Intimacies, Received

by Taneum Bambrick

Intimacies, Received signals agency, as trauma is held to the light and finally named.

In this astonishing second collection by Taneum Bambrick, violence hides in the glint of the carving knife—every intimacy a shadow, every memory a maze to navigate. Set primarily in rural Southern Spain, Intimacies, Received moves through streets and fields, households and years, following a survivor of sexual assault as she painstakingly reassembles a narrative of self. A brilliant storyteller, Bambrick builds through palimpsest—layering vivid imagery to recall embodiment and dissociation, illness and isolation, queer female sexuality amidst acts of misogyny—utilizing varied forms including ekphrasis, persona, and a lyric essay. Ultimately, Intimacies, Received signals agency, as trauma is held to the light and finally named.

Genres: Poetry, LGBT

80 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2022

Reviews

[Ken]

In poetry, these are salad days for previously underrepresented voices such as LGBTQ, Blacks, writers from different cultures, and yes, women. In that sense, Taneum Bambrick’s book, Intimacies, Received (I trip over the comma) rides the wave in a few ways. As she directly states in one of her poems when recalling a stranger who asks what she does (“Write”), then what she writes about, she answers, “Gender and sexuality.”

Then she quickly second guesses her response, stating something that’s news to me--the term “sexuality” is chiefly used in academic settings alone, not in other settings, and especially not when conversing with an Uber driver (as she does in the poem).

Bambrick is also inspired to write by a traumatic past. She was raped at age 17 and has struggled with a general fear of straight men ever since. She has undergone therapy and had relationships with men and women alike since then, but if the poems are any indication, it hasn’t been easy. By that I mean, Intimacies, Received is an open book, even if you don't open it.

Capturing some of this zeitgeist is the following poem:


Fever

That winter—without hot water, without
a working furnace—I slept for two weeks,
waking to swallow Tylenol, to bite
at the crusts of one cheese pizza
my neighbor placed by the door for me.
Before my partner flew to Denmark with his family,
he brought the wrong medicine
saying my symptoms were like his baby’s
when he had the flu. That it would pass quickly,
and I wouldn’t need him. I stared off.
I lost the weight on the back
of my legs and saw triangles lift
across my tongue. This is for Maya who told
the doctor he diagnosed me wrong.
A pale green hospital room. She translated
blood test and kidney infection on her phone.
For Maya who canceled half a trip to cook
me carrots in butter, to sleep bent-legged
in my living room with her husband.
He doesn’t care for you, she said, come home with us.
For my partner, the best part of sex was resting
after: his hand on my head on his chest.
Heat traveling my lower abdomen.
I became immediately sick—my body,
like a friend, reacting against him.


There’s a nice variety of styles in the book—narrative, prose, lyrical, ekphrastic, long, short, etc. You won’t get bored. It’s almost diary-like in its frank openness, the kind of thing that makes your typical New Englander squirm (oh, we’ll write about yellow woods and mending walls all right, but sex at every turn?).

Here’s a quick send-off for further flavor:


On the Nightstand, A Bowl of Fabric Roses

Behind our apartment an old river
and, behind that, a field of hived bees.

From bed, a horse we could watch—freckled gray—
walking the circle permitted by a long leash.

Each morning a farmer came, hammering
the metal stake she was roped to a few feet over.

We were having sex when you asked if we could get married.
Because I waited to say yes, you stopped moving.

[Fredore Praltsa]

I came to this collection with high anticipation because I really liked the three poems Bambrick published in Poetry Mag. in 2022. (Lines from one of those: "In the yard there is a pile where the dead trees simmer / into coals and one rat scurries out. / My loneliness is its own boat full of the same multiplied rat." ... I mean like !!!). But I did not like Intimacies (which includes none of those three poems) very much. The specificity of language and abstention from banality and general wryness that help make those three poems so good are not present throughout this collection, which offers—unsarcastically, as far as I can tell—such lines as "there is no productivity in imagining the people of my lover's past." Many of the poems in Intimacies do, however, have superb pacing (incomplete sentences thrust the poems forward) and unsettling images (beetle tracks bored into tree bark, a pale green hospital room, two turkeys biting a barbed-wire fence)—both things which appear in her three Poetry Mag. poems as well. I'm excited for her next collection.

