Everything Must Go

by Rosie Garland

Being told you have cancer is a life-changing event. Rosie Garland, writer and performer, didn't need any tissues when she was told, but later used poetry to come to terms with the disease, treatment and slow recovery. Her account is not at all melodramatic or tearful, but paints vivid pictures, so you can see the waiting room or the ward and feel that you're joining her on this journey. Rosie is a true performer and this shines through in the poems, which have a dynamic and rhythmic beat, especially when things get tough. Most importantly, she shows how any disease - and cancer especially - attacks your humanity and more specifically your femininity. Yet the way she puts this into words is strangely enough also uplifting. You can read each poem on its own, but together they tell the story of a journey.

Genres: Poetry

51 pages, Paperback

First published July 3, 2012

About the author

Born in London to a runaway teenager, Rosie has always been a cuckoo in the nest. She's an eclectic writer and performer, ranging from singing in post-punk gothic band The March Violets, through touring with the Subversive Stitch exhibition in the 90s to her alter-ego Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen, cabaret chanteuse and mistress of ceremonies.

She has published five solo collections of poetry and her award-winning short stories, poems and essays have been widely anthologized. She is winner of the DaDa Award for Performance Artist of the Year and a Poetry Award from the People's Café, New York. Her most recent poetry collection, 'Everything Must Go' (Holland Park Press 2012) draws on her experience of throat cancer.

She won the Mslexia Novel competition in 2012 and her debut novel 'The Palace of Curiosities' was published in March 2013 by HarperCollins. Her second novel, 'Vixen', (Borough Press 2014) is now available in all formats.

Reviews

[Bernadette Jansen op de Haar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being told you have cancer is a life-changing event. Rosie Garland, writer and performer, didn’t need any tissues when she was told, but later used poetry to come to terms with the disease, treatment and slow recovery.

Her account is not at all melodramatic or tearful, but paints vivid pictures, so you can see the waiting room or the ward and feel that you’re joining her on this journey.
Just the title of a poem can say it all: ‘My clothes are putting on weight’.

Rosie is a true performer and this shines through in the poems, which have a dynamic and rhythmic beat, especially when things get tough. Most importantly, she shows how any disease – and cancer especially – attacks your humanity and more specifically your femininity. Yet the way she puts this into words is also uplifting.

You can read each poem on its own, but together they tell the story of a journey. This is a rather rare occurrence in poetry collections and makes Everything Must Go something special.

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is brilliant. So down to earth and honest, such vivid imagery.