Eds., Julia Kaylock and Denise O’Hagan, Litoria Press200 pages packed with goodness. Profits go to the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF)
‘We cannot shy away from the grim reality we face. Things are not as they should be. But we must also inspire action. We must lean into hope and solutions in our storytelling, to raise the energy within and drive momentum to protect and revitalise our forests, rivers, oceans—and the incredible plants and animals that call them home.’ Kelly O’Shanassy, foreword, CEO, ACF
‘In these poems . . . earth is well and wisely remembered and a diminished future is starkly earth adumbrated—in case there may still be time for the waking of our minds and the firing of our spirits upon which all our futures on the planet depend.’ Mark Tredinnick
Three of my poems are found inside:
‘The nearest ridge scrawls Antarctic beech on a blurred prow,
Antarctica is melting and tainted, so this air must be wrong . . .’
from Point Lookout (I visited a week ago in fine weather, wrote another poem)

‘. . . little black cormorants
arrive a little late towing an angel-white egret.
I could conjugate this estuary, it almost looks
as if things have stayed the same for ever.’
from ‘The estuary, Valla, NSW’
{I would change the title now to ‘Miilba, estuary, Jaaningbirriny, Gumbaynggirr Country}

‘I carve the nuggety gizzard, peel back its border, open it out
like a fig revealing small black thorns (cuttlefish beaks), separate
the microplastics piece by piece, discards of our cult, proof
our worship is reckless and that there are no islands anymore.’
from 240 grams, Research Lab, Lord Howe Island, August 2018
{also in Planet in Peril: An anthology for our time, Ed., Isabelle Kenyon, (Fly on the Wall Press, 2019}.
