Goddess Muscle

by Karlo Mila

This long-awaited poetry collection from award-winning Pasifika poet Karlo Mila spans work written over a decade. The poems are both personal and political. They trace the effect of defining issues such as racism, poverty, violence, climate change and power on Pasifika peoples, Aotearoa and beyond. They also focus on the internal and micro issues – the ending of a marriage, the hope of new relationships, and the daily politics of being a partner, woman and mother. The collection meditates on love and relationships and explores identity, culture, community and belonging with a voice that does not shy away from the difficult.

Genres: Poetry

215 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2020

About the author

Born 1974.
Dr Karlo Mila is a New Zealand-born poet of Tongan and Pākehā descent with ancestral connections to Samoa. She is currently Programme Director of Mana Moana, Leadership New Zealand. This leadership programme is based on her postdoctoral research on harnessing indigenous language and ancestral knowledge from the Pacific to use in contemporary leadership contexts. Karlo received an MNZM in 2019 for services to the Pacific community and as a poet, received a Creative New Zealand Contemporary Pacific Artist Award in 2016, and was selected for a Creative New Zealand Fulbright Pacific Writer’s Residency in Hawaii in 2015.

Goddess Muscle is Karlo's third book of poetry. Her first, Dream Fish Floating, won NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book of Poetry Award at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2006. In 2008, Karlo collaborated with German-born artist Delicia Sampero to produce A Well Written Body. Karlo's poetry has been published in in many anthologies, in a variety of journals and online.

From Huia Publishers & Wikipedia

Reviews

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Wow! Wow!

The poetry book is literally the complete package!

A beautiful cover, great artwork inside, really impressive design..

At over 200 pages, this is much longer than your usual NZ poet's book & spans a decade of creativity.

No subject is out of bounds for Ms Mila. She covers love, politics, J.C. Sturm and her husband the gifted poet (but appalling human being James K. Baxter) ancestry and her Creative New Zealand Fulbright Pacific Writer’s Residency in Hawaii. The poetry can be gentle, angry, lyrical, reflective,topical. These are poems with muscle.

This amazing collection only made it as far as the longlist at this year's Ockham's (NZ Book Awards) I am part way through the shortlisted Magnolia, 木蘭 and that is lovely, but far more delicate than this one.

The variety of Aotearoa's poets has me excited.

https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...

[Vania Llewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended - this book reawakened my love for good poetry.

[The Bibliognost Bampot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genuinely beautiful work. Mila is a true artist with words. I particularly liked ‘Moemoea’ and particularly objected to ‘Now THIS is Reverse Racism’, like all good poetry it raised strong emotions, good and bad, and I connected with it. I had the pleasure of listening to Karlo Milo speak some of her poems herself and poetry is a spoken art, and definitely are more effective when heard rather than read.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning. Such a visceral, vivid read, definitely a new favourite.