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'Man-handled, Melinda Smith’s seventh poetry collection, includes the found-text chapbook Listen, bitch plus new work from the last three years. Its central concern is gendered violence, both verbal and physical. These poems also extend their gaze to violences perpetrated in the names of colonialism, nationalism and capitalism. While this is Smith’s angriest book, it still takes time to celebrate moments of connection and wonder.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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[Review] Man-Handled
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: StylusLit , March no. 11 2022;
— Review of Man-handled 2020 selected work poetry'Melinda Smith’s eighth collection of poetry, Man-Handled, is essential reading for anyone who has followed the depiction of women in the Australian media, political, and public spheres, or who has suffered or witnessed gendered violence in the private realm. The collection is divided into six sections: “Exposures,” “The space inside his fist,” “Listen, bitch,” “The Night Book,” “Fugal States,” and “Ventriloquies.” The power of Smith’s poetry to reveal shocking truths reaches boiling point midway through the book. Yet, even after this scalding surge, the verse still simmers with subtle force.' (Introduction)
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Splinters of Blood: Reading Melinda Smith’s Man-handled and Heather TaylorJohnson’s Rhymes with Hyenas
2021
single work
review
essay
— Appears in: Social Alternatives , October vol. 40 no. 3 2021; (p. 47-51) 'Sometimes, words are as sharp as blood. A red drop falls in slow motion, hits the pristine white tiles of the kitchen floor and explodes like a thousand splinters. Each of Smith’s words has been sharpened this way; it has been meticulously drawn ‘forth through that / needle’s eye’ and assembled to compose the six parts that form her collection Man-handled. Its third part (a previously published found-text chapbook entitled Listen, bitch) physically locates violence — the voices and attitudes that repeatedly dehumanise, strip naked and turn others into pounds of fresh meat — at the core of the collection.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] Man-Handled
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: StylusLit , March no. 11 2022;
— Review of Man-handled 2020 selected work poetry'Melinda Smith’s eighth collection of poetry, Man-Handled, is essential reading for anyone who has followed the depiction of women in the Australian media, political, and public spheres, or who has suffered or witnessed gendered violence in the private realm. The collection is divided into six sections: “Exposures,” “The space inside his fist,” “Listen, bitch,” “The Night Book,” “Fugal States,” and “Ventriloquies.” The power of Smith’s poetry to reveal shocking truths reaches boiling point midway through the book. Yet, even after this scalding surge, the verse still simmers with subtle force.' (Introduction)
-
Splinters of Blood: Reading Melinda Smith’s Man-handled and Heather TaylorJohnson’s Rhymes with Hyenas
2021
single work
review
essay
— Appears in: Social Alternatives , October vol. 40 no. 3 2021; (p. 47-51) 'Sometimes, words are as sharp as blood. A red drop falls in slow motion, hits the pristine white tiles of the kitchen floor and explodes like a thousand splinters. Each of Smith’s words has been sharpened this way; it has been meticulously drawn ‘forth through that / needle’s eye’ and assembled to compose the six parts that form her collection Man-handled. Its third part (a previously published found-text chapbook entitled Listen, bitch) physically locates violence — the voices and attitudes that repeatedly dehumanise, strip naked and turn others into pounds of fresh meat — at the core of the collection.' (Introduction)
