TITLE & AUTHOR: Bloodaxe Poetry Introductions 1 (Alexander, Alvi, Dharker, Kay)WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT EXTRACT From The Venus Hottentot by Elizabeth Alexander 1 Curvier PUBLISHER: Bloodaxe Books
WHAT I THOUGHT EDITION: Paperback
RELEASE DATE: 1 November 2006
PAGES: 96
SOURCE: Owned
Highlighting the work of four poets, this anthology contains substantial selections of their work alongside background material, including profiles, interviews, essays and commentary. The poets featured are Elizabeth Alexander, Moniza Alvi, Imtiaz Dharker and Jackie Kay.
Science, science, science!
Everything is beautiful
Blown up beneath my glass...
The four poets featured in this collection are excellent. I enjoyed Jackie Kay's poems the most. She's one of my favourite poets. This collection contains an extract from her brilliant collection The Adoption Papers as well as other material. My other favourite poems are Dance of the Cherry Blossom, The Red Graveyard, Twelve Bar Bessie, Hottentot Venus, Pride and Late Love. My second favourite was the poems by Moniza Alvi. I love how she writes about identity and race. The best poems are I Would Like to Be a Dot in a Painting by Miro, The Country at my Shoulder, The Sari, Houdini, Carrying My Wife and The International Stores. I also really enjoyed the work of Elizabeth Alexander and Imtiaz Dharker. I've never read any poetry by Alexander before and particularly enjoyed The Venus Hottentot. Dharker's work is familiar from anthologies by Bloodaxe. Her poems They'll Say 'She must be from another Country' and The Terrorist at My Table resonated for me. Each poet featured in Bloodaxe Poetry Introductions 1 deal with questions of race, identity and fitting in (or not).
