just missed the buzz

🥀 I CAN FEEL MY HEART GETTING HARDER AS WE SPEAK / IT HAS TO / HOW ELSE DO YOU SURVIVE

🥀 You touched me more than once with tenderness and I never mistook it for affection. I know the code of miserable people. I was the rat trap for your loneliness. And the rat. And the loneliness.

🥀 If there is a universe parallel to ours where time moves backwards, then that means I blinked into existence already in love with you there. That means things there remind me of you and I still don’t know why but one day I will. One day I will, because there is still a future there for us.
I am running toward a future there where we will collide brilliantly one day and everything will make sense all of a sudden. Why I already knew the sound of your laugh.
Why your name made me ache before I even met you. There will be time for us even if it’s backwards.
We will love each other very much and then be friends for a long time after that and then one day I’ll wake up and not remember you at all.
Which is to say, maybe that universe is a kinder one or at least a place where it is easier to let go. Because there I will forget, and here I have to carry love with me quietly forever.

🥀 I know I don’t feel like myself but I’m starting to forget what that felt like at all.

🥀 I try to write a poem about hope but
I try to write a poem
I try to write
I try

🥀 You’re going to be happy again. Your own delight is going to catch you so off guard one day. I don’t know when it’ll happen or how long it’ll take but that future where you’re loved and joyous, it’s waiting for you. And it’s content to wait. You don’t need to go chasing it down right now. It’ll find you. All you have to do now is rest. Breathe. Tend to yourself. You’ll find your way home.

[jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trista Mateer’s poetry has always, for me, come into my life at the perfect time. Girl, Isolated was no different.

The poetry encapsulated so much of how I was feeling, and also gave me the space I didn’t know I needed to reflect on those emotions. The reassurance in her writing is exactly what I needed. To know that everything might not feel great right now, but will eventually be okay later means the world to me.

The best way I can describe this collection is this: a warm hug welcoming you home from a cold day. Mateer’s poetry is warm socks straight from the dryer. It’s a journal entry you don’t stain with tears. It’s a hey, you’re not alone in moments where that is so, so needed.

Highly recommend this collection just to give yourself a moment to breathe and reflect. To collect the pieces of yourself you didn’t know had broken off behind you.

We’ll make it through this. And Girl, Isolated is a close friend to have along the way.

[Heather Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was everything I could’ve hoped for based on the description! It was so raw & so sad & a lot of the poems really reminded me of the confusing feelings I had during lockdown. A really great read for me :)

[Victoria]

I think I've read pretty much everything Trista Mateer has written and this new poetry book is one of my favs!

"Remember
The good doesn't have to outnumber the bad
It just has to be there"

[Larissa Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Caitlin Conlon]

anyone that’s been staying at home this past year, watching all of the lonelinesses pile up at once, will recognize the feelings expressed in this collection. this is a return to Mateer’s early work, when she could be found shouting into the tumblr void, while including the visual art and truisms she’s become so well known for on instagram. there’s a little something for everyone.

[S. Leann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not a big fan of poetry. Scratch that, I’m not a big fan of the classic type of poetry. I don’t relate to it and it’s a struggle for me to read things I don’t relate too. I’m happy that I found this book. Since we’re all living during the pandemic it’s helpful to know others our going through familiar feelings. The Taylor Swift mentions were chef’s kissed. Finished this in one setting.

[Deanna Blackburn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just blah. There were some good moments, but overall it felt chaotic and like it was trying too hard to be groundbreaking. I understand that the last year was a hard one, so I don't take that for granted, but this just wasn't it for me.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little difficult to read for someone very familiar with the topics of depression, grief, self-hate, heartbreak, suicidal tendencies and isolation. It was rather painful and then, it gradually changed into a healing type of versè. Two poems from the second half of the book just spoke to my soul, to my core- I loved those so, so much. And the drawings, the journal-like pages were simply great.

[Meghan L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Trista's best work, yet. It is raw and emotional and absolutely gorgeous. I related to many of the poems within, having had a different experience through the lockdown, but similar in many ways. She writes beautifully, That's not new. But, I think this collection opens something new from within her, and it was gut wrenching and stunning.

