"A Woman with Shamanic Agency"

Lucas de Lima and Sarah Fox discuss Hiromi Itō's Killing Kanoko :

"Well, I might argue that Anne Waldman and Alice Notley are among Itō’s North American sisters. Both embrace shamanic expression and the vatic. Both also reveal, and re-imagine, the feminine in mythic time, and share a blatant and outraged rejection of patriarchy. Itō contributes to their feminine mythopoesis, and helps model an alternative ideal. Her association with Rothenberg, too, involves her in his advocacy of poetry’s visionary, mystical potential. But I think we both agree that Killing Kanoko kicks some serious ass and is one of the more original collections we’ve come across in awhile."

Read it all at Rain Taxi.