Aphrodite Made Me Do It: Volume 1 (Myth and Magick)

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The author uses this dialogue to explore ideas of womanhood, and womanhood in relation to the ideas that the goddess represents: pleasure and pain, love and sex, beauty and the gentle, suffering female. Also, some if not all the pictures and drawing - beautiful - have nothing to do with the poems they are associated with, it's disturbing and it makes the poetry book seem really cluttered, which is highly unpleasant. Each section (obviously) has its own themes and tones, and speaks to the reader on a different level.

My pain has always deserved a voice and I will not deny it that, but I won’t devote my life to it either. Known for her eponymous blog, she is now the author of multiple poetry collections, including When The Stars Wrote Back (2020), Aphrodite Made Me Do It (2019), Honeybee (2018), and The Dogs I Have Kissed (2015) which won a Goodreads Choice Award the year of its release. Bestselling and award-winning author Trista Mateer takes an imaginative approach to self-care in this new poetry and prose collection, Aphrodite Made Me Do It. I felt like this book saw me on an oceanic-deep level and spoke to some of the rawest parts of me, while encouraging me to reconnect with myself and the warrior within.In honor of that, I'm reviewing a poetry book I recently stumbled upon in my library's catalog on Hoopla and instantly fell in LOVE with. As a tarot nerd, I appreciate the cards used within this book and how they add to the story being told, like with The Fool reversed in the beginning.

Mateer simultaneously speaks to us about love and loss and the empowerment that can come from them, while channeling the goddess and retelling her story as a form of dedication and reclamation—not only for the goddess, but for those of us who never quite fit the mold they want to shove us into, the one they say is meant for us. I appreciated how the different themes were dealt with and also the artwork that was included among the poems. There was something so unique about this collection and I love that the author included her illustrations and art work. This worked really well for me, much better in fact than deliberately pointed poems about finding your inner strength when faced with heartache or only needing yourself all along anyway, all of which I find isolating.The poetry style was minimalistic and 'Tumblr-y' which fit the blandness of most of the collection, but made the Aphrodite part rawer. I think it's great that so many people can turn to writing to express their thoughts, heal from their pasts, and fight for social justices.