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azlanm's review against another edition
5.0
Truly outstanding. This was poignant, heart felt and powerful. Thank you for sharing your stories, Alison.
jaclyn_sixminutesforme's review
4.0
After devouring Blakwork I was so keen to read Alison Whittaker’s earlier collection, Lemons in the Chicken Wire. This was a collection looking at growing up as a queer Indigenous woman in Australia at the moment, about family and identity and connections to community and land... so much and all at once, a beautiful collision of thoughts!
bookspluscaffeine's review against another edition
4.0
Debut collection of feminist indigenous Australian poetry, humorous at times, but laying bare the inequalities in this country. Read aloud, they bite and roll the tongue.
miarose_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
Raw. Beautiful. Humorous.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism
narpetcards's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Grief, Fatphobia, and Racism
Minor: Animal death
tamzen's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not much of a poetry reader, but I liked this enough that I'll give Blakwork a go. Don't know how many stars that makes it, so I've gone with a middle of the road 3, but please don't let my rating influence your decision to read this collection in any way.
archytas's review against another edition
4.25
"And then, at every drawn goodbye like a choir, leaning each to the other to hold a clap my nan clasps my hands and whispers to me decolonising epistemology, and critical autonomy, and affective phenomenology. And what she says is: remember yourself, and call me once a week on which I ruminate O, Eureka!"
I read and reread Blakwork several times before picking this one up, and inevitably that shapes my impressions. I didn't love the whole here in the way I did Blakwork, but when Whittaker soars she certainly soars - I love those that juxtapose worlds and expectations, and those which play so expertly with rhythm. Each has a form of honesty though, and all carry some power.
I read and reread Blakwork several times before picking this one up, and inevitably that shapes my impressions. I didn't love the whole here in the way I did Blakwork, but when Whittaker soars she certainly soars - I love those that juxtapose worlds and expectations, and those which play so expertly with rhythm. Each has a form of honesty though, and all carry some power.
jesseb's review against another edition
5.0
I'm working my way through Whittaker's poetry for uni, and I've never felt luckier to be at university than I do now. I get to sit with these poems, to eat them up and digest them and never spit them out because I want them to live in me forever.
This collection is jarring and stark, and it very much felt like I was watching as Alison unravelled herself from this tightly wound spool of emotion. There is so much tension in her work, but at the same time it's so evocative of family, love, queerness, womanhood, and Alison's experiences growing up as a Gomeroi girl/woman.
I've struggled with a lot of ~angsty~ 21st century/Instagram poetry (read: Atticus et al) because it sometimes feels like attempts to manufacture enough pain that the poet has something to say. Whittaker says it best in 'Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia': "Them kids reachin' out for the suffering they hope will shape them, when there's no shortage of that suffering in the blak suburbs of this town."
It wasn't the easiest collection to read. Whittaker makes you WORK FOR IT as you muddle through what she says, how she says it, what she actually means... But it's so worth it.
And, yes, I DID stop doing uni work to review this book thank you very much.
This collection is jarring and stark, and it very much felt like I was watching as Alison unravelled herself from this tightly wound spool of emotion. There is so much tension in her work, but at the same time it's so evocative of family, love, queerness, womanhood, and Alison's experiences growing up as a Gomeroi girl/woman.
I've struggled with a lot of ~angsty~ 21st century/Instagram poetry (read: Atticus et al) because it sometimes feels like attempts to manufacture enough pain that the poet has something to say. Whittaker says it best in 'Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia': "Them kids reachin' out for the suffering they hope will shape them, when there's no shortage of that suffering in the blak suburbs of this town."
It wasn't the easiest collection to read. Whittaker makes you WORK FOR IT as you muddle through what she says, how she says it, what she actually means... But it's so worth it.
And, yes, I DID stop doing uni work to review this book thank you very much.