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Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods
I want to give this book to the people I love, and say to them, memorize this, never forget. - Jeet ThayilEach poem promises the sharpness of broken sea-shells, the smell of brine. In this collection, Tishani Doshi inhabits the different her childhood, the body, cities that were passed through, cycles of rain. There are poems of celebration and homages, as there are poems lamenting human cruelty and dispassion. This is also a book of travel and of homecoming, of familiar decay and startling, haunting discoveries of our oldest themes of love, grief, suffering and anger.
104 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 25, 2017
29 people are currently reading
1130 people want to read
About the author
Tishani Doshi
16 books177 followersTishani Doshi (born 1975) is an Indian poet, journalist and dancer based in Chennai. Born in Madras, India, to a Welsh mother and Gujarati father, she received an Eric Gregory Award in 2001. Her first poetry collection, Countries of the Body, won the 2006 Forward Poetry Prize for best first collection.[1] She has been invited to the poetry galas of the Guardian-sponsored Hay Festival of 2006 and the Cartagena Hay Festival of 2007. Her first novel, The Pleasure Seekers, was published by Bloomsbury in 2010 and was long-listed for the Orange Prize in 2011,[2] and shortlisted for The Hindu Best Fiction Award in 2010.
She writes a blog titled "Hit or Miss" on Cricinfo,[3] a cricket-related website. In the blog which she started writing in April 2009, Tishani Doshi makes observations and commentaries as a television viewer of the second season of the Indian Premier League. She is also collaborating with cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan on his biography, to be published when he retires.[4]
She works as a freelance writer and worked with choreographer Chandralekha until the latter's death in December 2006.[5] She graduated with a Masters degree in creative writing from the Johns Hopkins University.
Countries of the Body was launched in 2006 at the Hay-on-Wye festival on a platform with Seamus Heaney, Margaret Atwood, and others. The opening poem, The Day we went to the Sea, won the 2005 British Council supported All India Poetry Competition; she was also a finalist in the Outlook-Picador Non-Fiction Competition.
Her short story Lady Cassandra, Spartacus and the dancing man was published in its entirety in the journal The Drawbridge in 2007.[6]
Her most recent book of poetry, Everything Begins Elsewhere[7] was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2013.
Her newest book, The Adulterous Citizen – poems stories essays (2015) was launched at the 13th annual St. Martin Book Fair by House of Nehesi Publishers, making Tishani Doshi the first important author from India to be published in the Caribbean.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tishani_...
She writes a blog titled "Hit or Miss" on Cricinfo,[3] a cricket-related website. In the blog which she started writing in April 2009, Tishani Doshi makes observations and commentaries as a television viewer of the second season of the Indian Premier League. She is also collaborating with cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan on his biography, to be published when he retires.[4]
She works as a freelance writer and worked with choreographer Chandralekha until the latter's death in December 2006.[5] She graduated with a Masters degree in creative writing from the Johns Hopkins University.
Countries of the Body was launched in 2006 at the Hay-on-Wye festival on a platform with Seamus Heaney, Margaret Atwood, and others. The opening poem, The Day we went to the Sea, won the 2005 British Council supported All India Poetry Competition; she was also a finalist in the Outlook-Picador Non-Fiction Competition.
Her short story Lady Cassandra, Spartacus and the dancing man was published in its entirety in the journal The Drawbridge in 2007.[6]
Her most recent book of poetry, Everything Begins Elsewhere[7] was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2013.
Her newest book, The Adulterous Citizen – poems stories essays (2015) was launched at the 13th annual St. Martin Book Fair by House of Nehesi Publishers, making Tishani Doshi the first important author from India to be published in the Caribbean.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tishani_...
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
September 19, 2022
A collection of realistic, modern poetry presenting different themes including musings and lots of word play.
I would say the word play was given more importance and it seemed like the lines were written without much thought.
I find most of the poems dull and rushed.
I find the writing quite surface level than what it meant to convey what the lines were trying to convey.
My only favourite part was the poem with the same title as the book.
However, I appreciate the themes on women, family, background and culture, and also the sarcasm which I do not know it was just me who took it that way.
