Book Type: Poetry
These Hips
Some hips are made for bearing
children, built like stools
square and easy, right
for the passage of birth.
Others are built like mine.
A child’s head might never pass
but load me up with two-by-fours
and watch me
bear.
When the men carry sacks of concrete
they hold them high, like boys.
I bear mine low, like a girl
on small, strong hips
built for the birth
of buildings.
Book Title: Covering Rough Ground
Book Type: Poetry
Published: Vancouver: Polestar, 1991
ISBN:
In Print?: No.
Available From: Please contact the author.
Description: Poems about Kate’s early experience in construction. Winner of the Pat Lowther Award for Best Book of Poetry by a Canadian Woman.
“The ground may be rough for a woman carpenter on a male construction site but Kate covers it with a zest for being, an eye for detail, an infallible sense of humour, and, yes, a vision grounded in a woman’s place of power. This is important testimony pushing the limits of what it means to be a woman in a man’s world.”
- Daphne Marlatt
“She writes with the authority of a good craftsperson, dovetailing thought and feeling and driving her point home with economy and skill.”
- Canadian Literature
“read this book again for the thrill of learning from [it] and for the joy of seeing language put to good use.”
- Antigonish Review
