Whatever, Iceberg

by Tara-Michelle Ziniuk

"What if love existed but you didn't have your notification settings turned on?" That is the first question Tara-Michelle Ziniuk asks in Whatever, Iceberg. The answer is a raucous portrait of love gone wrong (and sometimes right) in the Internet age. These are poems that capture the nervous intensity of longing and heartbreak as they explore how to be in the world--as a lover of both women and men, as a mother, as an activist, and as a writer. Ziniuk knows that love and sex are messy and mixed up with our cultural perceptions of ourselves and those around us and she is fearless in documenting the tumult of expectation and loss. Readers will find here a poet whose truth-telling faces up to the grittiest details.

Genres: Poetry, Canada

88 pages, Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Dessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Real subversive art isn't a cross-stitch of sex toys and expected sex radical
slogans. Truly subversive cross-stitch reads, "You're Not the Only One
with a Dead Friend." A quote from our relationship I use as a reminder.
One of the many things you claim not to have said."

I checked this out from the library and started reading it while I was waiting for the bus and then read it on the bus and read it as I walked from the bus to my apartment and then I sat on the couch in my apartment and finished it.

It's dizzying and scalding and honest and brutal. Poems about fierce regret and vicious self-loathing and the unforgivable failures and cruelties of other people. I can't recommend reading it all in one sitting, because it's exhausting, it's heartbreaking, it's like drinking a glass of saltwater. But there are some really, really beautiful poems in this collection and I can't stop thinking about them.

[Jean-François Villeneuve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whatever, un iceberg, de Tara-Michelle Ziniuk

Je n'ai pas lu l'original en anglais, mais la traduction impeccable nous fait oublier que, justement, il s'agit d'un texte adapté en français.

C'est bon. Vraiment bon. De très courts chapitres/poèmes qui racontent la fin d'une histoire d'amour impossible dans toute sa spontanéité (au début) et sa conclusion remplie de tristesse et de regrets (avec quelques longueurs). Une histoire d'amour polyamoureuse, inclusive et sans concession pour les confidences.

C'est cru, c'est cathartique, mais avec une dose d'humour, de second degré et de cynisme qui tempère le pathos et l'apitoiement. Comme en témoigne le titre, que j'adore.

[Nancy Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what I was reading at times, wondered towards the end if the writer is guilty of writing while drunk, all kinds of swerving and going all over the place. Drink on alcohol? drunk on love? drunk from loss.. who knows but some parts were funny though I never felt I was able to get below the surface to the deeper meanings of what was happening. It was a fun read though and I was eventually able to leave my expectations behind.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always like these poems read by the poet best!

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tender. Depressing. Partly an emotional drunk stream of consciousness, but, still, mostly beautiful poems.