I didn't like most of the phrases and expressions. They seemed quite immature and not needed at all.
I would say the word play was given more importance and it seemed like the lines were written without much thought.
I find most of the poems dull and rushed.
I find the writing quite surface level than what it meant to convey what the lines were trying to convey.
My only favourite part was the poem with the same title as the book.
However, I appreciate the themes on women, family, background and culture, and also the sarcasm which I do not know it was just me who took it that way.
I didn't like most of the phrases and expressions. They seemed quite immature and not needed at all.
April 6, 2018
I can imagine some of these poems to be in school textbooks. Won't that be a delight?
June 5, 2018
This collection unfurled and swept me along immediately – I initially read the collection in one sitting – the poems flow smoothly and beautiful into one other – then went back to bask in the heat of separate poems. This feels like Doshi’s most personal poetry collection yet (Brother, Husband, Father are scattered amongst the poems) and possibly it is due to this that I found them all the more absorbing and alluring. Doshi expertly sets the scene and pulls you deeply into the moment. There is something nostalgic, static, maybe even decadent, about some of the poems. Danger, darkness, fear, despair, the bleakness of monsoon (‘even the rain/begins to feel fatigued’) are counterbalanced by desire, detail, intense empathy, breathtaking (and startling) imagery and musicality. These are poems rooted in the sea, nature and the earthy quality of the body - they speak to the body. This is a collection that contains impassioned questions about womanhood, politics and the world at large. An excellent, intelligent collection - her best yet!
April 10, 2022
"I allow myself a moment of despair before swaddling my being in stinky sheets.."
Damn, this felt like reading a dead witch's tattered diary. What a stormy and penetrative take on womanhood, society, love, death, and more.
It was as if the fumes of Toshi's stinging phrases and frigid metaphors condensed and left behind a waft of stale cigarette smoke inside my mind.
It may sound abstract, but I found her writing to be a smooth blend of Dickinson's heated passion and Eliot's cold smirk.
Highly recommend this to anyone who loves macabre modern poetry and does not get squeamish easily :-)
Damn, this felt like reading a dead witch's tattered diary. What a stormy and penetrative take on womanhood, society, love, death, and more.
It was as if the fumes of Toshi's stinging phrases and frigid metaphors condensed and left behind a waft of stale cigarette smoke inside my mind.
It may sound abstract, but I found her writing to be a smooth blend of Dickinson's heated passion and Eliot's cold smirk.
Highly recommend this to anyone who loves macabre modern poetry and does not get squeamish easily :-)
July 31, 2019
O zero, O body, O yes, I know enough
about the universe to know I carry it
within me, but what I really need
is to get out of this yoga vortex.
Tell me: was it necessary to bite that girl
in school when all she was being
is friendly? And why in life's tough
moments did I need to just lie down?
What does that say about decency?
--From The View from Inside My Coffin
Doshi's subjects are not new -- she writes about mortality, what it means to exist in the world at this moment in time, love, loss, imperialism, violence against women -- though they are all themes that are central to our lives. But the way she approaches her subjects is energetic, consistently original, and challenging. Though she occasionally uses form, her style runs to medium-length, free-verse poems, full of vivid imagery and forceful of emotions. Like in the piece I quoted above, she is irreverent, and challenges herself as well as her reader. Many of these poems stood out to me, and I was really glad I bought this collection: it's an important piece of writing, and I want to read more by this writer.
about the universe to know I carry it
within me, but what I really need
is to get out of this yoga vortex.
Tell me: was it necessary to bite that girl
in school when all she was being
is friendly? And why in life's tough
moments did I need to just lie down?
What does that say about decency?
--From The View from Inside My Coffin
Doshi's subjects are not new -- she writes about mortality, what it means to exist in the world at this moment in time, love, loss, imperialism, violence against women -- though they are all themes that are central to our lives. But the way she approaches her subjects is energetic, consistently original, and challenging. Though she occasionally uses form, her style runs to medium-length, free-verse poems, full of vivid imagery and forceful of emotions. Like in the piece I quoted above, she is irreverent, and challenges herself as well as her reader. Many of these poems stood out to me, and I was really glad I bought this collection: it's an important piece of writing, and I want to read more by this writer.
