Amy Bodossian is an Adelaide performer and cabaret artist who has recently turned her drawings and words with into her debut poetry book Wide Open. She’s performed at all kinds of festivals, from Adelaide Fringe to Woodford Folk Festival to The Big Day Out, and while that list of stages seems quite impressive, this book is a little right turn from those big places. It takes you into the reaches of the soul.
Wide Open is an intimate poetry book all about love and warmth, but at the same time, we see poems that are erotically strident and fully present that hit the reader in the face. Poems like Over present intimacy in a beautiful way that is peaceful, but a weird sense of rush and intensity through only a few phrases turns that feeling on its head.
There’s some humorous quality to Bodossian’s poems as well, which often relieves the tension and soothes their intensity.
Wide Open is an emotional rollercoaster ride with every turn of the page. With imagery of local Melbourne sprinkled through, Bodossian brings a great familiarity for any local reader who is keen to discover poetry from Australia.
Meditation (Wide Open), a somewhat central poem in the book, hits so emotionally hard you feel you need to take a moment to figure out how you deal with what you’re confronted with. It makes you think about your own relationships, and how to get over your own challenges and life experiences.
Amy Bodossian’s Wide Open is available from her website and all good bookshops. She is also performing at various venues in Australia throughout July. Again, more details from her website.
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