Unapologetically Feminist

<p> In her powerhouse collection <em>Unapologetically Feminist</em> poet Urvashi Bundel fights against the ravaging wildfires of misogyny racism and global social injustice with her own starbright flame. She travels the world in line after feverish line-observing reporting back and crying out for change. The girl must eat / And the hyenas too. / In a fight to gather firewood / She returns burned again from the bushes / This time with the title of <em>witch</em> the poet says. In so many of the places she goes a woman of color with a strong independent mind is too often vilified-her rights singed her reputation covered in soot. Capitalism and imperialist wars only throw more fossil fuels onto this fire that blazes through one drought-blighted country after another: How a nation gets auctioned / For sugar / And how tears become / Cheaper than onions. Sometimes you have no choice but to fight fire with fire. In <em>Unapologetically Feminist</em> Bundel rises like a phoenix to prepare the way for the new green growth that unfurls from these smoldering embers the smell of smoke blossoming in her hair.</p>