In Oh My Rapture, Gemma White draws on her own lived experiences with bipolar, and her attempts to transcend it through the power of her imagination and the creation of art. Entwined throughout the poems in this collection are allusions to themes in The Red Hand Files, as every poem is a direct response to a different file. Yet each poem also stands on its own, a testament to fandom but with a self-awareness that imbues each piece of writing with unique insights from the poet herself.
Gemma White is a poet living in Melbourne, Australia. Her first collection of poetry, Furniture is Disappearing, was published in 2014 by IP. She shares her knowledge of poetry on her website, where she offers a free 5-day email poetry course. You can also sign up on her website to receive her e-newsletter for her latest writing news. Gemma has been published in many Australian literary magazines and journals, including Best Australian Poems. She also studied poetry at The University of Melbourne and The University of Edinburgh.
"In Oh My Rapture, Gemma White stages the politics of fandom in percussive, edgy and unforgettable poems. White performs intense moments of intimacy and yearning against a backdrop of grief, so that lines such as you dumped me in the psych ward, you kissed me in Dixons Recycled Music, and my madness is a burnt orange fox become deep entanglements of desire." -- Cassandra Atherton, Professor of Writing and Literature, Deakin University
"Gemma White writes with radical honesty and wit about mental and spiritual health, love, creativity and exultation in Oh My Rapture. The direct voice and casual tone of these poems make the insights that suddenly sneak up on the reader all the more effectively disarming." -- Claire Gaskin, Ismenes Survivable Resistance
"Gemma Whites poems are maskless. There is a streak of non-conformity running through each of these poems; a tender transparency and an unapologetic poetic I. You will find bold snapshots of inflamed connection and modern human disconnection conveyed in direct language." -- Amanda Anastasi, The Inheritors
"Poetry that lives by its own rules, nothing you can find in a textbook. Full of life experiences you cant make up. A total joy." -- Matt Ryan, The Munster Times
