Hug Me Tight
‘Anyone who throws clothes away also throws away memories.’ In this collection of poetry, Ted van Lieshout brings to life old items of clothing and the people who wore them, in words and pictures, based on the idea that ‘you are the soul of your clothes’.
He does this in a completely original way, cleverly playing with the ambiguity and the richness of sounds and language, supported by serene portrait photographs of seemingly casually abandoned clothes against a black background. The opening poem, in which the words on a shirt label beg for a sleeved embrace, speaks volumes: this cry for love is from a lonely person to a shirt and vice versa, in a relationship that is undeniably mutual. It is this dual perspective that gives the poems, by turns funny, touching and sensually stimulating, their emotional eloquence. This is further enhanced by the composition of the beautifully designed collection: Van Lieshout has arranged the chapters in such a way that a striking portrait of a growing child emerges.
Van Lieshout’s loving memories of his brother who died at a young age are particularly touching. In the final chapters, a pink pair of children’s mittens are a reminder of wintertime brotherly adventures, and a pair of purple trousers speaks of a life that is over.
Van Lieshout touches you right in the heart: no one but him could have created this collection.
Age: 9+
Great emotional impact
A clever interplay between words and pictures
“Candid and poignant.”
