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Red: Poetry & Prose
Mira Hadlow’s highly anticipated second book is nothing short of a battle cry. This unapologetic collection of poetry explores themes of sexual assault, power, and the anguish that accompanies the road to healing. Red leaves no stone unturned in the search for inner peace. Mira Hadlow takes the reader on an emotional journey from trauma to a place of profound power, and shines a light into the darkest places of the soul.
From the
In our culture, the imagery around every facet of femininity, abuse, trauma, shame, healing, and power, especially within the societal constructs of rape culture and purity culture has one thing in it is overwhelmingly red.
From Eve’s forbidden fruit, to Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, to Amsterdam’s Red Light districts, red serves as a patriarchal symbol of shame, and as a warning to disobedient and immoral women. Red manifests as naïveté to Snow White and her poisoned apple, and it arrives as adventure to Dorothy and her ruby slippers. Songwriters employ red dresses and red lips as objects of desire, and artists lean on red-hued themes in much of the art inspired by feminism, abuse, and generational curses.
Red is everywhere.
The more we notice the use of this imagery, the more we notice a kind of segmentation that happens. There is a clear line of demarcation between red employed as power, and red employed as weakness - especially as it pertains to trauma and healing. Trauma survivors are subjected to categorization in one of two they are pigeonholed as either victim or victor, and those categories are largely mutually exclusive.
If we look to our own experiences with trauma, we often find that it is all in varying shades of red, but that it is impossible to categorize ourselves as either victim or victor. There is no boundary line. We are not one or the other; we are both.
Red is an invitation to embrace every facet of your journey, and to reject the notion that you need to choose between honouring pain and being victorious over it.
Nothing is ever just one thing.
From the
In our culture, the imagery around every facet of femininity, abuse, trauma, shame, healing, and power, especially within the societal constructs of rape culture and purity culture has one thing in it is overwhelmingly red.
From Eve’s forbidden fruit, to Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, to Amsterdam’s Red Light districts, red serves as a patriarchal symbol of shame, and as a warning to disobedient and immoral women. Red manifests as naïveté to Snow White and her poisoned apple, and it arrives as adventure to Dorothy and her ruby slippers. Songwriters employ red dresses and red lips as objects of desire, and artists lean on red-hued themes in much of the art inspired by feminism, abuse, and generational curses.
Red is everywhere.
The more we notice the use of this imagery, the more we notice a kind of segmentation that happens. There is a clear line of demarcation between red employed as power, and red employed as weakness - especially as it pertains to trauma and healing. Trauma survivors are subjected to categorization in one of two they are pigeonholed as either victim or victor, and those categories are largely mutually exclusive.
If we look to our own experiences with trauma, we often find that it is all in varying shades of red, but that it is impossible to categorize ourselves as either victim or victor. There is no boundary line. We are not one or the other; we are both.
Red is an invitation to embrace every facet of your journey, and to reject the notion that you need to choose between honouring pain and being victorious over it.
Nothing is ever just one thing.
- GenresPoetry
Kindle Edition
Published October 7, 2022
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About the author
Mira Hadlow
3 books27 followersMira Hadlow is a Canadian poet and writer whose work explores grief, resilience, womanhood, and the quiet spaces where survival remakes us. After losing her hearing in adulthood, she turned to writing as a way to rebuild her world from the inside out. Her voice is known for its clarity, vulnerability, and unflinching honesty.
She is the author of three poetry collections—As Muses Burn, Red, and Nearly—as well as a contributor to multiple anthologies. Her work often centers the unheard and the overlooked, driven by a belief that truth-telling is a form of reclamation.
When she isn’t writing, Mira can usually be found renovating something, misplacing her coffee for the forty-seventh time, or challenging whatever authority figure wandered too close.
She is the author of three poetry collections—As Muses Burn, Red, and Nearly—as well as a contributor to multiple anthologies. Her work often centers the unheard and the overlooked, driven by a belief that truth-telling is a form of reclamation.
When she isn’t writing, Mira can usually be found renovating something, misplacing her coffee for the forty-seventh time, or challenging whatever authority figure wandered too close.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 1, 2025
rtc.
this was such a beautiful connection of so many things it deserves a sit down at a computer to really share the essence of this poetry.
this was such a beautiful connection of so many things it deserves a sit down at a computer to really share the essence of this poetry.
July 21, 2024
Very powerful words
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews