What do you think?
Rate this book
A Necklace Of Skulls: Collected Poems
Eunice de Souza, one of India ’s leading English language poets, has been writing poetry for more than three decades. Her poems in collections such as Fix (1979), Women in Dutch Painting (1988) and Ways of Belonging (1990) have been critically acclaimed and reflect a strong sense of individuality and feminism. Compelling and succinct, they dwell on the themes of love, relationships and family. Through her poetry Eunice explores the dependency of lovers and the fraught relationships between parents and their children. She also examines the Roman Catholic community she grew up in, exposing it for its hypocrisy and conservatism. Relying on sound and rhythm, her well chosen, hard-hitting words bring out her sharp, clear imagery. A Necklace of Skulls contains all the verse Eunice de Souza has published during her illustrious career, as also unpublished new and early poems. This is a profoundly intimate and intensely personal collection.
132 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2009
5 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
Eunice de Souza
41 books19 followersEunice de Souza (1940–2017) was an Indian English language poet, literary critic and novelist.
Among her notable books of poetry are Women in Dutch painting (1988), Ways of Belonging (1990), Nine Indian Women Poets (1997), These My Words (2012), and Learn From The Almond Leaf (2016). She published two novels, Dangerlok (2001), and Dev & SImran (2003), and was also the editor of a number of anthologies on poetry, folktales, and literary criticism.
Among her notable books of poetry are Women in Dutch painting (1988), Ways of Belonging (1990), Nine Indian Women Poets (1997), These My Words (2012), and Learn From The Almond Leaf (2016). She published two novels, Dangerlok (2001), and Dev & SImran (2003), and was also the editor of a number of anthologies on poetry, folktales, and literary criticism.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
August 8, 2023
Eunice de Souza's poetry is quite... interesting, to put it in bland words. De Souza is considered the matriarch of Indian English poetry. She is one of its finest practitioners, alongside Kamala Das. I decided to read de Souza's poetry from a place of reverence and scholarship. I found the poems I read... interesting. They are usually built a little bit on the O Henry model of writing, a foundation of an idea that suddenly twists in an unexpected direction. They deal a lot with the relationship between men and women and how women are often betrayed or abused by men.
The poems are full of personality and zest. There's a lack of gravitas or multidimensionality to the poems so I don't know how much they stack up against the best of what has been written, but I'd certainly return to de Souza's writing, to partake once in a while in the charm of it.
The poems are full of personality and zest. There's a lack of gravitas or multidimensionality to the poems so I don't know how much they stack up against the best of what has been written, but I'd certainly return to de Souza's writing, to partake once in a while in the charm of it.
August 11, 2018
The poems in this collection are selected from several of De Souza's previously published collections. Among which 'Fix,' 'Women in Dutch Painting,' and 'Ways of Belonging,' are the best known. Addedly, two entire sections are dedicated to her early unpublished poems and recently written ones.
Intensely autobiographical, 'A Necklace of Skulls' is a window to Eunice De Souza's life. Intimate, hard-hitting, and honest, her poetry reveals the hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic community she grew up in; examines the fraughted relationship between a parent and a child as well as the disconnect between lovers. Lastly, it reflects on the idea of death and absence.
Intensely autobiographical, 'A Necklace of Skulls' is a window to Eunice De Souza's life. Intimate, hard-hitting, and honest, her poetry reveals the hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic community she grew up in; examines the fraughted relationship between a parent and a child as well as the disconnect between lovers. Lastly, it reflects on the idea of death and absence.
April 5, 2020
"Luminous new leaf
may the sun rise gently
on your unfurling
in the courtyard always linger
the smell of earth after rain
the stone of these steps
stay cool and old
gods in the niches
old brass on the walls
never the shrill cry of kites."
RATING: 4/5
Like Sylvia Plath and Kamala Das, Eunice De Souza is a confessional poet. Unlike them, she consistently manages to inject humour and levity in her poems without sacrificing their power and impact. The poems in here brim with authenticity, charting a journey of more than three decades. De Souza has this magical ability to serve up brilliant insights in very offhand ways. Her poetry is without fuss, carefree. The words jump off the page and the phrases linger in the memory. She does not hesitate to serve it all up with heavy sarcasm which in spite of its bite doesn't seek to humiliate the addressee.
