The Horned God, Bethany W. Pope

The Horned God is a cow, a deer, or in another way their cruel, usually male, persecutor, the opposite of Guanyin or Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of great compassion depicted on the cover of this collection of poems who is glimpsed in some of them.

‘Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means “[The One Who] Perceives the Sounds of the World”. Originally regarded as male in Indian Buddhism, Guanyin has been more commonly depicted as female in China and most of East Asia since about the 12th century….Guanyin can also be historically depicted as genderless or adorning an androgynous apprentice.‘ – Wikipedia.

In The Horned God Bethany W. Pope takes us on a journey in a humanitarian, brilliant poetic discourse from the experiences of an exploited and abused child to those of a responsible parental adult, by way of Southern Gothic scenes of family life and hard, hard work, keeping their head down, observing, perceiving, with a rare humour, and with will and intelligence breaking free.