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that peace and
quiet
with cows
overlapping and intertwining
and religious
spirits move
together
at the clouding
of the moon"
Within this poetry collection, Australian writer Rodden has arranged forty-one contemporary poems reflecting both urban and rural experiences. Within the first selection, the poem’s speaker is driven to “make for the trees,” an attempt to avoid indoor offices where everyone else seems to be. There arise suddenly throughout these poems vivacious, invigorating lines, such as “In the library I try and try / to cram in all the poets and storytellers ….” Other poems tell of the writer’s experiences working among crews fighting bushfires in the wild. And some selections—such as the slightly eccentric, dry-humored “dead chicken-meat day”—paint a rather zany picture in which “the sign says / two skinned chickens for 6 dollars” as the speaker finds herself panting past KFC en route to work. In “The Loaded Dog,” a rustic pub sporting “Depression swaggy” photographs of “romantic gold miners / in classic beards” offers Devil’s Choice beer—with raspberries.
A good many of these poems are quite charming. Those detailing the poet’s experiences working the front lines in battling bushfires are exquisite—perhaps the strongest selections found among these one hundred pages. Rodden’s strength as a poet and storyteller seems driven by a blending of both her wealth of lived experiences and the fashion in which her material is masterly crafted into slice-of-life poems, presented casually and intelligently. Fanciness is not sought for the sake of fanciness. Rather, it seems this poet exudes a natural ease of style, flowing from narrative poems simply through their telling. After reading and then re-reading the pleasurable poems collected within this volume, an immediate impulse—reflecting well upon Rodden’s poetic talent—is to seek out additional work (both poetry and prose) by the author. A taste of these poems delights, and readers will hope there is more material on the horizon.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review