Six days, six women poets, one poem.
This year, for International Women’s Day 2024, six women poets gathered together to create a collective poem through the method, “Exquisite Corpse” - an old, parlour game in which each participant takes turns writing or drawing on a sheet, folds the paper to conceal their contribution and passes it on to the next player to further contribute. Exquisite Corpse gained popularity in the 1920s when artists of the Surrealist movement adopted this as a technique to create collaborative compositions.
The Premise:
An open call was held, seeking three women poets, writers, and/or multidisciplinary artists that work with poetry and text. By the deadline date, due to high interest, an additional two poets slots were added to create a six-poet collaboration for a six-day period, in the lead up to International Women’s Day 2024.
Each poet was assigned a verse number through randomisation and had 24 hours to write a four-lined verse to the themes WOMANHOOD / INSPIRE INCLUSION (the official theme of IWD 2024). Their last word of their last line is the single ‘connector’ for the next poet to start their verse with. Nobody (including the moderator and one of the six poets of the game) knew the others’ verses, and only after the final poet sent in her verse, was the poem fully assembled and then published.
An answer waiting to unfold,
No single path can define what a woman is.
As life, the mystery persists,
Everyone holds the
TRUTH
lies—
—dormant in our cells
Waiting to be awaken
by our Matriarchs’
CALL
your name, into the void
Into the ether, and I'll call mine
So next we dream, stare at the stars
We may stand together, with the
ECHOES
of my ancestors reverberate in my daughter’s eyes,
Warm brown pools of curiosity that see all of the cracks and caveats in a society that doesn’t make sense.
I look at her and see past, present and future iterations of ancestral identities.
Her inheritance will be a hope inspired by heritage and heartache; a home built by the women that came before her, breaking and remaking foundations and
FAMILY,
flood gates, watch the water bend, like damn, dolly
I will always love you, but I’m not what you need. Remember when I
first learned to swim? 1974 scaling the deep end. Flipping our hair to match
wagoner’s pompadour? Underwater, I couldn't understand what you
SAID
the whispering wind to the ancient trees
she is the carrier of the world
rooted in the fierce anchor of womanhood
so divine, faultless, and powerful.
— Fatima Sastre, Jessie Jing, Isolde, Jess Trần Boyd, Lisette Boer, Aminata Talawally (in order of verses)
(In order of verses)
Endnote:
My sincere gratitude to the five poets, Fatima, Isolde, Jess, Lisette, and Aminata, whom have joined me in this poetry collaboration for International Women’s Day 2024! It was quite spectacular to witness the poem come together in the end, and to read everyone’s heartfelt words. Thank you for your passion and contribution!
I would also like to thank everyone that has submitted their interest for this collaboration - I look forward to bringing to life more poetry collaborations in the near future.
May we continue honouring all the women in our lives, and outside of them, on and beyond International Women’s Day.
—Jessie.