February 9, 2023
God I love poetry! I love it. This ignited something in me that I thought missing. That’s the review.
April 20, 2019
"We turn inwards
announce how patiently
we’ve waited for this uprooting.
Now that damaged petals of hibiscus
drown the terrace stones,
we must kneel together and gather.
This is how desire works:
splintering first, then joining."
.
.
"They didn't know you could make perfume
from rain, that human blood was more fattening
than beer. But their fears were ripe and lucent,
their clods of children plentiful, and God
walked among them, knitting sweaters
for injured chevaliers. Will you tell them
how everything that's been said is worth
saying again? How the body is helicoidal,
spiriting on and on
How it is only ever through the will of nose,
bronchiole, trachea, lung,
that breath outpaces
any sadness
of tongue"
.
.
RATINGS:
Everything Begins Elsewhere: 4.5/5
Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods: 5/5.
.
.
I thought it prudent to include so many poems and excerpts of poems in a review about poetry to give a better sense of the poet's work as I find it hard to describe it in words myself. Tishani Doshi's poetry is unassuming in its quiet intensity and they sweep you off of your feet without you realising it. There is an emphasis on nature that is striking along with repeated reminders of our shared humanness. One of the reasons she is one of my favourite poets is because she has this capacity to seemingly effortlessly evoke deep emotion with just the turn of a line. There is a musical lyricality to her works that I rarely find in contemporary poetry. I have had the honour of listening her recite her poems live on multiple occasions; the performative aspect of her poetry makes it an even better experience. I highly recommend you to go and watch a session titled "Performance" from JLF 2019 on YouTube. I always feel grateful to the past version of me who bought her second collection randomly without thinking on Flipkart because it had a great discount. My copies of the two books, now signed, are something I will always cherish and I cannot wait for future collections.
announce how patiently
we’ve waited for this uprooting.
Now that damaged petals of hibiscus
drown the terrace stones,
we must kneel together and gather.
This is how desire works:
splintering first, then joining."
.
.
"They didn't know you could make perfume
from rain, that human blood was more fattening
than beer. But their fears were ripe and lucent,
their clods of children plentiful, and God
walked among them, knitting sweaters
for injured chevaliers. Will you tell them
how everything that's been said is worth
saying again? How the body is helicoidal,
spiriting on and on
How it is only ever through the will of nose,
bronchiole, trachea, lung,
that breath outpaces
any sadness
of tongue"
.
.
RATINGS:
Everything Begins Elsewhere: 4.5/5
Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods: 5/5.
.
.
I thought it prudent to include so many poems and excerpts of poems in a review about poetry to give a better sense of the poet's work as I find it hard to describe it in words myself. Tishani Doshi's poetry is unassuming in its quiet intensity and they sweep you off of your feet without you realising it. There is an emphasis on nature that is striking along with repeated reminders of our shared humanness. One of the reasons she is one of my favourite poets is because she has this capacity to seemingly effortlessly evoke deep emotion with just the turn of a line. There is a musical lyricality to her works that I rarely find in contemporary poetry. I have had the honour of listening her recite her poems live on multiple occasions; the performative aspect of her poetry makes it an even better experience. I highly recommend you to go and watch a session titled "Performance" from JLF 2019 on YouTube. I always feel grateful to the past version of me who bought her second collection randomly without thinking on Flipkart because it had a great discount. My copies of the two books, now signed, are something I will always cherish and I cannot wait for future collections.
December 27, 2021
When I Was Still a Poet
When I was still a poet
I used to dream of rivers.
Flowers had names and
purpose. Small birds
the shape of scars
made nests in braziers
of sky. Now that I
have given up,
afternoons dry
as raisin skins scrub
by. Thieves approach.
Dogs bark. Love springs
from dirt like carrots.
When I was still a poet
I used to dream of rivers.
Flowers had names and
purpose. Small birds
the shape of scars
made nests in braziers
of sky. Now that I
have given up,
afternoons dry
as raisin skins scrub
by. Thieves approach.
Dogs bark. Love springs
from dirt like carrots.
