Baptism by Fire
Amy-Jean Muller
Published by Close to the Bone Publishing
5/5
Since the dawn of human communities, desire has driven the ways by which people relate to one another. More specifically, male desire has, by and large, shaped the form and functions of culture. The power of that patriarchal desire, and the inevitable imitation that such desire brings, has always led to rivalry and violence as the desires of one are desired by another. Ancient mythology and religious stories overflow with examples of this mimesis, people killing and expelling those who are deemed a threat to the fulfillment of the desires that so grip us. Amy-Jean Muller, in her poetry collection, Baptism by Fire, masterfully draws attention to these desires but demands that the desires of womanhood are finally heard free from the demands of patriarchy and its false claims upon femininity. Muller rightfully asserts that, throughout history, men have used women merely as objects of their own desire. Baptism by Fire reclaims the female voice, recognising the power women have free from the desires of men: the power she has as her own savior.
Baptism by Fire sparks with religious language throughout, using it to disassemble, subvert, and challenge the misogyny inherent within the texts, stories, and traditions of religion. Muller powerfully dismantles maleness (and the male God) as the supreme salvific ideological goal and calls upon the female to “dissemble the need for a hero to rescue her.”
There are thirty-seven poems in this collection, each one jammed with meaning and purpose: every word deliberate, evocative, and dynamic. Nothing is wasted.
Muller is calling the reader to understand the pain and the creativity that flows unashamedly through womanhood. And the anger. “Patriarchy . . . tolerates very little from it,” Stoya declares in the introduction, and Muller brings attention to that anger, refusing to allow patriarchy to determine or interpret what her work means or what it is saying. Baptism by Fire is its own female work and story that will not be subdued nor understood according to patriarchal themes. It grows and transforms and declares in its own right.
Whilst each poem is a triumph, personal highlights include ‘What Are You Made Of?’, ‘Dead Bush’, and ‘Ceilings and Floors’.
Muller includes a fascinating Epilogue at the end that unpacks the themes and ideas that are infused within Baptism by Fire, as well as annotations that give the reader even further insights.
Jean-Paul Sartre once said that poetry is “outside of language,” the poet’s job is to search for words whose sonority and soul reflect the world rather than provide it with information. In Baptism by Fire, Amy-Jean Muller makes the reader feel and experience, like an artist bringing beauty and pain into our immediate world. This collection radiates and shimmers in the consciousness long after the final page has been turned.
Amazon Purchase link here.