This is where I find the softest hurt is a debut chap book of delicate words from emerging poet Christiana Jasutan.
The collection comprises work of differing form and style from concrete poetry, prose poetry, dialogue poetry, alongside more traditional stanza driven poetry. The diversity is refreshing.
Thematically the poems examine the body and its relationship with the self within the context of life itself, the highs and the lows, the hurts and the pleasures.
This is set very firmly within the opening poem in the collection - Morning Ritual - a poem with four parts that illustrate the different forms ( I loved the egg shaped part that seemed to celebrate the notion that the egg contains all that is needed for life, including love) as well as the almost symbiosis between the body and the life it is living. The inclusion of some Indonesian words also features here and is evident in other poems in the pamphlet. I was grateful for Google translate!
The poet is a keen observer of the human condition -
'Thins the lesson of cooking,
of separating life with (dis)jointed fingers,
that washing the leaves under cold water
before splitting them to sections.'
Food features prominently too in several of the poems, I especially enjoyed Kitchen -
'it still tastes heavenly; not entirely soup and not entirely cream
but this might be what our friendship is like: flavours bursting
in your mouth that go straight to your heart.'
I particularly liked Phantom Limbs. The poem is a clever comparison of seeing yearning. and missing as the same sensation an amputee experiences with a phantom limb.
'Not every distance is the cause of an amputation,
yet every kilometre - a phantom limb to behold.'
Here the poet seems to be missing her mum and addresses her in Indonesian. It's delightful.
The future of poetry is safe and well in the hands and pens of young poets like Christina Jasutan. It's very exciting.
My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon for a gifted copy of the poems and a place upon the blog tour.
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