August 3, 2021
Reading these poems feels like opening yourself to the sea: if there’s romance there, then terror is on the other side of the wave swell. In a year of so much confinement, the poems steeped in travel are generous emissaries, bringing vertigo, euphoria, lapfuls of roses. Layered in each word, very almost, is intricate ceremony: what we do with our dead, what we might do when we go. Doshi honours all bones, animal and human.
“I offer you my skin,
which is the same as offering you the
universe that breathes wild, through leather,
that sews our stomachs to gunny bags of
love.”
2/31
#TheSealeyChallenge
“I offer you my skin,
which is the same as offering you the
universe that breathes wild, through leather,
that sews our stomachs to gunny bags of
love.”
2/31
#TheSealeyChallenge
August 9, 2025
I feel awfully conflicted in my feelings towards this book. I just finished reading it a moment ago and I feel like the existing reviews oversold the book to me. The book started out great, I felt like I found the next book to gush over but some where barely after 20 pages I started losing connect with Tishani Doshi's writing. A lot of her poems in this collection don't exist independently and rely on writers, celebrities, artists that affected her, a lot of googling had to be done for poems to make sense. While her writing is beautiful, my copy is heavily underlined, the sentences felt disjointed to me. The beginning of some poems had nothing to do with their end or middle stanzas. I cannot put the entire blame for my bitter-sweet experience with the book on the poet, I am partly at fault too. I went in looking for a poetic respite but I was met with dark writing that paints a vivid imagery that is capable of suffocating a person. She'll make your life appear as fragile as a " lifeless Malacca snake discarded from the fisherman's net," she will talk about making you attain happiness and will tell you that the only way to do is to give your child to someone else or let go of the person you love the most in the absence of a child. Death and darkness take up the centre stage in her poems. I thought I'll be getting to read about females revolting against patriarchy because of the cover and the title, which is there but only as much as the other themes. I don't know if its right to comment on a writer's style when it comes to poetry and calling for its need to change but as a reader, these poems could have made such a lasting impact had they been more polished. I have never been the one to care much for big and fancy vocabulary which is found in abundance in this collection, another reason I could not savour this book like I wanted to.
July 20, 2019
Utterly vibrant poems. The title poem ‘Girls are Coming Out of the Woods’ is a masterpiece for our times, an anthem written with the nerves if nerves are exploding stars. You must see the dance version too, it doesn’t matter how often I watch it I still feel awed and in awe of Doshi’s gifts.
May 21, 2023
Asian Readathon 2023: Read a book written by an Asian author.
September 22, 2019
I was lucky enough to be loaned this book by a friend. She knew I would love "Ode to Patrick Swayze" and she was right...I fell in love right then and there. Floating through the poems are all the things that interest me about this crazy, beautiful life: murmurations of starlings (synchronistically mentioned the very same day I read that poem), devotion...so much devotion, love "always and only is a poem about love." (pg67), the beauty of decay, nature's lush infinity, viola de gambas (she knows!), mudras, death, incandescence, epiphanies. The Monsoon poem is in my blood. I will also never look at a suit lapel in the same way again...I hope the author comes to the Blue Mountains again so I can meet her in person and I would very much love to see her dance. I would imagine that it would be clear to feel and see the poetry in her body like Beloved Walt Whitman once said, "and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body." I have not been touched by words like this in some time and I think it is because they have been written by an embodied poet...much like my feeling (and review ) of Mary Oliver. So beautiful. Such pleasure.
September 18, 2021
What an exceptional collection of poetry! It is at once compelling, urgent, devastating, and deeply resonating. Doshi crafts imagery that remains with the reader long after putting down the book. The first poem acts as a plea with readers, or (in her own words), as a contract: "Don't kill me, Reader. / This neck has been working for years / to harden itself against the axe."
The poetry collection intertwines detailed imagery with an almost relaxed compulsion then will seamlessly juxtapose it against shattering revelations (ahem, critique) of human conditions. There is a majestic suave as well as a satirical tartness which occupies her work.
