My book of poetry "making the invisible transparent" is now available from The University of Queensland Bookshop, The State Library of Queensland's Library Shop, Folio Books Bookshop, Novel Lines Bookshop (153 LaTrobe Tce, Paddington).
Reviews
The former comfort of a God graced eternity is denied by a claustrophobic modernity - Niemira claims English as 'her new friend' yet a Slavic shamanism inhabits her language - gnomic phrases quiver as at the verge of transforming, if not the world itself, then the shadow it casts on our nerves.
Jeffrey Harpeng
“making
the invisible transparent” is an exciting and surprising first book that
confronts us with horror and beauty as the world does.
i hear the silence
of blue amazement
the thoughtful scream of air
among hunger slavery and war
the thoughtful scream of air
among hunger slavery and war
Agnieszka
Niemira’s poetic voice draws at times on an idiom which will be unfamiliar to
many readers; one that refreshes poetry in English.
Polish is like an old lady who knows how to live
dangerously and
beautifullyPolish is like an old lady who knows how to live
And she
does so in this collection. The variety of forms is impressive, including
haiku, short aphoristic pieces, longer more experimental or abstract work and
vivid vignettes that will be instantly recognizable.
When you are not
with me
I miss you
When you are with me
When you are with me
I miss myself
The poems
spark off each other as well, creating a journey from cover to cover that
should not be missed.
Duncan Richardson
The title
is an exact representation of the content – of the life glimpsed through
mystery. An unknowable understanding of life’s meaning is made known through
Niemira’s poems. I say through, because she does not kill her images, fixing
them with pins of logic so they may be classified only in dead glory. Rather
she uncages her butterflies so the reader catches their meanings from the
corner of the poetic eye, knowing the form of the transparent, but not the
substance. At least that is how it seems. But when a critical gaze is applied
we realise that it is exactly the form of seeming nothingness that brings
meaning to life. One has seen through the paradox to know the unknowable:
the sun calls
me softly
but words hold me
but words hold me
i have written burning frost
they have printed beautiful frost
they have printed beautiful frost
i still write
Niemira’s
images realign the mind, the true stuff of poetry inhabits her work.
Mark Svendsen
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