Customer Reviews

Body Painting

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this book thinking it was about bodypainting - the design, process, and results - of a relatively new visual art form. Don't buy this book if you are interested in the art form itself. This book is actually a collection of poems, and only one poem is about bodypainting. The poems are the author's ruminations about how she views life as a single woman. As far as poetry goes, it does not appeal to me, but I do not doubt the author's sincerity.

These poems blew me away. They capture in exquisitely beautiful language so many experiences that I've had or can relate to. There were moments when reading these poems when a stab went through my heart. Although there's a lot of pain in the poems there's a humor and lightness that moves through them also. I appreciated her frank exploration of sexuality, grief and human relationships.

Jane Hilberry, Body Painting (Red Hen Press, 2005)

One look at the cover of Body Painting-- a lush blonde wearing nothing but, as the title suggests, a fantastic coat of what looks like watercolor-- and you know this is not going to be your usual book of poetry. And it is anything but that. Hilberry's poems alternate between (ad often combine) the sexual and the spiritual, offering up a truly erotic reading experience delivered by someone who actually knows what she's doing with a pen:

"I have a tone inside me
that has not been sounded. Or only once
or twice. Once she went straight to the center
of me, once she could have walked through me
like a tunnel. She could have seen sky
on the other side of me.
I could have washed my hands in sand,
then touched her, turned her to sand.
I'm the opposite of Midas: I want to touch
what's returning to earth. "
("Sand")

An absolutely delicious book, highly recommended. ****

This book has nothing to do with the art of body painting, except for it's cover. It is a book of poetry and it is misleading to advertise this book with those who treat the subject of body painting.

Jane Hilberry paints life's hues with humor,desire, grief. Family and friends, indeed even lovers passing through are described and cherished. The memories of a girl, and a woman's sexuality are placed in context of a life imagined and real. These poems evoke the livings of each of us in a beautiful style and sensitivity.

"The heart has its logic, which logic can't comprehend." Through rich, powerful language and brilliant metaphor, Jane Hilberry beautifully conveys the logic of the heart. Honest, vulnerable, courageous, sensuous, and funny, the poems bring readers closer to the heart of their humanity.