As a reader, I was shocked reading poem by poem and immensely engrossed throughout. I thoroughly adored this book and certainly look forward to reading more of Doshi's books. "Girls are Coming out of the Woods" is a poetry collection that I wanted to re-read as soon as I finished it and I do look forward to the day that I will reread it in leisure.
The poetry collection intertwines detailed imagery with an almost relaxed compulsion then will seamlessly juxtapose it against shattering revelations (ahem, critique) of human conditions. There is a majestic suave as well as a satirical tartness which occupies her work.
As a reader, I was shocked reading poem by poem and immensely engrossed throughout. I thoroughly adored this book and certainly look forward to reading more of Doshi's books. "Girls are Coming out of the Woods" is a poetry collection that I wanted to re-read as soon as I finished it and I do look forward to the day that I will reread it in leisure.
May 31, 2025
The extra star is only because of the fact that the author attempted to address themes such as womanhood and female empowerment (which are close to my heart). Noble as the intent was, this collection of poems fell short of its intended purpose for me. It felt like a lot of beautiful words were strung together in an attempt to create a picture for the reader...until it didn't. Most of them begin well. Until the author suddenly shifts from her eloquent imagery, leaving the reader stupefied. For example: there is a poem where there is a beautiful line about the 'horizon unstitching itself from the sky'...such a beautiful picture. and then abruptly, there is a mention of 'piss'. This happens in multiple poems in different ways. The only poem I liked was "O great beauties ". I realize my opinion may be an unpopular one that may have come from a place of not understanding what the author was trying to convey. I am open to trying to understand it. Especially since every review I found was praising the book and it's themes. Most of the reviews were comparatively more enjoyable to read than the book!
The cover of the book is beautiful, credit where it's due.
The cover of the book is beautiful, credit where it's due.
April 7, 2020
3.5 stars
Doshi's is a poetry collection that handles gender-based violence, sexuality, and the body through lyrical verse. Told in scenes of fable-like qualities, in Monsoon season, on trains. Many recurring motifs like stray dogs, bad men, gardens. A few really special ones, many I won't remember.
Doshi's is a poetry collection that handles gender-based violence, sexuality, and the body through lyrical verse. Told in scenes of fable-like qualities, in Monsoon season, on trains. Many recurring motifs like stray dogs, bad men, gardens. A few really special ones, many I won't remember.
November 20, 2019
The titular poem is particularly powerful and emotive
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
October 6, 2025
the type of collection that i'll be compelled to return to repeatedly throughout my life.
December 21, 2020
(3.5) Savoured and re-read over a year. More than entire poems, I'm in love with certain phrases or sentences within these poems. The block of text format doesn't always work for me, but there are some glorious powerful women marching the pages of this collection, waiting to stare into your eyes and reach into your ribs each time you open the book.
January 26, 2021
A Decadent feeling, Basking at times with a tinge of Nostalgia, Longingness and meloncholoy
.
If death appals you, these woods are no place for you to take a stroll. You can sense the screeching and vicous menacing of the grim reaper's presence between the lines as you delve deeply
.
Why is an ache burrowing in my heart as I flip these pages, why does painfully carved poetries of honour killing, rape and forced marriages rip me apart
.
Read these lines for yourself and allow it to scar you for life
……….Girls are
coming out of the woods lifting
Their broken legs high, leaking secrets
From unfastened thighs, all the lies
whispered by strangers and swimming
coaches, and uncles, especially uncles
.
Why does this feel familiar?
Why does this bring my lungs to a screeching halt?
Why is there an aura of nostalgia dragging me by the hair to horrendous memories I've burried deep down?
Why is there an undying need to soothen the hurt and pain of everywoman who has known what this fear is?
.
Doshi, you lyrical magician, how did you possibly craft these lines. Like, you said, language is indefinitely a peculiar destiny, and I was destined to rip my heart reading these lines
And what can be said about darkness after all?
About men who board buses with iron rods?
What can be said about the dragging and laying
of bodies to earth? Of landfills of lacerated breasts
And vaginal scree, of girls hanging from a mango tree?
.
Let me go wail in silence, and in the meantime why don't you read this book?
.
If death appals you, these woods are no place for you to take a stroll. You can sense the screeching and vicous menacing of the grim reaper's presence between the lines as you delve deeply
.
