'They call me Jax, though my real name's Eva
The whole of the Jackson Five rolled into one serious diva
No.1 on the guest list, top of the charts
When I make my grand entrance, the sea of sequins parts...'
From Hamburg to Jo'burg, Oslo to Soho, Patience Agbabi follows her critically acclaimed debut collection R.A.W., with Transformatrix, an exploration of women, travel and metamorphosis.
Inspired by 90s poetry, 80s rap and 70s disco, Transformatrix is a celebration of literary form and constitutes a very potent and telling commentary on the realities of late twentieth century Britain. It is also a self-portrait of a poet whose honesty, intelligence and wit manages to pack a punch, draw a smile and warm your heart all at once.
"Agbabi's lyrics are sweet and precise, her desire fierce...A transformer indeed" - * The List *
"combining cutting satire and outright celebration." - * The Big Issue *
"
A testament to the elastic nature of the poetic form. Her poems draw on
rap, jive and disco rhythms as much as the formal subtleties of free
verse. Her identity is equally protean: she manages convincingly to
embody a drag queen, a jealous husband, an East End wide-boy, a lesbian
who is coming of age and a poetry tutor. The effect is a small kind of
cultural 'payback' - surely if we cannot locate the 'real' her, we
cannot pigeonhole her. Agbabi is a fine poet, and her linguistic wit
carries satirical fire.
" - * Daily Telegraph *
"A rising star" - * The Observer *
