Weaving together a modern retelling of Roman Empress Agrippina the Elder, a künstlerroman-inspired exploration of French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle, and the contemporary portrait of an unhappily married mother, Bowman’s My Eyes Are Fuses is a bold exploration of tensions between freedom of art and the constraints of gender. Spanning centuries, these poems offer enchantments and antidotes, extract the poison from moments of pain, distil it down to a sweet elixir. Here, women are animals, witches, artists, rebels, imagined beyond their accomplishments, drawn together through time. With careful form, Bowman conjures a new chronicle for these women as time travellers, shapeshifters, goddesses akin to the three Fates, powerful beyond what their moments in time allowed of them.
