Wednesday, December 9, 2020

A Review of Thasia Anne’s “Subtle Shade of Bruise” (Alien Buddha Press, 2019) by Heidi Blakeslee

 

    

 Have you ever wondered how victims of domestic violence see the world?  Or perhaps, how they can rebuild after living periods of their lives in daily terror?  Thasia Anne’s work, Subtle Shade of Bruise takes up the call.  Visceral, Thasia’s poetry in this book is intensely personal, courageous, and necessary.

    After her harrowing experiences with her first husband, Thasia began to rebuild her life.  With two children to raise and no money coming in, she writes about how she persisted through challenges to ultimately become a social worker who helped others every day.  Though Thasia is also an artist, poetry gave her the vehicle she needed to fully express what she had gone through and build a strong bridge to connect her story to other survivors.

    Though many of the poems here lay plain the horrors of domestic violence: the loss of self, the giving up of hope, and physical pain, Thasia’s strength pulls us to the end of the book with a new admiration of human fortitude.  

    Through her healing process she took off like a rocket, turned her life around, and today is a vocal advocate for victims of interpersonal violence.  Thasia also is a community producer of Women of Word, a yearly production of poetry, dance, and music that is going into its tenth year.  She also shines in her cable access TV show “Poetry, Prose, and Personalities.”

    Subtle Shade of Bruise is an intense read, a strong autoethnography that forces the reader to stand in the footsteps of a woman warrior.  As a survivor of domestic violence, Thasia cuts through the red tape of society’s excuses for interpersonal violence and skewers the idea that anyone belongs to their partners.  She also points out that domestic violence can happen to anyone and provides empowerment tips and phone numbers that victims can call for help.


“Hurricane Husband” 

Hurricane husband/ battered at the door of my heart/ with his wild wind words/ that sliced and diced at 100 miles an hour/ and stripped my soul bare/ His voice forced my eyes closed/ to protect them from splinters and slivers/ that cause my psyche to shiver/ in the corner of my brain/ In his wind tunnel world/ where those words/ stretched the skin back from my face/ I lived with gale force words/  which left our relationship/ barren of any life/ Listless and breathless I waited/ on the roof of my soul waving my white flag/ Where was my rescue crew?



Thasia Anne is the producer, director, and participant in “Women of Word featuring a few Man Made Words, or (WOW)” on Edinboro University of Pennsylvania campus. “WOW” has a troop of poets reading individual poetry woven into powerful conversations, with 2019 being the ninth year. She has been published in “Picture This Anthology,” “Word Stock,” and “Delirious, a Celebration of Prince, as well as several Alien Buddha Press anthologies and Rust Belt Review #1.” Her most recent poetry books available on Amazon through Alien Buddha Press are “The Past is Calling,” “Broken Branches” and “Poetography,” which was created in collaboration with her photographer son and grandson. Thasia Anne also has a program on (CAM) Cable Access Media called “Poetry, Prose, and Personalities.” in Erie Pennsylvania where she lives contently with her videographer husband Bear. The program features interviews with local poets, artists, and people with big creative personalities from the community.


sent Today at 8:55 AM

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