It is very obvious from the first poem to the last that De Souza is an Indian poet. Her verses are packed with Indianisms and local English idiosyncrasies. The language she employs is instantly recognizable, leading to a much deeper understanding of her poetry. She constantly grapples with themes such as love, home, belonging, identity, religion and family. A lot of her poems explore the daily lives of the Goan Catholic community in which she was born and brought up. She also talks at length about the relationships between a parent and a child along with miscommunications among lovers. De Souza also doesn't shy away from things like death and mortality. She is a subtle visionary poet who has to be read.
may the sun rise gently
on your unfurling
in the courtyard always linger
the smell of earth after rain
the stone of these steps
stay cool and old
gods in the niches
old brass on the walls
never the shrill cry of kites."
RATING: 4/5
Like Sylvia Plath and Kamala Das, Eunice De Souza is a confessional poet. Unlike them, she consistently manages to inject humour and levity in her poems without sacrificing their power and impact. The poems in here brim with authenticity, charting a journey of more than three decades. De Souza has this magical ability to serve up brilliant insights in very offhand ways. Her poetry is without fuss, carefree. The words jump off the page and the phrases linger in the memory. She does not hesitate to serve it all up with heavy sarcasm which in spite of its bite doesn't seek to humiliate the addressee.
It is very obvious from the first poem to the last that De Souza is an Indian poet. Her verses are packed with Indianisms and local English idiosyncrasies. The language she employs is instantly recognizable, leading to a much deeper understanding of her poetry. She constantly grapples with themes such as love, home, belonging, identity, religion and family. A lot of her poems explore the daily lives of the Goan Catholic community in which she was born and brought up. She also talks at length about the relationships between a parent and a child along with miscommunications among lovers. De Souza also doesn't shy away from things like death and mortality. She is a subtle visionary poet who has to be read.
December 5, 2019
A career spanning collection that shows De Souza refining a direct, sensitive, unapologetic voice and a clear eyed view of the frailties and follies of people. Social satire, sensuality, grief, wit and a fine eye for the telling detail, for the histories of places, are all on display here. One of our most important English language poets, I think.
March 20, 2021
Review to come.
August 11, 2017
It's a shame that I waited this long to read Eunice de Souza's best poems. She passed away just last week and I was reminded that I'd been meaning to read more of her poems. Apart from a total of five I'd gone through in my lifetime, I didn't know this lady's work so I bought her novella 'Dangerlok' which is an interesting read, and two of her poetry collections, including this one. Some of her poems are dry, others left me wondering what she was talking about - all of them garnered a reaction of some sort from me. That's a good sign, in my book. I like her style, I like her wryness, I like what I think her writing stood for. A good read indeed.
August 15, 2021
Transcend Self, You Say
Transcend self, you say.
Connect with myth, history,
the world crumbling around you.
Men can, and do. Beggars survive.
Destitutes survive. There's something in this culture.
Must ask beggars how they do it.
Smart arse. Poetess.
Friend, the histories I know aren't fit to print.
Remember Padma, widowed at seventeen,
Forbidden to see the sun for a year,
allowed out to crap only at night
when the pure were out of the way?
The perfect book is
one long cry in the dark.
A novelist said that,
who spent his life wondering why,
when the Nazis came,
his mother pushed him into a closet,
and let his sisters go to Auschwitz.
Transcend self, you say.
Connect with myth, history,
the world crumbling around you.
Men can, and do. Beggars survive.
Destitutes survive. There's something in this culture.
Must ask beggars how they do it.
Smart arse. Poetess.
Friend, the histories I know aren't fit to print.
Remember Padma, widowed at seventeen,
Forbidden to see the sun for a year,
allowed out to crap only at night
when the pure were out of the way?
The perfect book is
one long cry in the dark.
