Ovarium

Ovarium, published by The Emma Press in 2022, is a poetry pamphlet about a giant ovarian cyst. It charts my journey with the cyst, from diagnosis to surgery to recovery, via a landscape of scanner rooms and hospital wards. The poems explore the impact of illness, and the body as a site of disgust and shame but also healing and endurance.

The pamphlet looks at the disorientating and sometimes patriarchal language of anatomy and medicine, and the way illness can change the relationship we have with our own bodies.

It was shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards 2022 and chosen by Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Selector Nina Mingya Powles as one of her recommendations for Autumn 2022.

“Joanna Ingham’s Ovarium is irresistible and intimate; this is poetry of the body at its finest. It made me look at my own body anew and the mini ecosystems that make up who we are: cells, ponds, gardens, hospitals.” – Nina Mingya Powles for the PBS

“First and foremost, these are poems full of wonderful sounds, as well as being cinematically clear. … Each poem approaches its subject from a fresh angle. They are confident and experimental, seeking to discover through the act of creating. Ingham manages to strike the difficult balance of adding humour without undermining the weight of sorrow. The poems feel vulnerable and honest, but unashamed about the entire experience.” – Zannah Kearns in Sphinx Review

Ovarium is available to buy here.

I wrote an article for The Polyphony, a medical humanities journal, about my experience of working on the poems in Ovarium. You can read it here.

Image: cover design for Ovarium by Reena Makwana