Flood Damages

by Eunice Andrada

Powerful first collection by acclaimed Filipina Australian performance poet In Flood Damages Andrada explores themes associated with immigration and inheritance, through the figure of a young Australian Filipina woman, whose family has been irreparably damaged by deportation, violence and illness. The wounds inflicted by these events, political and personal, are felt most keenly in and through her body – ‘your blood sings of the scattered histories/ that left you here’ – and in a dramatic use of language, influenced by the rhythms of prayer, which expresses pain and anger with passionate intensity. A performance poet, Andrada combines the theatrical qualities of voice and image in this, her first published collection, affirming the female body as a site of vulnerability and power.

Genres: Poetry

86 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read which engages with the immigrant experience in unusual and, at times, difficult ways. Fascinating language at times: "Over the Banzai cliffs of Saipan,/ five children and their kites/ ensnared in the wind,/ hair woven into milkteeth."

[Gemma Mahadeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.5/5)

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning poems! I really loved the depth and range of this collection. Definitely a powerful feminist read

[Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga · Rating 5 out of 5]

A watery collection, tender in delivering its pain

'...I will only find my mouth/ its own country snarled/ in borders' - from 'recognition'

[A Fiore · Rating 3 out of 5]

sometimes quite evocative other times rupi-kaur-instant-instagramable.