A novelist said that,
who spent his life wondering why,
when the Nazis came,
his mother pushed him into a closet,
and let his sisters go to Auschwitz.
October 8, 2020
LOVED it. Sharp words.
December 11, 2018
I had no idea that the author passed away last year until I read other goodreads reviews
As a non-desi I’ll admit that I don’t understand a lot of what’s being told. I still enjoyed reading this book, though, and I’m glad I bought it. I don’t know who I’m gonna gift this to but I know that I’ll give my copy a new home.
When I read this book, I’m at a tranquil state of mine. I feel like I’m sitting underneath a tree containing chirping birds and I feel a summer breeze.
There’s some many vocabulary words in this that I didn’t recognize like pithy, recalcitrant, etc. that isn’t a complaint—I enjoy learning new words and implementing them in my daily life
As a non-desi I’ll admit that I don’t understand a lot of what’s being told. I still enjoyed reading this book, though, and I’m glad I bought it. I don’t know who I’m gonna gift this to but I know that I’ll give my copy a new home.
When I read this book, I’m at a tranquil state of mine. I feel like I’m sitting underneath a tree containing chirping birds and I feel a summer breeze.
There’s some many vocabulary words in this that I didn’t recognize like pithy, recalcitrant, etc. that isn’t a complaint—I enjoy learning new words and implementing them in my daily life
March 9, 2019
Eunice De Souza's poetry collection teems with humour. A confessional poet, she blends in the personal and the public into caustic statements of humour and slight derision. It is difficult to take Eunice too seriously; she reshapes the concept of confessional poetry and delivers self deprecating jokes and a remarkable sense of wit, unlike other practioners like Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
Yet, her poems are filled with longing for love, a deep understanding of loss, and what it means to be lonely. Her attempt however is not to declare anything universally; yet, her words, I believe, capture the essence of being alienated from your own identities and the social world around you. Her poems thus become layered; on the face of it, they appear to be harmless, funny takes on how life pans out. Yet, she demonstrates grave knowledge about issues of religion, of love, and of loss- her relationship with the world and with herself constantly mutate the boundaries of intimacy and what it means to be seen and understood publically.
A Necklace of Skulls pays homage to a poet who is not afraid to be unapologetically herself. If you gel with Eunice's humour, you will celebrate this collection even when Eunice asserts-
"Don’t Look For My Life In These Poems
Poems have order, sanity
aesthetic distance from debris.
All I’ve learnt from pain
I always knew,
but could not do."
Yet, her poems are filled with longing for love, a deep understanding of loss, and what it means to be lonely. Her attempt however is not to declare anything universally; yet, her words, I believe, capture the essence of being alienated from your own identities and the social world around you. Her poems thus become layered; on the face of it, they appear to be harmless, funny takes on how life pans out. Yet, she demonstrates grave knowledge about issues of religion, of love, and of loss- her relationship with the world and with herself constantly mutate the boundaries of intimacy and what it means to be seen and understood publically.
A Necklace of Skulls pays homage to a poet who is not afraid to be unapologetically herself. If you gel with Eunice's humour, you will celebrate this collection even when Eunice asserts-
"Don’t Look For My Life In These Poems
Poems have order, sanity
aesthetic distance from debris.
All I’ve learnt from pain
I always knew,
but could not do."
December 21, 2021
i really struggle to read de souza... i keep trying, thinking eventually i will grow to admire her poetry as a reader and not just a scholar but it just never happens. i can see the craft of it so visibly and that i do admire but i just cannot grow a fondness for the poems themselves... they simply refuse to hold me and i'm so unreasonably sad about it bc the level of enthusiasm w which people recommended her to me when i was an undergrad and said im interested in poetry had me really wanting to be able to bond over this writing.... sigh
April 26, 2020
A highly esteemed English language poet, Eunice de Souza's work is sharp, tightly honed and often tinged with sarcastic humour. Of Catholic Goan heritage her earlier poems will ring familiar to readers raised Catholic regardless of location. This was a chance discovery on a jumbled bookstore shelf in Bangalore, but I have learned she has a strong passionate and devoted readership.
