Description
Helen Rickerby’s How to Live (2019) is a genre-blurring poetry collection that explores the lives of “unsilent women” throughout history to seek philosophical and practical answers on how to live a good life. The work won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the 2020 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Core Themes and Structure
The “Unsilent Women”: The collection engages in dialogue with historical female figures who were often silenced or viewed as “monstrous” for speaking. These include:
Hipparchia of Maroneia: An ancient Greek Cynic philosopher.
George Eliot: Featured in a 25-page “deconstructed life” that blends biography with personal reflection.
Others: Ban Zhao, Mary Shelley, and contemporary figures like J.K. Rowling.
Philosophical Inquiry: Rickerby explores existential questions, such as how to be happy, how to not die, and how poetry can build or deconstruct a life story.
Hybrid Form: The work occupies a space where poetry meets the essay, and fiction meets biography. It often uses prose poetry and long-form sequences to experiment with poetic boundaries.
Content Highlights
“Notes on the Unsilent Woman”: A 12-page poem in 58 sections that parallels the shaming of historical women with modern-day silencing on the internet.
“How to Live”: The title piece is a long indented prose poem featuring italicised quotes from various philosophers, writers, and musicians seamlessly integrated into the text.
Everyday Practicality: Alongside grand philosophical questions, Rickerby includes whimsical observations, such as a poem about “Forks” that ponders the inadequacies of the cutlery in her drawer.
The collection is noted for its witty, self-reflexive tone, frequently questioning its own form and the author’s right to tell these stories.
Softcover. 87 pages. In good preloved condition.
