BOOK REVIEW – JILL
DAWSON (EDITOR) - THE VIRAGO BOOK OF WICKED VERSE 1992.
An impressive and
important anthology of irreverent, erotic and politically incorrect verse by
the leading lights of feminist literature, showing that women can have as
mucky, subversive and deliciously wild minds as any male authors. There are
several well known names here, from across the World and from many time
periods, Sappho, Margaret Atwood, Wendy Cope, Maya Angelou, Stevie Smith, Carol
Ann Duffy, Dorothy Parker, and many more.
Gillian Allnut’s
Thatcherthicky is a political parody of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, taking a
savage swipe at Britain’s Iron Lady Prime Minister and her Cabinet.
Alison Chisolm makes a
fool of herself in Office Party.
Jan Sellers tells of
Young Love- a Health And Safety warning, addressed to lesbians alerting them to
the ban on their sexual activities in the council property shower blocks, where
people worry that they might slip and hurt themselves.
There are a few
anonymous verses, presented on strong assumption that the authors are women.
One was found in Holloway Prison, which makes such an assertion pretty well
definitive. Diamond Lilly is another, in which a family have come to dominate
the sex scene of London for generations.
My favourite poem here
is Margaret Atwood’s Siren Song, in which the siren promises to whisper to the
listener why she succeeds in luring doomed sailors to their fate. By assuming
that the narration is for your ears only you fall into her trap and realize
that you are her latest victim yourself.
A delightful,
subversive collection that shows that men have no monopoly on
mischief. There are many lesser-known writers here, and showcasing
Japanese verse in translation, alongside the generous supply of European, and
American / Canadian authors is a masterstroke. The editor, herself adding
poems, has clearly had a great deal of fun putting this work together. Poems
vary in length from limericks to lengthy free verse material. Most poems here
are complete and self contained, bar from a few Sappho fragments (all that
survive of her work) and a minority of portions from longer poems. Overall, a
fine collection indeed.
Arthur Chappell
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