More thoughts to come in time.
More thoughts to come in time.
November 23, 2018
Lover her or hate her you cant ignore her . A pillar of Indian poetry world her work is thought provoking and painfully to the point . Her use of rhythm and start biographical nature of her poems open the door into a certain section of the Indian society . Her small pieces hit hard and close to heart and you feel they were scribbled during moments of epiphany . A must read for every poetry fan .
August 30, 2017
Mostly succinct, sometimes outrageous, always thought-provoking. This collection of poems leaves a mark.
March 25, 2019
Wry poetry on the conservatism in Goan Catholic communities, the politics of intimacy and on being a poet.
Read
September 27, 2021I liked a few poems. I had one of the poems of hers in college and this is how I became interested in reading more of her poems. The poem on cats stands out!
August 25, 2025
she gets better as time goes on
March 2, 2026
Book of poems called "A necklace of skulls"
by Eunice De Souza
Stars - **** (4/5)
What a gorgeous book of poems ...
Had borrowed this from a library - last time issued in Aug 2010 and then in 2026 by me .. the librarian pointed it out and we shared a laugh 😃
Here is one of my faves from the book, for you to decide if it's worth your while !
It's time to find a place,
to be silent with each other
I have rattled on endlessly
in staff-rooms, corridors, restaurants
When you're not around
I carry on conversations in my head
Even this poem
has forty-eight words too many
What do you think?
😍❤️
by Eunice De Souza
Stars - **** (4/5)
What a gorgeous book of poems ...
Had borrowed this from a library - last time issued in Aug 2010 and then in 2026 by me .. the librarian pointed it out and we shared a laugh 😃
Here is one of my faves from the book, for you to decide if it's worth your while !
It's time to find a place,
to be silent with each other
I have rattled on endlessly
in staff-rooms, corridors, restaurants
When you're not around
I carry on conversations in my head
Even this poem
has forty-eight words too many
What do you think?
😍❤️
September 12, 2021
Pretty little read-
A Necklace of Skulls is an enchanting and empowering collection of poems that conveys deeply about latent emotions, anger, content common among women. It speaks boulders about the hypocritic instances and annecdotes from her childhood amidst the community she was from. She has added a bit of wit to each poem that constantly kept my pages turning.
Go, give it a try.
A Necklace of Skulls is an enchanting and empowering collection of poems that conveys deeply about latent emotions, anger, content common among women. It speaks boulders about the hypocritic instances and annecdotes from her childhood amidst the community she was from. She has added a bit of wit to each poem that constantly kept my pages turning.
Go, give it a try.
April 11, 2016
I remember reading Eunice de Souza in my undergrad years, and the exhilaration I felt at discovering her words. 'Pillar' still remains my favourite poem.
All her poems seek to provoke outrage, reveal the grotesque and they do it with such such careful satire, my god. Impossible to not immediately love it all. My only issue with the collection that the last seven or so poems feel extremely disjointed, almost as if they belonged to a different narrator.
In any case, any Eunice poem is better than no poem at all.
All her poems seek to provoke outrage, reveal the grotesque and they do it with such such careful satire, my god. Impossible to not immediately love it all. My only issue with the collection that the last seven or so poems feel extremely disjointed, almost as if they belonged to a different narrator.
In any case, any Eunice poem is better than no poem at all.
November 15, 2012
After reading this poetry collection I felt the dilemma inside my mind. Is it me who don't understand the poetry or the writer is just writing crap. Every single poem was so horrid and outrageous that I started to feel like I should give up reading. I suggest, please don't even think of touching this horrible collection of writer's bleak mind.
December 7, 2013
Some really good pieces in this collection.
Her writing is enjoyable if you get her context and influences.
Her work certainly isn't for everyone.
Read samples before buying.
I really liked it.
Her writing is enjoyable if you get her context and influences.
Her work certainly isn't for everyone.
Read samples before buying.
I really liked it.
April 27, 2015
unique surprising poems funny, satirical and with lots of pleasure.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews