Wicked Verses And Bawdy Songs

Edited by Jill Dawson in 1992, The Virago Book of Wicked Verse is a collection of international, century-spanning work by women who have subverted the status quo.

Sex and misery are the main topics, though they’re never represented the same way twice. Bawdy songs about impoverished prostitutes and compassionless poems about cruelty sit alongside childhood memories of adult sexuality and delicate descriptions of sexual organs.

Jennifer Maiden’s poem Nose examines the eroticism of the…nose. Human and canine. Stevie Smith’s poem Lightly Bound, about a woman’s contempt for her child and husband and longing to leave her family is a short rant which could represent a moment of irritation or a lifetime of misery.

Alison Chisholm’s modern poem Office Party contains the queasy, rhyming, recollection of the one night of the year most of us are likely to regret, while Dorothy Parker’s hard-edged and compact Resume is a cold presentation of the line between life and death. The 1912 suffrage poem Poem From Holloway Prison is a tragic, violent story told in rhyme, clearly meant to be remembered and recited in harsh times.

The collection is varied and surprising, funny and disturbing. I found plenty to make me think and laugh, and almost nothing that failed to rattle me. A great example of the connection between women through time and culture.

Contact the author here: miriam@morningquickie.com