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kyatic 's review for:
Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology
by Wendy Chin-Tanner, Tyler Chin-Tanner
The idea of this anthology is such a good one that I'm really not sure why it hasn't been done before, although looking at some of the pitfalls of the execution, I can see why the challenge might have seemed daunting. Poetry and comic art are two very different mediums, and marrying the two up isn't the most obvious choice. Where it works, it really works, but where it doesn't - well, there are some poems here which work wonderfully as narrative graphic illustrations, but others - mostly the poems which are almost entirely based around imagery - which quite simply don't.
I loved the wealth of voices included in this book (although, in 2021, it's time we stopped proudly proclaiming our anthologies for their 'diversity' if there's no disabled voices in them - this was a real tangible lack in this anthology, especially given that it touted itself multiple times as being diverse) and the sheer variety of poetry and art styles. Obviously, by its nature, there were some artists and poets whose work I liked more than others, but that's par for the course with any anthology. I particularly loved the final poem, Birth, by Wendy Chin-Tanner, and also thought its artwork was probably the most complementary and least distracting of the book. I also really appreciated the study guide at the back and found that it gave me lots of things to think about, and it was really enlightening to re-read some of the poems with those questions in mind.
Unfortunately, for me, having the structure of the poems broken up to fit them into the panels of the artwork really ruined any chance of engaging with most of the poems themselves; I feel like the poems often suffered from being surrounded by the chaos of the art, rather than embellished or enhanced by it. I don't really think that the two mediums really work together with the style of poetry chosen here, alas. It might work with poetry in a more narrative style, but not these ones.
Still, it's a really excellent idea for an anthology, and I think it could be a great series of books. I'd definitely read more of them, but would hope that the choice of poems would be better suited to the project.
I loved the wealth of voices included in this book (although, in 2021, it's time we stopped proudly proclaiming our anthologies for their 'diversity' if there's no disabled voices in them - this was a real tangible lack in this anthology, especially given that it touted itself multiple times as being diverse) and the sheer variety of poetry and art styles. Obviously, by its nature, there were some artists and poets whose work I liked more than others, but that's par for the course with any anthology. I particularly loved the final poem, Birth, by Wendy Chin-Tanner, and also thought its artwork was probably the most complementary and least distracting of the book. I also really appreciated the study guide at the back and found that it gave me lots of things to think about, and it was really enlightening to re-read some of the poems with those questions in mind.
Unfortunately, for me, having the structure of the poems broken up to fit them into the panels of the artwork really ruined any chance of engaging with most of the poems themselves; I feel like the poems often suffered from being surrounded by the chaos of the art, rather than embellished or enhanced by it. I don't really think that the two mediums really work together with the style of poetry chosen here, alas. It might work with poetry in a more narrative style, but not these ones.
Still, it's a really excellent idea for an anthology, and I think it could be a great series of books. I'd definitely read more of them, but would hope that the choice of poems would be better suited to the project.