Why is an ache burrowing in my heart as I flip these pages, why does painfully carved poetries of honour killing, rape and forced marriages rip me apart
.
Read these lines for yourself and allow it to scar you for life
……….Girls are
coming out of the woods lifting
Their broken legs high, leaking secrets
From unfastened thighs, all the lies
whispered by strangers and swimming
coaches, and uncles, especially uncles
.
Why does this feel familiar?
Why does this bring my lungs to a screeching halt?
Why is there an aura of nostalgia dragging me by the hair to horrendous memories I've burried deep down?
Why is there an undying need to soothen the hurt and pain of everywoman who has known what this fear is?
.
Doshi, you lyrical magician, how did you possibly craft these lines. Like, you said, language is indefinitely a peculiar destiny, and I was destined to rip my heart reading these lines
And what can be said about darkness after all?
About men who board buses with iron rods?
What can be said about the dragging and laying
of bodies to earth? Of landfills of lacerated breasts
And vaginal scree, of girls hanging from a mango tree?
.
Let me go wail in silence, and in the meantime why don't you read this book?
December 29, 2018
Poetry is so subjective not just to the topic but also the readers state of mind when reading. I would say 3 1/2 stars. The book is engaging and interesting. A few poems even stopped me in my tracks and really made me think and ponder. Worth the read.
January 29, 2019
i felt like this didnt work as a collection, the poems just seemed to be mostly pushed together!!
February 21, 2023
This collection of poems by Tishani Doshi is truly magnificent, and I find myself constantly drawn to its powerful themes and thought-provoking questions. Doshi delves into the complexities of mortality, violence, patriarchy, identity, love, loss, and more with an uncommon sensitivity and poetic beauty that leaves a lasting impression. I have read and re-read these poems, and some have even become a part of me, lodged deep in my memory because they are so haunting and difficult to forget.
One of the most striking aspects of this collection is the way it gives voice to suppressed emotions, particularly those surrounding the atrocities and violence directed towards women.
Here’s an excerpt from the poem Abandon-
There must be a word for the walk
home at night. Your belongings in two bags,
feet in mud. For a family thinking they will return.
Maybe the house still stands. Maybe the sea.
The dead leave no clues about what lies beyond.
We call it eternal. We call it now.
In the title poem, Doshi channels a raw and potent rage that not only exposes the horror of such violence but also offers a sense of hope that it can be overcome. The girls in the woods are not alone, and the poem suggests that with collective action and solidarity, they can emerge victorious. This message of empowerment is particularly relevant today, given the current social and political climate we find ourselves in.
Here’s an excerpt-
Girls are coming out
of the woods the way birds arrive
at morning windows- peeking
and humming, until all you can hear
is the smash of their minuscule hearts
against glass, the bright desperation
of sound- bashing, disappearing.
I would highly recommend this collection of poems to anyone looking for a bold and empowering voice that speaks truth to power.
What makes this collection truly special is its ability to evoke a sense of home and belonging within its verses. The words have a way of resonating with readers, drawing them in and making them feel seen and understood. It’s a rare gift to have a book that can offer such comfort and solace, and this collection of poems does just that.
Tishani Doshi’s work is a testament to the enduring power of poetry to illuminate the darkest corners of the human experience and offer hope in even the bleakest of circumstances.
One of the most striking aspects of this collection is the way it gives voice to suppressed emotions, particularly those surrounding the atrocities and violence directed towards women.
Here’s an excerpt from the poem Abandon-
There must be a word for the walk
home at night. Your belongings in two bags,
feet in mud. For a family thinking they will return.
Maybe the house still stands. Maybe the sea.
The dead leave no clues about what lies beyond.
We call it eternal. We call it now.
In the title poem, Doshi channels a raw and potent rage that not only exposes the horror of such violence but also offers a sense of hope that it can be overcome. The girls in the woods are not alone, and the poem suggests that with collective action and solidarity, they can emerge victorious. This message of empowerment is particularly relevant today, given the current social and political climate we find ourselves in.
