Published 2025
ISBN 978-0-995-393998
The ten poems in Your Body showcase the potential of poet and storyteller Christine della Vedova to make a substantial original contribution to Western Australian ecofeminist literature. Grounded in both fairy tales and real-life experience, they explore the pains and joys of a contemporary embodied subject as she experiences connection to – but sadly also disconnection from – her human and more-than-human environment.
On the whole, these poems refrain from overt theorising or preachiness, instead using narrative and imagery to encourage readers to think for themselves. This approach is especially powerful in the strikingly candid ‘Dust’, which reimagines a roadkilled creature as the speaker’s childhood self: ‘In a heart’s / flash, I drove over her.’
As this quotation illustrates, della Vedova writes in a voice that, while clear and plainspoken, also works hard to enchant and intrigue its audience with idiosyncrasy and figurative fire. I look forward to her first full-length collection.
Jackson 