[Poetry Friday] Woman As Freedom Fighter

Myra here.

It is my first time this year to join the Poetry Friday community. A month ago we shared that we are doing A Year Of Women Reading Women #WomenReadWomen2019.

As such, the poems that we will be sharing would be in keeping with this, and our quarterly reading themes. For the first quarter of the year, we are celebrating warrior women and social justice.

Thank you to Tabatha Yeats of The Opposite Of Indifference for hosting this week.

Not A Muse: The Inner Lives Of Women, A World Poetry Anthology

Edited by Kate Rogers and Viki Holmes
Published by Haven Books (2009)
ISBN: 988180941X (ISBN13: 9789881809414). Book was borrowed from the Jurong West Public Library. Book photos taken by me.

Male writers and poets throughout the centuries have turned to a feminine muse as a creative catalyst. But there is much more to us than providing a source of inspiration. Now, the Muse is finding her own voice. 

I chanced upon this book while I was looking for poetry collections on women while at the library. I always claim that books find me, and this one is no exception. The entire book is divided into 12 sections:

1. Woman as Creator
2. Woman as Family
3. Woman as Archetype
4. Woman as Explorer
5. Woman as Myth Maker
6. Woman as Home Maker
7. Woman as Landscape
8. Woman as Lover
9. Woman as Freedom Fighter
10. Woman as Keeper of Secrets
11. Woman as Keeper of Memories
12. Woman Ageing

I anticipate that throughout the year, we would be citing from this anthology. My Poetry Friday offering today is this powerful poem culled from the section Woman as Freedom Fighter in keeping with our reading theme. “Without Hope” is written by Pascale Petit from England. Apparently, she has won multiple writing awards and was shortlisted for a Forward Prize. She also originally trained as a sculptor at the Royal College of Art. Talk about multi-talented, indeed. I took a photo of the page and edited it using an iPhone app. Enjoy!