THE SATISFACTORY NOTHING OF GIRLS IBD

Sinopse

Emily Bowles has taken the Virginia Woolf we know and unbound her. The Virginia who walks these pages is edged with mist, a ghost that goes on changing and living in ethereal verse. From mermaids to madness, from blooms to bodies, Bowles traverses the landscape of the delicate and the dark. We should all be so lucky to make such a journey.-Holly Lyn Walrath, author of The Smallest of BonesThe Satisfactory Nothing of Girls is a clever entwining of two women living more than a century apart. Bowles 'develops strange affection' for Miss Rachel Vinrace in Virginia WoolfâÇÖs 1915 book, The Voyage Out. The sheltered life of Rachel, confined to 'a ship in the Amazon,' is parallel to BowlesâÇÖ 'sheltering in' during COVID19 awaiting a 'shipment from Amazon.' This collection of word-play poetry compares their 'satisfactory and unsatisfactory nothings.' Women coming of age/aging, body image, fitting in, how women are treated, and the drain of 'shut-in-ess' are revealed within Covid19 confines, linked back to WoolfâÇÖs book. Bowles muses as Emily DickinsonâÇÖs reflection meets Nicole KidmanâÇÖs nose, 'Roomsical Women' fold 'into the absence of self from life', and 'Prismprisons' playfully passes time.' Her double entendre, contrasts, and turn of words all make for an interesting read.-Annette Langlois Grunseth, author of Becoming Trans-Parent: One FamilyâÇÖs Journeyáof Gender TransitionEmily Bowles gazes out a lonely Covid window while hearing-and at times becoming-women writers from centuries ago, including Virginia Woolf who said the past is beautiful because one never realizes an emotion at the time, it expands later. Oh, that she had met EmilyâÇÖs untamed anxiety while shut-in, her âÇÖbeginendingâÇÖ when she uses inventive language on a modern mythical, mystical voyage with flowers, nose jobs, and mermaids, where there is not âÇÖa ship on the AmazonâÇÖ but a âÇÖshipment from AmazonâÇÖ. Travel the landscape of EmilyâÇÖs wry consciousness-âÇÖShe flatters him / He flattens herâÇÖ-as she untangles desire, the ongoing struggle of the collective feminine self knit together by Emily with erudition and wit. Whether âÇÖviolence at midlifeâÇÖ or âÇÖviolets at midlifeâÇÖ, she gets the answer right by writing an answer for all women because âÇÖthatâÇÖs the story of hers most mineâÇÖ.-Kathryn Gahl, author of The Velocity of Love