kristianamr's review against another edition
5.0
Everyone has the capacity to write. Some people write uplifting messages in greeting cards. Some people write hilarious commencement speeches. Some people write like their entire existence depends on it and in doing so etch their soul into the stars. After reading Composition of a Woman, Ray convinced me she was the latter. The Myths of Girlhood undeniably proves I was right. Ray writes with her body, mind and soul. She bares her beating heart and encourages you to join her – to dance around the fire of love, loss and trauma with a smile on your face because you are learning too, that fire may burn but your eyes burn brighter.
Girlhood is a coming of age anthology that any woman, of any age can read and identify with. Ray evolves with each poem. Her voice grows, leaves her throat and fills a room – as it should, as all our voices should. Ray with both her books, but especially this one, is teaching us how to speak after so many years of silencing herself and I cannot get enough. Girlhood made me feel brave. Girlhood made me feel part of something bigger than me. Girlhood made me feel like a woman.
Ray begins this anthology as the Queen of Nothing. In her formative years, hiding in the shadow and in silence was a comfort. However, ‘Queen’ forced me to hold my breath. I knew she would be more than this. I waited with bated breath and she stunned with Unforgotten:
‘but experience has taught me
that you too will burn off
like tendrils of grasping fog
with the arrival of
the dawn’
With Ivory Brushed with Starlight:
‘your kiss is honey and cardamom
I am filled with your light
as your soul expands
to fill all my damaged places’
With Feline:
‘your fingers knotted in wrinkled sheets, relishing
your scream of release that I alone owned, finally
settling down like a contented house cat, licking
cream off both our mouths.’
And of course, with the eponymous poem The Myths of Girlhood:
‘we ate up the lessons that with the right make-up
the right clothes
shoes
if we took enough quizzes
in Seventeen magazine
about how to be popular
how to catch his eye
contorted ourselves into pretzels
we might almost be enough’
This is what being a woman, or a girl, or a ‘temptress’, or a ‘bitch’ feels like. Girlhood teaches every reader that no matter what people call you or do to you, you are; beautiful, messy, sexy, vulnerable, invincible, complex and authentic. You are you and that is the biggest power play you can make in this world.
Girlhood is a coming of age anthology that any woman, of any age can read and identify with. Ray evolves with each poem. Her voice grows, leaves her throat and fills a room – as it should, as all our voices should. Ray with both her books, but especially this one, is teaching us how to speak after so many years of silencing herself and I cannot get enough. Girlhood made me feel brave. Girlhood made me feel part of something bigger than me. Girlhood made me feel like a woman.
Ray begins this anthology as the Queen of Nothing. In her formative years, hiding in the shadow and in silence was a comfort. However, ‘Queen’ forced me to hold my breath. I knew she would be more than this. I waited with bated breath and she stunned with Unforgotten:
‘but experience has taught me
that you too will burn off
like tendrils of grasping fog
with the arrival of
the dawn’
With Ivory Brushed with Starlight:
‘your kiss is honey and cardamom
I am filled with your light
as your soul expands
to fill all my damaged places’
With Feline:
‘your fingers knotted in wrinkled sheets, relishing
your scream of release that I alone owned, finally
settling down like a contented house cat, licking
cream off both our mouths.’
And of course, with the eponymous poem The Myths of Girlhood:
‘we ate up the lessons that with the right make-up
the right clothes
shoes
if we took enough quizzes
in Seventeen magazine
about how to be popular
how to catch his eye
contorted ourselves into pretzels
we might almost be enough’
This is what being a woman, or a girl, or a ‘temptress’, or a ‘bitch’ feels like. Girlhood teaches every reader that no matter what people call you or do to you, you are; beautiful, messy, sexy, vulnerable, invincible, complex and authentic. You are you and that is the biggest power play you can make in this world.
enbyghostlibrary's review
5.0
i always said i wanted to write a book that's confusing yet oddly comforting. this is a great example. i didn't completely understand this book but it was pure beauty. 100% pure beauty in every carefully chosen word. the author talks a lot about childhood sexual abuse and surviving and being a survivor of abuse. there was so much vulnerability in this collection. pure, raw vulnerability and it was fantastic.
More...