Quips and Knives in "Orange Poems" by Chelsea Tadeyeske

Review by Kelly Ann Graff 

baby vs animal caught with bare hands

Tadeyeske’s sparse language holds our heads still

               watching

tender and brutal

personal and animalistic

responsibility and various manifestations of necessary care

similes on similes mirroring Tankersley’s markers’ marks

nature → manufactured goods      body → nature

sometimes you can see through the line 

        to the shape      which might also     be     a line

“there’s something beautiful/

about a fishhook in a cheek”

images and their impact on the material world

understated climate grief in halloween costumes

We are children again and we have never 

thought about the world    burning

Her strange vignettes exerting control over

moon and leaves and womb

desire without yearning - pure hunger

                                                       dirty

commanding              submitting

control over self desire body nature

                                   society            space

“what feeds you also needs to be fed”

Kelly Ann Graff is an educator, writer, and interdisciplinary artist living and working in Nashville, TN. They view their work as community and ecological archive, documenting the values, practices, and environment of queer and trans artists in the south. Their fiber art has been included in group shows at Frist Art Museum, Elephant Gallery, COOP Gallery, ClearStory Arts, and Gallery X among others. Their writing has been featured in the Southern Festival of Books, Wussy, Bible Belt Queers, Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, BookPage, and various zines.