[Tori Thurmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bambrick is so good about leaning into the uncomfortable. This collection felt really tight and I enjoyed the numbered poems throughout the collection a lot. A also like that she’s not afraid to include essays in her poetry collections.

[Mack · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘twas not for me i’m sorry

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my more indifferent random poetry selections. It is set mostly in Southern Spain, and I was hoping for more of a “sense of place” sort of thing, but these poems’ primary focus is the author’s sexuality and relationships.
Not all that surprising, really, considering the title, right?
But she really, really goes into it, in great detail that just seems, well … too intimate? Like something that should be in someone’s private diary or something.
Not that it matters. A lot of poetry these days seems to be a sort of diary replacement for its creators.
Either way, the stylistic simplicity of these poems does convey a certain vividness of experience, but the language itself doesn’t wow. Neither does the collection for that matter. But it is a very quick read.

[carol · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not only the poetry is horrendous, it also has stereotypes towards Spain which are the most toxic thing I’ve ever encountered, the way she speaks about Spanish men is revolting (as if in the US they were better, making it seem that Spain is a kind of 3rd world country and it’s people too, revolting). I hate this and everything around it.

[James M · Rating 5 out of 5]

You would think a book about subject matter that’s this raw and sharp would be difficult to read. & yet, this book handles this material with such an extraordinary grace & wit that refuses to turn away from the messy in pursuit of the beautiful. Want a stunning poem about a series of UTIs? This is that book.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant and heart-wrenching collection that explores the deeper recesses of the human condition and the intricacies and nuances of broken trust in others, and the possibilities of healing thereafter — highly recommend!

[Julia Hannafin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw the author read in LA and bought the book -- their poems are beautiful, complicated, a teasing out of when to reveal oneself and how and why. Their way into the ultra-specific is generous and expansive. I loved it!

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is hauntingly beautiful. I found myself moving back and forth between the pages. Bambrick brings words to the page in a way that makes you present in in a way that almost feels intrusive.

[Nallely Jacqueline Luther · Rating 4 out of 5]

This piece of poetry really had me thinking and making sure I analyzed what I read after. There were times were I was lost with the authors wording but I have to say that I enjoyed this. It is not for the faint of heart so I would suggest to read up on trigger warnings!
4 stars 🌟

[Shawn Aebi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A set of memory poems - unclear if chronological or not as they seem to bounce back and forth. Focused on the impact of sexual violence and not the act itself - the detachment and healing process. Hints at cultural fissures.

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great poetry. About a woman trying to navigate life and a relationship wit a man years after rape.

Who was it who laughed when he said

All independent lesbian films end
With the lead going back to men.

More than love, I choose disappointment.

[Lizzie Knoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful prose by Bambrick.

[Vincent Antonio Rendoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivid, traumatic, and unforgettable.

[Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

much more narrative than many books of poetry tend to be; utterly beautiful and very well done.

[Allie Dulabaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like the long drawn out poems. I am sad to have been hurt like the many speakers and fear I will not have anything to say in class.

[abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

compact, deliberate, powerful, brought me to tears

[Zane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously.

[kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

- read this alone in the daily on a saturday night
- was a vibe

[Katrina B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it in one sitting and remember being riveted, but I remember none of the words after closing the book.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a little slow in the beginning but definitely worth the read towards the end. Although this book was not presented to me accurately, I’m glad I read it.

[Nevina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very touching and rather sad but in a beautiful way!

[rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

painful and truthful. bambrick beautifully crafts a narrative of trauma and intimacy that hits far too close to home.

[Julia Ziegler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one hurt.

[Lena Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is beauty in learning to name that which has dismantled you so thoroughly and to voice the juxtaposition of intimacy and its betrayal.

[Shira · Rating 4 out of 5]

reread and have much more complicated thoughts on this book than I did two years ago, funny how that happens! regardless, this book taught me a lot about stripping down language, precision, juxtaposition of image/interior--now, not only from what it does well, but from my own judgements on how I'd have tweaked this poem, or organized that section. crazy to mark this growth as a reader and writer

[Katherine Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tears, shed.

[emma]

“I could wait two years if you need. The cowboys in your country. If you don’t love me, please. There has never been anything like this.”

[Sara Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taneum Bambrick has such a way with language and situations. Every situation feels simultaneously literal and metaphorical. Every detail feels like the key to the poem.