A review by zzara
How To Make A Basket by Jazz Money

emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

This was a great little book of poetry. I find sometimes poetry goes over my head, and I just feel like they are nice words that don't really mean anything to me. But I feel as though I understood this one, probably because the poems are a combination of introspective and critical which really worked for me.

A number of the poems in this collection are really inventive and interesting criticisms of colonialism. 'a case study of the colony' was a mixture of poem and short essay, about the sale of stolen pastoral land in Tasmania. The analogy of blood and memory - 'the memories run clear' - was a really powerful way to evoke the erasure and attempted destruction of First Nations people which underpins the sale of a property which has only been stolen, never sold. 

And Money writes so beautifully about love! I love this quote from 'hot and cold': "if you could see this face you would let your heart be broken." She really captures that feeling of adoring someone.