[Beccy · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book really killed me in the best possible ways. it summarizes the trauma that the pandemic gave us all, no matter where we come from and I don’t know, I feel like this was a mirror held up in front of me saying “look, maybe you’re not as okay as you thought you were”
I feel like everyone should read this

[Cailyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you were a sad girl during the pandemic and maybe still are for all the things lost, but want to feel alive again, Read this! It has beautiful illustrations and interactive type pages which I wasn’t expecting but enjoyed so so much. The whole experience felt very cathartic. Can not express how much I loved this poetry.

[Brianna Noelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flashback to Quarantine

Written through the bulk of the Covid-19 pandemic and quarantine, this book compiles a collection of rants, poems, doodles, and musings and transports you right back to that time. So many of these feelings were relatable and it talked a lot about mental health during that time period. This was a great collectipn

[Fay Pretty · Rating 5 out of 5]

it’s not always people you lose. when the flood comes, it comes for everything.

Written during a year of the pandemic, ‘girl, isolated’, is a personal reflection on a collective year of trauma and loneliness.

I often state in my reviews of poetry collections that poetry is personal. No one person reads the same book, we each can only interpret words, settings, metaphors and experiences upon our reflection. Never is this truer than in poetry.

Mateer takes on a journey, speaking to ‘the muse’ (classic Mateer) and sometimes speaking directly to the reader, other times even leaving space for the reader to add their own words. I loved this inclusion, both breaking the fourth wall and the space left. I love swapping poetry with my best friend, each time more and more covered in sticky notes from our notes and thoughts. Leaving space, and inviting the reader in feels like such an acknowledgement of connection and the power of words.

But I do hope if you’re not sure, but you’re interested, you take the dive anyway, you pick it up and give it ago. It’s worth it.

[Squid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could really relate to a lot of these poems. This book put what it felt like to be in quarantine into words perfectly. Reading this makes me want to read more poetry books and this on is free on KU.

[Rachel Nicole Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice

Really a lovely, relatable, beautiful collection of poetry that I enjoyed from the first poem to the last poem. Great work and really great editing to put together this collection. Love ❤️

Xo,
Rach

[catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

very quick read !! i read it in an hour
vulnerable and raw- written during the pandemic it really shows how the author deals with the loneliness and grief (as the main themes)
lovely, sad and very relatable
the only thing is that it’s very much typical modern contemporary poetry which personally isn’t my favourite but i can see how many others would like these poems!!! x

[Franzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'm going to buy two copies of this, one i can lend out and one i can scribble all my many many feelings in

[Tiffany S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Great pandemilovato poetry collection. Lots of sad. A little interactive. My highlights were numerous!

[Gigi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read 13th - 14th February 2023

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 - I have been embracing April being poetry month and I was not ready to read this book. Poems written during the pandemic, bringing so many feels that I had buried deep. Beautifully written.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh a lot of the poems weren’t that great but it still resonated with how I am feeling. If you aren’t somewhat depressed currently I would say skip this one.

[Madisen Kuhn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flew through this. So needed after this past year + very healing.

[Holly (The GrimDragon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It's hard to
make art
while the world
falls apart"

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a powerful collection! Many of Mateer's lines really resonated with me. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of her work.

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

"POET Hi. Hello.
MUSE Hey. Is this a bad time?
POET Yes."

As a general rule, I am not interested in engaging what I refer to as "pandemic art": books, TV, and movies written about the pandemic. I'm pretty sure I'll never want to watch a movie or TV show about this time in our lives, and the book would have to be extraordinary to get my attention on this topic. Trista Mateer, however, is my exception. As a long-time fan of her work, I was sure that she would write about the pandemic and quarantine times with her signature depth and intimacy. And I was right. She did.

"who can blame themselves for not being prolific during panic the good poems will come later god willing and everyone will just have to wait."

Saying girl, isolated is about the COVID-19 pandemic exclusively isn't quite right. It's about being a creative person alive and trying to make sense of the world during an unprecedented time. It's about isolation, loneliness, and trying to take care of yourself and heal in a time where everything in the world is on fire. It's a poetry collection about how we struggled in the last two years, how we were lonely, and how we tried to do the best we could. This is truly the poetry we need during the pandemic. And it's definitely the only "pandemic art" I am interested in.

"MUSE I don’t think you’re ready to write about it.
POET I’m not. But what else is there to do inside this room?
MUSE It’s going to come out wrong.
POET But it’s going to come out."

Like the rest of her work, I 100% recommend Trista Mateer's newest collection girl, isolated. It's absolutely necessary, essential poetry reading for the year 2021.