Awful Lovely

Poetry is notoriously known for being romantic and beautiful. Author Tiffany Simone says she prefers to surprise people with her words, to shock their senses. With her fourth book, she continues to do just that. Awful Lovely is perhaps Dirty Sweet Poetry's most stripped-down poetic collection to date. Writing as Dirty Sweet Poetry since 2015, Tiffany's ability to swing from endearing to erotic makes her relatable. She invites you in, and slams you up against the wall with a fury that is somehow both gentle and rough. "It's always been about a sense of duality- the yin and the yang. It's my trying (and failing) to find that balance within. I've never been all or nothing. I swear I live in a gray area."Everyone has multiple sides to them to some extent. Relationships bring out the light and the dark, our beauty along with our demons. We can be the very worst versions of ourselves yet, look pretty while doing it. Fear will make us run. Fear can make us stay. Love paints gorgeous futures. Love can ruin your life. Awful Lovely continues the Dirty Sweet name but shows a darker side. It's the things we don't dare say out loud. Running and coming home, or is it... coming home and then running away? As the author says, it has always been about duality, hence the Dirty Sweet name. "The writer in me turns pretty on paper. I will wear baby pink when I hurt you."-Tiffany Simone