#BookReview: Tableau Vivant by Amanda Butler

I love supporting my fellow writer friends so when I found out that my friend from college Amanda not only graduated with a BA in English but recently published a book, I was stoked to read her work and purchase her book.

Although I was a little surprised when I got the book, I should clear up what a chapbook is:

A chapbook is a small collection of poetry, generally no more than 40 pages, that often centers on a specific theme, such as exotic foods or wild animals or Justin Bieber. It’s typically saddle-stitched (like a pamphlet or magazine) and is a format well suited to smaller print-runs.

Butler sticks to the theme of “Tableau Vivant,” which is defined as:

a silent and motionless group of people arranged to represent a scene or incident.

Notable poems in the chapbook are “The Underwold is Hosting a Ball,” which reminded me of a Panic at the Disco song with its imagery, theme, and rhyme scheme.

“Womanperson”: The opening stanza is a greatly loaded question for womanhood, “Which are more important: the petals or the roots?”

“Self-sunset” Is a metaphorical take on watching a chapter close in one’s life and hoping for bigger things in the future.

“SOS to the Universe” is my favorite poem in the collection because it uses the metaphor of the woman speaker of the poem seeing herself as a flower expected to petal:

“what to say, how to act, how to dress, how to address serendipity, how to stand alone in a room of full capacity.

Is any flower afraid to bloom? ” Love this line because it once again showcases how we as women are seen in society as weak little flowers but we aren’t allowed to fear the becoming of our petals.

For more information on how to purchase Amanda Butler’s Chapbook, or to read her interview about the writing process behind her chapbook, Tableau Vivant, please go here.

You can also follow Amanda on Twitter.