Take Care

by Eunice Andrada

TAKE CARE explores what it means to survive within systems not designed for tenderness. Bound in personal testimony, the poems situate the act of rape within the machinery of imperialism, where human and non-human bodies, lands, and waters are violated to uphold colonial powers. Andrada explores the magnitude of rape culture in the everyday: from justice systems that dehumanise survivors, to exploitative care industries that deny Filipina workers their agency, to nationalist monuments that erase the sexual violence of war.

Unsparing in their interrogation of the gendered, racialised labour of care, the poems flow to a radical, liberatory syntax. Physical and online terrain meld into a surreal ecosystem of speakers, creatures, and excavated histories. Brimming with incantatory power, Andrada’s verses move between breathless candour and seething restraint as they navigate memory and possibility. Piercing the heart of our cultural crisis, these poems are salves, offerings, and warnings.

Genres: Poetry, Australia, Nonfiction, Feminism

82 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2021

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I write the poem so it lives outside my body"
This is an extraordinary collection. I've been reading more poetry lately, and much of it hits me in the head, and others in the feels, but this is the first in many months that hit me hard in both. This is poetry that needs to be written and needs to be heard.
Andrada's words fall soft sometimes and harder at others but always land with emotion. She excels at the short story in a few lines "Tita throws a party in Ming-ao./It doesn't matter what anyone wears./The soldiers come down from the base/to get drunk". Through the volume, Andrada explores elements of Pinoy experience - especially with rape - but also with work migration, celebration and family.
The Anthropocene-themed "Instead of finding water" destroyed me. It's too long to quote without republishing, but on the line "I was going to make myself/Last" it got more than a little dusty in the room. (This is a feat, as it is a poem partly about mangoes, which I loath). I can't wait to read more Andrada, and while this volume has been described as devastating, it reads like an act of love as well as a cry for change.
"I write the poem to bury the endings"

[edmondegreen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book.

[ValTheBookEater]

loved the concept, the sections and of course, the title because I constantly message "take care".

I think I once read this but being reminded that the NSW police sexual assault report form includes the question 'describe you hair' was so disappointing.

My favourite poems were : Echolalia, Pipeline Polyptych, Subtle Asian Traits, Nature Is Healing, Uninhabitable, Don't you hate it when women, I Write The Poem, Living Sequence, and Etymology of Care.

[Declan Fry]

Eunice Andrada's second poetry collection is a meditation on the ethics of care. I loved seeing the inclusion of Tagalog language in the book (tsinelas, balikbayan box; familial terms like tita and lola), the memorable presentation of the 'Comfort' sequence; the sardonic humour of 'Don't you hate it when women', which goes from "kill the herbs on the windowsill /devote their year's salary to take-out" to "kill the cop / the colonizer / the capitalist / living rent-free in their heads / demolish the altar built on their backs / without blame /walk away." There is a sense of hard-bitten wisdom throughout this collection. Rising above it all — and putting that rising into words — Andrada provides clarity: "There are things we must kill / so we can live to celebrate."

Review originally published here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-0...

[James Whitmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of blistering poetry begins with a poem titled Echolalia, a condition of unwillingly repeating sounds, and ends with Echolocation, a method of way-finding using sound. Sound as pathology; sound as possibility: Take Care explores these poles and the grey areas in between as Andrada investigates what sound (and, by extension, words) can do. That first poem begins with a scene of dynamite fishers on a coral reef, the fish rising stunned to the surface, their “airbladders honeycombed/by noise”. Later the poem alludes to an assault that will recur throughout the collection, a “full sentence” that “ruptures inside”, and the poet wishes her sound was more powerful, “I want the no to petrify movement”. Read more on my blog.

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of this poetry is about the violence of colonialism and about rape-culture (violence against women) but it's beautifully written albeit angry/sad (as it should be). Even when Andrada goes off in a different direction to write about insomnia or friendships or whatever...there is this lush deep word-forest.

I am a bit jealous of how good this is (the skill!) but also I am happy I read it and will reread. IDK how she's not more well known but maybe that's still going to happen.

[Elie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ultimately, this collections tries to do too much and spreads itself thin. The only way this collection has been summarised to me is with an array of buzzwords that ultimately have been stripped of their meaning and honestly after reading that’s the only way I can summarise it too.

[Lisa Collyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Fillipino women stop working.
Empires shut down in a tantrum,
refusing to care for themselves.
We do not go back to work.' @euniceandrada @giramondopublishing

We're not supposed to want vengeance!
This powerful and brilliant collection does not hold back on where blame lies for violence against Fillipino women, including colonial rape and the systems in place which continue to exploit. I was particularly taken with the poem on revenge as partly quoted above (this collection was borrowed from @joondaluplibrary)

At the same time, I re-read Laclos', Les Liaisons dangereuses and wrote a poem imagining women fighting a duel to restore honour; an avenue not readily available to them when offended, without it being denigrated to a cat fight! @dangerousliaisons

#joondaluplibrary #euniceandrada #tagalog #giramondopubishing #ausit #womenslit #filipinowomenslit #colonialviolence #laclos #dangeroousliaisons #duel #codeofhonour

[Natasha (jouljet) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short, sharp poems, ranging from being a woman in contemporary times, repatriation during these unprecedented times, bodily ruminations.

Playing with form, and visual spacing, exploring rape, the plight of comfort women.

Moody, confronting and challenging, a one sitting read that contains so much.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

'... No one calls for me

in the same timezone. Sometimes an old lover will ask where I am. Those who used force prefer not

to think of me. While I vigil, I doomscroll,
block myself from apps, then find another way back.' From Screen Time

[Lynde Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to process my emotions first before writing a coherent review.

[Vas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful collection of poetry. These poems are daring and dangerous, tender and love-fuelled at the same time.

[Genesis Mansilongan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting.
I cried at a couple of the poems and walked away possibly healed by some of them.
Thank you for this work.

[Patricia Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such bravado and experiential truth. Words that are thought of as negative becomes thought provoking and will make you think twice about putting politically correct words in ‘boxes’

[Naomi Cammayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting and delicate at the same time.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of these poems made me go WOAH. This poetry book is truly remarkable. Moving, tender, and so brave. I'll be re-reading this for a long time... #MeToo

[Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga · Rating 5 out of 5]

'...Just girls alone/ a few moments, all theirs' - from 'The Chismis on Warhol'

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of poems from Giramondo's always good poetry imprint. Andrada is a Filipina-Australian with a strong feminist sensibility.

[Maxine McEwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Gorgeous and heartbreaking.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection flowed wonderfully as a body of work. While there were few individual poems I would return to, I enjoyed its flow and impressive cohesion, something which is sometimes lacking in poetry collections. Nature is Healing, Vengeance Sequence, and I Write The Poem were my favourites.