Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 2, Number 2. November 2019. ISSN: 2581-7094
The Looking Glass Anthology: Through The Single Gal’s
Lens, Compiled by
Flow Wellington and Jowhari Trahan,
Poetree Publishing, Johannesburg, 2019. ISBN: 978-0-6398210-0-9
Where do we read about the fire of women, not attached?
Where can we find the stories of our sisters sharing a path of independence and
self-discovery? How do women define their unique existences in relation to
another? Is it possible to see the other and reposition ourselves not in terms
of what others take from us but what we take from them? A moment of power, self-gratification,
the changing of rules, The Looking Glass
Anthology: Through the Single Gal’s Lens explores the various way in which
women, across different generations and geographies, remember, define and redefine
their own existence through an examination of private needs and traumas. The
question is not so much “how will I live without you?”, but rather “how do I
live with me?”.
“Written” by Fumane Nthlabane reminds us that in the
vulnerability of trauma, words still give agency, the ability to call out, in
our own unique way, our transgressors. The words of many of the poems in this
anthology speak of reclaiming individual strength and power, despite abuse,
unrequited love, community and family struggles. We read in the words of these
women a bravery and willingness to self-examine, to peer through the looking
glass at what lies on the other side of the fear, the loss and the uncertainty.
“Broken Angel Wings” by Fiona
Khan sketches a story of how one moment can shape and haunt and, ultimately,
give us the strength we need to become; this becoming is a profound reach of
the soul to know itself and to overcome its limitations.
Busisiwe Mahlangu’s “Pillow Wave” is a powerful moment of not only owning
pleasure in sex, but also learning to not be consumed by the pleasure, not
allowing the pleasure to render her helpless, but rather to set her free. This
acknowledgement of transgression, of not being perfectly holy is an important
marker of humility; we are all part of a game of give and take in some way or
another, and the question is “how do we put ourselves at the center, see the
game for what it is, and take what we need, what we want?”. The expectation of
perfection and doing the right thing is exchanged for an honest narrative of
what lies at the center, unapologetically. Toshia Christal’s “I cannot Resist You” and “Comfort is My Zone” put desire
at the forefront of conquests to be made. The denial of shame in using desire
to satisfy immediate cravings is refreshing, it is not often that we are
willing to put ourselves at the center of lust and admit it willingly, Toshia
is willing to.
“The Plant, the Jellyfish
and the Crocodile” by Kerry
Hammerton gives a quirky glimpse inside the mind of a woman adventuring in her
own fantastical world. Childlike but not childish in its honesty, it
illustrates the dependence and need for a woman to have something to relate to,
find consolation in and make meaning of; and this something is not a man. It is
in the mundane of the everyday, the madness of seemingly meaningless
connections, and in isolation that we can truly start exploring ourselves as
women, our needs and desires. It is in the quiet of our own apartments where we
do not have to hide behind adulthood and supposed-to-be’s that we can
demonstrate our true capability to love and make sense of the nonsensical world
we live in.
“The Women” by Ongezwa Mbele, “The Rock, the in-between and that hard place” by Pranishka
Nayagar, and “Broken Healer” by
Mfumo Nthlabane are convictions of the strength of women to self-examine,
self-reflect and transcend the status quo, the script, the pattern highlighting
their ability to transmute into a new dimension of feeling and being. In these
poems we see women changing the narrative and stepping into and inhabiting the
unknown, the uncomfortable, to create their own driving force, claim their own
power and in some cases their own joy.
The solo gals, mothers, daughters, the in-between,
share with us a keyhole view into the everyday thoughts of single woman
existing, living, thriving and sometimes dying in a world not built for women.
What this anthology does achieve is an authentic view into a patchwork of
stories by women, a view into their minds and hearts and histories, the
beginnings of an excavation of what the world of women is.