[REVIEW] Give a Girl Chaos by Heidi Seaborn

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(Mastodon Books, 2019)

REVIEW BY CARLA BOTHA

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The end of another year is always a good time for reflection upon the chaos we all had to battle in order to survive. Give a Girl Chaos is Heidi Seaborn’s first full-length collection of poetry and is a tribute to the chaos around us. Her poems explore and celebrate the world with all its infinite chaos — disasters both personal and public, in this striking collection filled with pain and joy.  Not only is her work visually appealing, but every poem is carefully constructed as it navigates the space on the pages with choice syntax and diction, internal rhyme, metaphor use–lines and stanzas are easy to comprehend, and don’t demand a guessing game.

Readers will discover a hidden gem inside every poem, which makes it surprisingly easy to trust the poet on this journey of chaos. With unexpected twists and turns into the unknown, Seaborn delicately reminds her readers that turmoil is part of the world we live in, and shows how beauty, disappointment and invisible, sometimes visible forces of nature can surprise us, if we are willing to take a good look at the world around us.  The poem “Stop Motion” shares some of this beauty and disappointment all at once, but I am not going to give it all away, this is just a little taste of what is awaiting the reader:

 

Once in Santa Cruz

hundreds of monarchs swirled

around me

flirted

with eyelashes          fingers

then flew to Mexico.

 

 

Clutter of paper tigers

 

spread across a canvas of snow.

 

Wings fanned in all directions             frozen

in flight.

 

Sometimes we fail to see the signs— …

 

As a poet who has lived all over the world it’s clear that Seaborn doesn’t like the limitation of borders, this can be observed throughout her work. Her personal recollection of boundless experiences become poignant poems discussing a diverse selection of themes not often seen paired together, as many poets nowadays habitually, maybe unconsciously choose to focus mainly on one specific theme. Give a Girl Chaos challenges this phenomenon as it “breaks the rules” by reaching outside the confines of a ‘one theme collection’ — one of the main reasons why this makes for a fantastic read.  Divorce, sexual assault, earthquakes, bomb explosions, falling in love again, watching her children grow up, experiencing Thailand, Nepal, Mexico, the Arab-Spring in Egypt, drought in Tanzania. The last poem “How It Ends” brings this collection full circle, “Ah, the hopes of hornets, / you and me.  The road ends here.”  Seaborn gives her readers a tool for survival, which will remind them of how to endure chaos long after they have finished this collection.

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Carla Botha lives and work in the United Arab Emirates.  She is currently pursuing an MFA in poetry through NYU’s low residency program in Paris. She also serves on the editorial board of the Painted Bride Quarterly.  When she doesn’t work, she prefers to spend time at home with her four dogs, tail-less cat and a cup of black coffee.