Bhanu Kapil's extraordinary and original work been published in the U.S. over the last two decades to create what she calls in Ban en Banlieue (2015) a 'Literature that is not made from literature.' During that time Kapil has established herself as one of our most important and ethical writers, whose books often defy categorisation, as she fearlessly engages with colonialism and its ongoing and devastating aftermath. Always at the centre of her books and performances are the experiences of the body, and, whether she is exploring racism, violence, the experiences of diaspora communities in India, England, or America, what emerges is a heart-stopping, life-affirming way of telling the near impossible-to-be-told. How To Wash A Heart, Kapil's first full-length collection published in the U.K., depicts the complex relations that emerge between an immigrant guest and a citizen host. Drawn from a first performance at the ICA in London in 2019 and using poetry as a mode of interrogation that is both rigorous, compassionate, surreal, comic, painful and tender, by turn, Kapil begins to ask difficult and urgent questions about the limits of inclusion, hospitality, and care.
***
It's inky-early outside and I'm wearing my knitted scarf, likeJohn Betjeman, poet of the British past.
***
(@PavilionPoetry, 8 February 2022, e-book, 51 pages, copy from @natpoetrylib via @OverDriveInc)
***
***
I really enjoyed How To Wash A Heart. I loved the title, and this is what made me read this. The poems don't have titles so this read like one long, continuous poem with a nice pause in between. The poems deal with themes such as love and immigration. They are well-written and engaging. Each poem is powerful. This is worth a read. I would recommend it.
