Stark, ballsy and all-embracing, the poems in 'The Vaginellas' are in turns very funny, very feminist and very empowering.
The strong distinct voices of these poets – Catherine Crosswell, Jenny Hope, Sarah James and Ruth Stacey – explore the highs and lows of both the male and female body. No intimate parts escape untouched in this delightful concoction of fun, feminism, sauce and seriousness.
Their tight and engaging writing sets mythology, metaphor and belly laughs alongside thought-provoking explorations of modern society, historical female creativity and contemporary cultural concerns.
That this should be V. Press’s first title, also seems particularly apt, given Tony Harrison’s eponymous poem V.
None of the language in 'The Vaginellas' is gratuitous, every word serves its purpose – to captivate readers, be it in a lyrical, erotic, fun way or a reclaiming of historical terms that have been manhandled for years.
SAMPLE POEM:Slaked
Their flesh meets like a wolf nearing water
just before dusk, its breath unmuzzled musk
as it nuzzle-greets its shape, then falters…
Eyes dip, its jaw unhooks, muscles tauten,
back arches, as fur sleeks to fluid lust.
Their flesh meets like a wolf nearing water.
The parched beast drinks deep, wide-throated, alters
stance to uncloak her taste from its red husk,
nuzzle-greets her warm-blooded shape, falters,
as nature’s leafy-scented young daughter
lays out her earth bed with its moist wood crust.
Their flesh meets like a wolf nearing water.
And so she blends, just as nature’s taught her:
two forest torsos, soft-mossed and fern-brushed.
As they nuzzle-greet, their wild shape falters
- a raindrop slides from its red leaf altar,
a wolf’s tongue laps up the soft-falling dusk.
Their flesh meets like ripples across water,
nuzzle-greets its wild shape, doesn’t falter.
Sarah James
ABOUT THE POETS:
CATHERINE CROSSWELL is a performance poet, frustrated slammer, untidy wife, mother, bidet doubter, list lover, singer and guitarist. She has performed at various poetry/literary festivals including Ledbury, Cheltenham and Stratford. In 2013, Catherine created a new word ‘Fusterbrothy’ with accompanying poem and this can be found in the ebook ‘Made-up words’ by English PEN. Catherine lives in Malvern and is co-organiser of the regular ConFab Cabaret with Amy Rainbow. Her website can be found at www.catherinecrosswell.co.uk.
JENNY HOPE is a writer, poet and workshop facilitator. She leads the Worcester City Write-On Writing Squad for Writing West Midlands. She also works for the In the Pink Dementia Poetry Project with the Courtyard Theatre, Hereford. Her poetry collection, Petrolhead was published by Oversteps Books in 2010. She is currently working on her second collection. She is also a woman with a tree-thing and lives in Wildish-Worcestershire. Her website is www.poetrymaker.co.uk.
SARAH JAMES is a prize-winning journalist, short fiction writer and poet. Her first collection, Into the Yell (Circaidy Gregory Press, 2010), won third prize in the International Rubery Book Awards 2011. Her second, Be[yond], is published by Knives, Forks and Spoons Press, 2013. At Cheltenham Poetry Festival 2013, she read alongside Bernard O’Donoghue. Her poems also feature on the Polesworth Poets Trail, a Droitwich café mural and soon on Worcestershire buses. Her website is at www.sarah-james.co.uk.
RUTH STACEY has been published online at Ink, Sweat and Tears, Goblin Fruit and in Abridged 0-19 magazine. She regularly reads her work at spoken word nights and enjoys teaching poetry and writing classes. She has just completed an MA in Literature, Politics and Identity, and has specialised her research around Native American mixedblood identity. More of her poems can be read at http://www.mermaidsdrown.blogspot.com.
