Full of word-work by talented females, Not a Muse, The Inner Lives of Women (edited by Kate Rogers and Viki Holmes, 2009, Haven Books, 516 pages, HK$180), qualifies as weighty and wide-ranging. It's a comprehensive poetry anthology about and for 21st-century women.
The table of contents fills nine pages. More than 100 poets from 24 countries -- Australia to Germany, Egypt to South Korea and France to the Philippines – contributed. Their poems cover life's entire scope, from birth to death.
Around the block, on the evening breeze,
The poisoned liquorice taint of petrol and
Sewers cedes to the scent of
Jasmine flowers.
And poor, exhausted citizens wander home
Into their blocks of local lives, to burn out
Like candles stubs under
Soot-rimmed glass.
From “Funeral Home” by Sally Dellow
Many poems have intriguing titles: “Fired in the Body”, “Fruit of Stories”, “A River on Its Way”, “If Bluebeard Were a Woman” and “Base Signature”.
Salt-crunching heels
clip over the frosted cement;
her breath curls in the sharp air.
Late! Late for another obliging
damn thing stuffed into
a calendar already split at the seams.
From “Base Signature” by Kate Marshall Flaherty
That's not all. There's also: “Racing Humingbirds”, “Mouthful of Cherries”, “Half Baked”, “The Gynaecologist's Wife”, “Shoebox of My Life”, “Reading the Dirt Like Braille” and “Midsummer Crones”.
Always needing the poem
as I kneaded the dough,
I hoped my hungry family would not know
that the earth-brown crust
of the finished loaves mattered less
than the sound of my words.
From “Half Baked” by Maureen Tolman Flannery
Readers will recognize many poets: Margaret Atwood, Sharon Olds, Erica Jong, Elisabeth Harvor, Rati Saxena, Anindita Sengupta, Louise Ho, Eileen R. Tabios, Agnes Lam, Fatima Naoot, Pascale Petit and dozens more.
I make of my poems
a cushion for my tired head.
From “Underdeveloped” by Louise Ho
Promising “poetry to seduce the senses”, Haven Books launched this worldly collection on the opening night at the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival (March 8-18). The launch party blended poetry readings, live jazz, photos and paintings.
Rogers, one co-editor, publishes poetry and essays in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and Britain. Originally from Toronto, she has taught writing, literature and English on the Chinese mainland, in Hong Kong and in Taiwan.
Holmes, the other co-editor, is a prize-winning British poet and performer based in Hong Kong since 2005. Her poetry appears in literary magazines and anthologies in the UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, Macau and Singapore.
This may not be the ultimate poetry book, but from a female perspective, it comes pleasingly close.
Which song from which self,
And how do I begin to give you
a note by note account of all
The stories I've built?
From “Hummingbird Wings” by Kirsten Rian
For more information: www.havenbooksonline.com
(March 11, 2009)
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