córy

Kamila Janiak has followed an ambiguous but also consistent path as a poet. From non-linear, angry early volumes (published since 2007), to a diction that is softened but still meticulously navigates difficult emotions. Her latest collection, entitled daughters, was published two years after love, which tells the story of postpartum depression, and is, in a sense, a continuation of the previous book. However, it is not – contrary to what one might expect – confessional poetry. In her latest volumes, Janiak deals with the experience of motherhood and the institution of the family, but she tries to abstract from the contingency of individual experience. daughters is above all a poetic study of domestic violence, not turning its gaze away from the most difficult and brutal images.

The poet decides to do something unusual – to harness the aesthetics of the romantic ballad for a story about abuse and oppression. In this way, rhythmic repetitions, the melody of songs and the angst characteristic of folk legends (so prevalent in the tradition to which Janiak refers) become a vehicle for a story about suffering and poverty. The distance that appears as a result of the clash between the magical atmosphere and almost fairy-tale mood imposed by the genre coupled with the naturalistic brutality of the described topic only intensifies the reader’s dread. In this sense, daughters is a poetic horror, emphasising that the most terrifying things are happening beside us.