Here’s an excerpt-
Girls are coming out
of the woods the way birds arrive
at morning windows- peeking
and humming, until all you can hear
is the smash of their minuscule hearts
against glass, the bright desperation
of sound- bashing, disappearing.
I would highly recommend this collection of poems to anyone looking for a bold and empowering voice that speaks truth to power.
What makes this collection truly special is its ability to evoke a sense of home and belonging within its verses. The words have a way of resonating with readers, drawing them in and making them feel seen and understood. It’s a rare gift to have a book that can offer such comfort and solace, and this collection of poems does just that.
Tishani Doshi’s work is a testament to the enduring power of poetry to illuminate the darkest corners of the human experience and offer hope in even the bleakest of circumstances.
December 30, 2020
I will need to buy this book, I so enjoyed my library copy. Poetry about time and memory, travel, writing, dogs and the title poem about violence against women are all exquisite. To see what i mean, watch the poet/dancer perform the title poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHhrW...
Not only impressive diction, but the rhymes and rhythms reflect her dance background.
"What the Sea Brought In
Tishani Doshi
Brooms, brassieres, empty bottles
of booze. The tip of my brother’s
missing forefinger. Bulbs, toothpaste caps,
instruments for grooming. Chestnuts,
carcass of coconut, crows, crabs.
Three dying fish, four dead grandparents.
Slippers of every stripe: rubber, leather,
Rexine, felt. Rope, mollusc, baleen, foam.
Two ghost children foraging their way
home. The Bootchie Man, budgerigars,
a pack of poor poisoned dogs. Keys,
spoons, singular socks. Virginity returned
in a chastity box. Letters of love,
letters of lust, the 1980s, funeral dust.
What the sea brought in was enough
to fill museums—decapitated marigold,
broken nautilus, a betrayed school friend
stuck in the dunes like the legs of Ozymandias.
Park benches, milk teeth, snake-skins,
cartwheels. Somewhere in the many years
of waking given over to sleep: a cavalcade
of cognitions, a mustard jumpsuit.
If everything we’ve lost were to return
with the sea, how simply we could offer
our sun-scarred lives, our soiled mattresses.
Such solace to know that barnacles house
empires, that the feral creature of love
grows from gravestones of breakers,
blooms like wildflowers in the fetch."
Not only impressive diction, but the rhymes and rhythms reflect her dance background.
"What the Sea Brought In
Tishani Doshi
Brooms, brassieres, empty bottles
of booze. The tip of my brother’s
missing forefinger. Bulbs, toothpaste caps,
instruments for grooming. Chestnuts,
carcass of coconut, crows, crabs.
Three dying fish, four dead grandparents.
Slippers of every stripe: rubber, leather,
Rexine, felt. Rope, mollusc, baleen, foam.
Two ghost children foraging their way
home. The Bootchie Man, budgerigars,
a pack of poor poisoned dogs. Keys,
spoons, singular socks. Virginity returned
in a chastity box. Letters of love,
letters of lust, the 1980s, funeral dust.
What the sea brought in was enough
to fill museums—decapitated marigold,
broken nautilus, a betrayed school friend
stuck in the dunes like the legs of Ozymandias.
Park benches, milk teeth, snake-skins,
cartwheels. Somewhere in the many years
of waking given over to sleep: a cavalcade
of cognitions, a mustard jumpsuit.
If everything we’ve lost were to return
with the sea, how simply we could offer
our sun-scarred lives, our soiled mattresses.
Such solace to know that barnacles house
empires, that the feral creature of love
grows from gravestones of breakers,
blooms like wildflowers in the fetch."
Read
December 23, 2022Tishani Doshi’s Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods (Copper Canyon Press) is a haunted and haunting collection full of richly woven narratives of loss and grief and beauty and yearning. The landscapes of Doshi’s poems are so brightly imagined that I can smell their trees and see their flowers. I can hear birds calling, though I wonder, always, whether her birds are leading me to safety or to danger. These poems’ waves spit up Styrofoam and fishing lines and “orphaned slippers” as frequently as food. Their parties offer “rustling table clothes” and wine glasses and puppies and crowds of dead girls. There is humor here, a great deal of it, and horror, too. The poems are packed with the things of this world—and, I will add, they are set in many places. They can’t ignore the realities of the peril so many on this planet face, but these poems are charged by the planet’s life force. They insist on survival.
