Equinox Paperback – 30 April 2018

”The growth that the changing seasons demand of me pains me unbearably but, still, I must bloom” — a quote from Libra Dream Lover, one of my absolutely favorite poems from Equinox. Jen Handoko’s writing is raw and honest, and the best way I can describe it is this; reading her poetry was like peeling an orange twice. First you have the thick layer covering all of the orange, and after that there’s the butterfly’s wing-thin layer around every segment, and when you peel that off you expose the flesh and you think that this soft, fragile thing will fall apart—but it doesn’t. Reading Equinox was like that. I had to take my time peeling off the thin layers of every poem, the reason why it took me so long to finish the book—I wanted to taste every word and metaphor, wanted to be careful, see them, feel them and take my time to reflect when something spoke to me (which a lot did). Her poems were like a breath of fresh air among our times modern, so called “fast food poems”, and if Handoko ever decides to write another book, I will be there to read it. This is a wonderful poetry collection, written by a just as wonderful woman, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her.Thank you for this work of art, Jen. My copy stands on my windowsill, between Sylvia Plath, Orion and Patti Smith.(P.s enjoy this picture of Equinox ft my hamster Athena🖤)