How to live: An exploration of poetry and female literature
“I've definitely been inspired by writers I discovered through studying English literature”, says Rickerby, who studied a BA in English Literature and Art History followed by a Master of Arts in English at Wellington in the late 1990s. “The longest poem in the book is a prose poem in the form of a numbered technical report, which is a deconstructed biography of Victorian novelist George Eliot”.
The harmony between Rickerby’s poetry and knowledge of English literature was praised by critic Emeritus Professor Lydia Wevers. “How to Live is a collection of witty and readable poems on the poetic and philosophical questions inherent in the title, especially as they relate to the lives of women writers, and it is a bold experiment in the boundaries of poetic form,” she says.
Associate Professor Dr Anna Jackson from the University’s English Literature programme is among the people who endorse the new collection. “This is probably the most important and extraordinary volume of poetry to be published in New Zealand this millennium so far,” says Dr Jackson.
The collection has been met with compliments but was not without its challenges, as Rickerby explored poetic forms and researched literature. “I had ideas of what I wanted to do in the poems, but wasn't quite sure how, and wasn't quite sure if I could. I have this idea that you need to learn how to write not once but over and over again”, she explains.
But Rickerby hopes that people who read the poems will respond: “I hope it might make them think about some of the things I'm exploring: how they want to live, what makes them happy, the situation of women in society—both in the past and now”.
How to Live, an excerpt:
I found her when I went looking for the philosophers who were also women. Where were they? You find them as soon as you look. Perhaps not many – few had the opportunity, the education, the space, and of the few, fewer are remembered. History has that way of erasing women—women are so forgettable—and of the few who are remembered, many are called something else: prophetess, wise woman, mystic, witch. Writer. We all know what a philosopher looks like: he has a beard, a robe, and carries a staff. We all know what a philosopher looks like: he has a serious look and two-day stubble above his turtleneck sweater.
Notes on the unsilent woman Hipparchia of Maroneia c.350–c.280 BC