Life by Drowning, by Jeni Couzyn (used)

This selection is a fine introduction to the work of a major international poet who writes of Africa, politics, feminism, and the birth experience in a work celebrated for its sensitivity and force.

'In this tough-minded, angry, generous, tender book, we see the stretch of a woman's mind over the territory of our collective lives and the account is chastening, exhilarating, and deeply moving' – Rosemary Sullivan, Canadian Forum

'We progress to the highly charged mysticism of her later work. Her insistent Songs and Incantations cast their ageless spells, and the astonishing and beautiful selection, A Time to Be Born, charts conception, pregnancy and childbirth in the tough, honest and spiritual way it ought to be treated' – Sue Stewart, Resurgence

'Jeni Couzyn's poetry is natural and unique. It has real simplicity, the sort that makes every word electric, and gives everything a weird music, without a false note. Her deadpan accounts of horrors come as unforced and true as her plainsogns of love' – Ted Hughes

Condition: very good