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A review by foggy_rosamund
Europa by Moniza Alvi
4.0
This intelligent, moving series of poems centre around the image of Europa and the bull. They study the place of rape within myth, and how we use myth to explore trauma. Alvi's poetry rarely uses formal structures: she writes clear, pared-back free verse which conveys her depth of emotion and complexity of tone in clear language. These poems require the reader to sit with them for a while: I read the first three or four poems too rapidly, and missed their heart: the simple language belies the depth thought and resonance within them.
The cover image, a mermaid with her tail sliced in half, is a painting by Tabitha Vevers, and is explored by Alvi in her poem "Mermaid", one of the most striking in the collection. It gives the reader a lucid account of a rape, in brutal but restrained imaged ("He fell on her, sunk himself deep / into the apex.") and describes the mermaid's immediate response ("She played dead on the rock // dead by the blue lagoon / dead to the ends of her divided tail.") It's a poem I keep returning to, as a raw, vibrant account of an unspeakable act. It's hard to write about trauma, and to put these moments into words, and Alvi looks the horrific straight on, and allows the reader to really look at it too. There is a lot of value in that.
Though this collection is full of painful emotions, it's never hard to read, but rather gives the reader space to assess their own understanding of trauma, and to think about the poet's depictions of it. This collection feels like a complete narrative, and I would recommend reading it from cover to cover: each poem gives you an important window into the poet's themes. I very much recommend this book.
The cover image, a mermaid with her tail sliced in half, is a painting by Tabitha Vevers, and is explored by Alvi in her poem "Mermaid", one of the most striking in the collection. It gives the reader a lucid account of a rape, in brutal but restrained imaged ("He fell on her, sunk himself deep / into the apex.") and describes the mermaid's immediate response ("She played dead on the rock // dead by the blue lagoon / dead to the ends of her divided tail.") It's a poem I keep returning to, as a raw, vibrant account of an unspeakable act. It's hard to write about trauma, and to put these moments into words, and Alvi looks the horrific straight on, and allows the reader to really look at it too. There is a lot of value in that.
Though this collection is full of painful emotions, it's never hard to read, but rather gives the reader space to assess their own understanding of trauma, and to think about the poet's depictions of it. This collection feels like a complete narrative, and I would recommend reading it from cover to cover: each poem gives you an important window into the poet's themes. I very much recommend this book.