The Illustrated Woman By Helen Mort

The title of Mort’s third collection encapsulates her theme. Women are objects of the male gaze; but tattooing covers the body with illustrations. In this way, according to the title series, tattooing reclaims female autonomy. Pip juxtaposes the orange groves of Córdoba with a hoped-for pregnancy, “tiny as an orange seed / a burrowed pip, near-weightless, citrusy”. Though this writing also “illustrates” the woman of the title, such unrelieved contemplation of the poet’s body can feel claustrophobic. So the charge of real feeling in the third section comes as a paradoxical relief. Here Mort explores parental mortality, and her experience as a victim of deepfake pornography.