Amy Brown, The Propaganda Poster
Girl, (VUP, Wellington, 2008).
Amy Brown’s first collection of poetry, The Propaganda Poster Girl, is a clearly written rest stop for a weary student, and, as imagined in the poem ‘Brain’, a petrol station for the brain. A creative writing MA graduate, the Biggs Prize-winning poet deals with family, travel, love and most importantly the art and act of writing.
Part I is a window opened into the interior of Brown’s psyche without being overbearingly—how else to put it?— emo. Descriptions of family members, accounts of time spent on a not-always friendly Lyall Bay Beach, and a game of beach cricket with a boyfriend provide backdrops to the poet’s own internal struggles with writing and the past. Dark images creep in unexpectedly: a dead mouse, looming male silhouettes and a sinister Mr Whippy song.
The poems of Part II vividly explore the sights and emotions experienced by the poet as she travelled through Asia. The attitudes of locals, her students, and other travellers obviously had a huge impact, and Brown’s culture shock is most finely detailed in ‘Address Sestina’, comparing the changing concerns of her neighbours.
Part III is more serious in tone and each poem requires closer reading than any in the earlier sections. The poetry is more abstract and is varied in topic; the chapter does not have a central theme. Here are the poems that really stand out, especially ‘A Room of Your Own’ (an ode to the lonely independence of flatting), ‘Siamang’ (a beautifully constructed image of a gibbon), and finally, the topically sobering ‘The Face’.
The Propaganda Poster Girl collection is genuine and thought provoking. As a break from the dredge of essay writing it is enjoyably refreshing. The poetry’s bold imagery and flowing rhythm brought me back to take a closer look at what lies beneath its, at times unsettling, floral surface.