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Post-partum
composition
posted on 2021-02-26, 00:00 authored by Maria TakolanderPost-partum
History
Pagination
100-101Language
engResearch statement
POETRY, DEFAMILIARISATION AND CHILDBIRTH Research Background Pregnancy and childbirth have been emptied of their power and strangeness by the repetition of taboos around women’s bodies, the medicalisation and sterilisation of childbirth, and the banal sentimentality of consumer culture. Poetry about pregnancy and childbirth has also tended towards the expression of an affect of wonder that underplays embodiment in ways that are problematic for women’s identities. Research Contribution This poem, inspired by own experience of childbirth, embraces the remit of the Russian Formalists to deploy defamiliarization to overcome the automatism of perception and to see as candidly as possible. The procedure of defamiliarization resonates with the perspective of a child, a newcomer to the Earth, who is seen and who sees everything for the first time. Here, not only childbirth but the birthed child are represented as abject in their embodiment. Research Significance The value of this poem is attested to by: its selection for this national anthology; its previous publication in The Australian and a special issue of Double Dialogues; and its inclusion in my highly acclaimed book of poems The End of the World, which was published by Giramondo and positively reviewed in The Los Angeles Review of Books among many other forums nationally and internationally.Publication classification
JO3 Original Creative Works – Textual WorkScale
NTRO OtherEditor/Contributor(s)
Kurz E, King S, Delahunty CPublisher
Recent Work PressPlace of publication
Canberra, A.C.T.Source
What We Carry: Poetry on ChildbearingUsage metrics
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