All Reviews - Bird
Write a review.
The poems in Bird reflect and refract the experience of epilepsy through a variety of lenses, including classical metaphor, clinical exegesis, personal anecdote, and lesbian intimacy. Carolyn Gage, Lambda Literary
... the inexpressible, yet full, full space reminiscent of Emily Dickinson's poetry. Hawthorne's poetry words the flesh, boldly fleshes the words, to speak the tongue of a hitherto unspoken epilepsy. Anne Surma, SPAN, Journal of the South Pacific Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies
Many-eyed and many-lived is this poet, as seismologist or lover, bird or newborn child. To the classic figures of Sappho and Eurydice she brings all the Now! Here! sense of discovery that fires her modern girl taking lessons in flight. Judith Rodriguez
‘I ... have been glad to read this collection of astutely chosen and varied poems to increase my imagining.’ Donna McSkimming, Lesbiana
‘Over several years, Susan Hawthorne’s writings have helped to meet an evident need for the public to become better informed about an illness which has given rise over the centuries to excessive fear, prejudice and even superstition. That she has responded to this need through writings that are literary and poetic in character is both surprising and admirable. One expects poetry to educate but not quite in this way. Yet this gifted poet’s work does this for the uninitiated more effectively than any medical tract.’ Michael Costigan, Chronic Disorder
‘Hawthorne is never out of control of her chosen forms and language which traces out delightful arabesques and loops.’ Edward Reilly, Geelong Advertiser
|