Review published originally with Orion Magazine: https://orionmagazine.org/2021/05/ten...
Review published originally with Orion Magazine: https://orionmagazine.org/2021/05/ten...
September 6, 2020
[rating = B-]
Mrs. Doshi is a capable poet and her topics are important. She talks about female abuse and how the body is perceived, amongst others. However, I found the design of the book, by Bloodaxe (the second or third biggest poetry publisher in the UK) rather ugly; the white-white pages and the slim borders was off-putting. But I guess that's slightly beside the point. The poem were mostly good; effecting an emotional response and engaging with societal problems and personal history. At times, though (during the later half mainly), the writing was not as sharp, leaning towards more rhyme and obvious connections, inferences, conclusions. Furthermore, she has a way of drawing out a poem: there were several long poems that I couldn't finish for they seemed to drag on... In all, I found her interesting and not too hard to read.
Mrs. Doshi is a capable poet and her topics are important. She talks about female abuse and how the body is perceived, amongst others. However, I found the design of the book, by Bloodaxe (the second or third biggest poetry publisher in the UK) rather ugly; the white-white pages and the slim borders was off-putting. But I guess that's slightly beside the point. The poem were mostly good; effecting an emotional response and engaging with societal problems and personal history. At times, though (during the later half mainly), the writing was not as sharp, leaning towards more rhyme and obvious connections, inferences, conclusions. Furthermore, she has a way of drawing out a poem: there were several long poems that I couldn't finish for they seemed to drag on... In all, I found her interesting and not too hard to read.
October 3, 2018
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
While I enjoyed most of these poems (some more than others as is always the way), it didn't come across as the most accesible collection - which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Doshi has some quite complex structures which (if you click with the content) elevate the poems. There's a great deal of ambivalance and specific musings on cultural identity which I think is a great strength of this collection; as is the acknowledgement and inclusion of women past teenagers. A lot of Doshi's work considers the individual at the lines and corners of what society gives space and representation to, and it's fascinating to read. But I was more fascinated than moved.
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars
While I enjoyed most of these poems (some more than others as is always the way), it didn't come across as the most accesible collection - which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Doshi has some quite complex structures which (if you click with the content) elevate the poems. There's a great deal of ambivalance and specific musings on cultural identity which I think is a great strength of this collection; as is the acknowledgement and inclusion of women past teenagers. A lot of Doshi's work considers the individual at the lines and corners of what society gives space and representation to, and it's fascinating to read. But I was more fascinated than moved.
July 2, 2021
Poetry is so subjective, and I definitely strive to read more of it so I can better appreciate more works. While I struggled a bit to attach meaning to some phrases and to see the connection between all the pieces, I did quite enjoy this collection from Tishani Doshi. My favorite were "What the Sea Brought in," "Girls are Coming out of the Woods," and "To My First White Hairs." Doshi has such talent in syncopating and ascribing rhythm and color to her poems; "What The Seas Brought In" sounded like a song in my head and had a momentum of it's own.
April 22, 2023
Doshi writes plays with words in such a wonderful way, but I felt like there wasn’t a particular purpose in this collection to tie things together. There were themes that focused on women and family, for example, but they weren’t particularly strong. In addition, I wasn’t quite sure about the tone of the collection. Some poems were lyrical and contemplative, while others went the opposite direction.
Ultimately, I wasn’t quite sure what to take away from these poems, and I struggled a little to stay engaged because I wasn’t seeing the through line.
Ultimately, I wasn’t quite sure what to take away from these poems, and I struggled a little to stay engaged because I wasn’t seeing the through line.
November 3, 2019
I bought this book thinking it was focused on violence done to women- some review lead me to believe this. There were a few poems about this. I think stanza breaks are needed. My favorite poems were in the style that had a kernel of wisdom in the last 3 lines, bringing the poem into focus. The dentist poem was awesome! What a keen remark of a tooth x-ray as a stalgamite! Use of repetition was powerful.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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