Kate
Braid's most recent book of poetry, Turning Left to the Ladies, published by
Palimpset Press, is a personal account of being a woman working in the
male-dominated construction trade. The
poet has weathered the daily battery of sexism and prejudice from her
co-workers, and built protective walls to hold her position. She endured the initiation of entering her
profession, and her thorough knowledge of the work, tools and terminology
earned her the credentials to write about being on the job, in her own
right.
The
poems move through the speaker's self-doubt, vulnerability, determination and,
finally, acceptance. The poem, "How
She Knows", demonstrates the speaker's dogged strength in a weaker
position as she creates a wall between herself and her co-workers in the face
of inevitable defeat. In the poem,
"Spy", Braid attempts to blend in, to shed the female body and name
and become a fellow worker; to learn more than the trade. The serious subject matter of the book also resonates
through touches of humour and cheek, in the speaker's defiant attempts to
transform from woman to construction worker, and to embrace her inner female
again. This is evident in the poem,
"The Female Form" in the line:
Carpenteress--yes. I work hard at
it, this look/ of the great outdoors, doing the work of men.
Strangely,
the details of construction work in the poems mirror the construction of poetry
in its rhythm of procedure, form, logic and demand for precision. The rhythm and cadence echo a swinging
arm. Braid taps into alliteration and
personification, and explores an intimacy with building tools and the art of
construction. Who knew there was a
wealth of poems in the construction industry?
Braid
has a sincere love and respect for the work, despite the need to disguise her
gender. She re-emerges in her true skin
at the end of her shift, as described in the poems "Day's End" and
"Post-modern Breasts in the Bath".
Slowly, steadily, she abandons her disguise and the poems move into a
celebration of woman, amidst the paradox desire to disappear as woman. The poems ease into a place of acceptance and
a stronger comfort with handling the tools, the men and herself. The hidden female voice emerges, still wary
but with presence.
Kate
Braid will be reading from this collection on Friday, February 5, at The Black
Stilt Cafe at 7:30pm. $3.00 admission.
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