The Gallery of Upside Down Women

by Arundhathi Subramaniam

Arundhathi Subramaniam’s poems map a wobbling world, trying to find its axis in a season of change. Fabrics tear, lands splinter, stances harden, loved ones die, names dissolve. But wandering through these pages are some extraordinary women – women who vault nimbly over borders, walk naked, walk aslant, and sometimes upside down.


Leaping from the past into a global present, these exuberant voices offer tips on how to retain one’s spine through life’s giddiest rollercoaster rides. Blurring the divide between the mundane and the magical, the historical and the imaginary, they point to a new world that might lie within the folds of the old. A world that requires a new set of how to find the right nicknames, how to ‘gatecrash into the present’, how to ‘go skinny-dipping in the self’. These are songs of bewilderment, insight and startling freedom.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

Published May 20, 2025

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another find courtesy of the Ceylon Lit Fest. The second section of this collection was my favourite (specifically, 'Unstained By White' and 'The Maker Of Indigo Poems').

Overall quite a refreshing read; I've mostly only read western poetry + Ocean Vuong, so diving into South Asian writing was a nice change. Came across quite a few names I haven't heard of before, all of which I really want to read up more on.

A random image that really stuck with me from 'The Dog In The Manhattan Elevator' -
"just elevator door meeting elevator door meeting
elevator door

all opening
at precisely the same moment"

[Indra · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Gallery of Upside-Down Women is a poetic tribute to women whose lives, actions, and voices upset the usual order— This is not a book that one will understand in one go or first reading. Rather, it’s a deep book that needs deeper reflection/ discussion or a guide.
My rating is going to change, as and when I re-read the book.