The Chronicles of the Pharaoh's Daughter

Book excerpt: The Chronicles of the Pharaoh's Daughter presents a passionate, ironic, and symbolic collection of poems that blends antiquity, history, memory, reincarnation, wealth, poverty, sex, love, life, birth, and afterlife. Poet Davina Rhine shares a tormented adventure lamenting the loss of her idealized father and recalling the grudging acceptance of a woman's experience in domesticity, mundane work, and child-rearing. This confessional poet, torn by grief, erotica, responsibility, mature love, and dreams, goes from sinner to forgiver in the course of the collection. Unlike other confessionals, her journey in dreams and everyday life does not end in misery, but in rapture both strong and defiant as she is resurrected. The clashing metaphors of the past and present take us all over the ancient world and into the heart of modern love; the journey begins with an act of vengeance for the women raped at the birth of Rome. Rhine explores the sacred, the vulgar, and the human experience as her poems explode into sharp, dizzying shards of emotion and drama. The Chronicles of the Pharaoh's Daughter is a collection that exhales classical archaeology while reinventing the past with the vigor and vision of a strong, defiant activist and writer.