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smitchy's review
2.0
Modern Australian poet. Focus on mortality. Not surprising given it was written between diagnosis and treatment for cancer(successful) and her death 5 years later. I have to admit I am not a fan of most modern poetry and this is not an exception. I pity the kids who have it as a school text. Many references to classical poets , which I feel cannot be appreciated without also reading their work (Keats, Blake, Wordsworth to name a few).
I some times got the impression that the occasional profanity was put in deliberately to "shock". It feels like it doesn't actually fit. Writers seem to forget that those words are no longer shocking they just come across as crass and out of sync.
I gave an extra star because the poems were short. I like short poetry.
I some times got the impression that the occasional profanity was put in deliberately to "shock". It feels like it doesn't actually fit. Writers seem to forget that those words are no longer shocking they just come across as crass and out of sync.
I gave an extra star because the poems were short. I like short poetry.
msteasam's review
4.0
"Every poet wants to write the poem
that penetrates
with the ice-cold shock
of the Devil's prick
The poem that will fuck you awake
or kill you."
What a beautifully evocative poetry collection. There's a perceptible undercurrent of existential dread woven through this collection, which was written during the author's final years.
I haven't read much poetry and a few references went over my head, but this was great overall.
What thrilling doors of perception
open
to the musky ooze
of panting paralysed
terror?
that penetrates
with the ice-cold shock
of the Devil's prick
The poem that will fuck you awake
or kill you."
What a beautifully evocative poetry collection. There's a perceptible undercurrent of existential dread woven through this collection, which was written during the author's final years.
I haven't read much poetry and a few references went over my head, but this was great overall.
What thrilling doors of perception
open
to the musky ooze
of panting paralysed
terror?
littlerah's review
3.0
Another Bee read.
I think it's strange how few Melbourne-based poets I have read from. And to find this collection, published posthumously, it's a kind of sadness that is evoked. You want to learn more and find community and solace, especially as another poet.
"I hold in my hand
the greedy, bleeding
pen
that has always
gorged itself" (19).
'The Bee Hut' is a really bold collection of poems that Porter wrote before her death. In the collection you can taste her stubbornness and her love for the world around her as she writes of varying places, of Egypt, of Jerusalem. This collection feels like it is trying to capture every last memory before it is forgotten. It's almost painful, I felt I could sense her death - as a reader you knew it was coming even if you were unaware of her history.
"time is melting
everything I remember
into a soft silt
shifting under the mud-mangrove
smell of the bay" (74).
There are a number of powerful poems in this, and it's very clear you are lucky to read them. Encouraged to adventure into those small spaces that have brought you hope and love, even those as simple as a bee hut.
My favourites include:
Blackberries (19)
The Enchanted Ass (21)
II. What a Plunge! (28)
The Ninth Hour (37)
Lucky (133).
I think it's strange how few Melbourne-based poets I have read from. And to find this collection, published posthumously, it's a kind of sadness that is evoked. You want to learn more and find community and solace, especially as another poet.
"I hold in my hand
the greedy, bleeding
pen
that has always
gorged itself" (19).
'The Bee Hut' is a really bold collection of poems that Porter wrote before her death. In the collection you can taste her stubbornness and her love for the world around her as she writes of varying places, of Egypt, of Jerusalem. This collection feels like it is trying to capture every last memory before it is forgotten. It's almost painful, I felt I could sense her death - as a reader you knew it was coming even if you were unaware of her history.
"time is melting
everything I remember
into a soft silt
shifting under the mud-mangrove
smell of the bay" (74).
There are a number of powerful poems in this, and it's very clear you are lucky to read them. Encouraged to adventure into those small spaces that have brought you hope and love, even those as simple as a bee hut.
My favourites include:
Blackberries (19)
The Enchanted Ass (21)
II. What a Plunge! (28)
The Ninth Hour (37)
Lucky (133).
demo's review
3.0
I'm not big on poetry. I haven't read much and don't know enough about it to have an opinion on whether it is technically good or not, but I can safely say I quite liked this. I appreciated Porter's quick and insightful wit. There were some poems that really resonated with me, like Numbers Multiplex which were terribly clever, and The Bluebird of Death which was just a little bit too real and raw for me. The rest I didn't like as much, and I think this is largely because I have never really enjoyed poetry. That said, the subject matter was still interesting to me. I might get more out of it after a second reading.
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