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Notes
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Dedication: To Nancy Phelan and Rosie Scott the friends of my old age.
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Epigraph: Once in a while I am seized by a strange happiness I have never felt before. The very sad happiness of being a poet and nothing matters to me not even death. Lorca in a letter to a friend Melchior Fernandez Almagro (1924).
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The collection is divided into three parts entitled -
- From a Dark Cottage, Epigraph: And shall I too eventually disappear......and for what purpose. (The Last Peninsular);
- The Sunlit Plains, Epigraph: And I see the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended, And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars. (A.B. Patterson, Clancy of the Overflow)
- Salt Harbour, Epigraph: Death gives life its meaningless shape. (Merv Lilley) It is as John Kinsella says "an archaeological dig: of geographies, relationships, language, and personae. ... Layer on layer of the past is opened and investigated. Old pasts are reconsidered, new pasts imagined... a vital exploration of the past and present."
Contents
- Inheritancei"I have travelled a long way from my origins", single work poetry (p. 10)
- The Calli"Cooee calls the voice", single work poetry (p. 11)
- What I Do Nowi"I lie in bed reading", single work poetry (p. 12-13)
- From the Dark Cottagei"My skin itches for it", single work poetry (p. 14-16)
- Halfway Up the Mountaini"The cat wakes up in the tapestry chair", single work poetry (p. 17-18)
- Neighboursi"you old curmudgeon", single work poetry (p. 19-20)
- Green Fence Poemi"the woman next door", single work poetry (p. 21)
- The Whistleri"Has the man next door", single work poetry (p. 22-23)
- Old Women in the Mountainsi"I see them in the villages", single work poetry (p. 24)
- The Runneri"I never ran so fast as I run now", single work poetry (p. 25-26)
- Death of a Cati"The little cat we brought from Darlinghurst", single work poetry (p. 27)
- Early One Morningi"The cat is dead and the black rabbit", single work poetry (p. 28)
- Generationsi"Four generations sat here yesterday", single work poetry (p. 29-30)
- An Invitation from Rendrai"When Rendra asked us to come to Jakarta", single work poetry (p. 31-32)
- Black Horse Farmi"We passed it every year", single work poetry (p. 33)
- December Stormi"Storm and heavy rain", single work poetry (p. 34-35)
- Conversation in Autumni"Summer will never end", single work poetry (p. 36)
- Thoughts in Winteri"cold days in the mountains", single work poetry (p. 37)
- Three White Horsesi"Three white horses in a field", single work poetry (p. 38)
- The Sighi"Sometimes in the dark night", single work poetry (p. 39)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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The Wild Workshop : The Ghost of a Brontëan Childhood in the Life of Dorothy Hewett
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 February no. 89 2019;An indelible part of the Brontë mythology is their symbiotic development as young artists in an isolated environment. Some time ago, Juliet Barker’s biographical scholarship on the culture at the parsonage and the Brontë siblings’ lives in Haworth has questioned that isolation in terms of the rich resources available to the Brontës siblings and a family culture that strongly encouraged their imaginative and artistic development. More recently, director Sally Wainwright’s TV movie To Walk Invisiblehas meticulously recreated the dynamic relationship between the Brontës’ childhood fantasy worlds and their adult writing, along with the strategic ways in which the three sisters built a professional path towards their lives as novelists directly through their sibling bonds. Wainwright’s interpretation of the sisters’ creative lives has gone some way in recovering both the weirdness and the ordinariness of the Brontës in it they seem closer (more graspable) than in any recreation of their lives encountered before.' (Introduction)
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Love and Vertigo : The Blue Mountains as Veranda in Australian Women's Writing
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 25 no. 2 2011; (p. 171-175) The Blue Mountains have often been used as a backdrop in Australian literature. Elizabeth Hicks looks at several of these texts by Australian women which were written during the fifteen years between 1987 and 2002, a period which loosley corresponds to theat of third-wave feminism.
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Untitled
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Five Bells , Winter vol. 9 no. 3 2002; (p. 28-29)
— Review of Halfway Up the Mountain 2001 selected work poetry -
How 'Now' Came from 'Then'
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 168 2002; (p. 99-102)
— Review of The Lovemakers : Book One : Saying All the Great Sexy Things 2001 single work novel ; Heroic Money 2001 selected work poetry ; Halfway Up the Mountain 2001 selected work poetry ; Ultra : 25 Poems 2001 selected work poetry ; Collected Poems : 1970-1998 2001 collected work poetry -
Untitled
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 62 no. 1 2002; (p. 203-207)
— Review of Halfway Up the Mountain 2001 selected work poetry
-
Untitled
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Five Bells , Winter vol. 9 no. 3 2002; (p. 28-29)
— Review of Halfway Up the Mountain 2001 selected work poetry -
Unrepentant, to the limit
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 March 2001; (p. 17)
— Review of Halfway Up the Mountain 2001 selected work poetry -
A maverick career
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 229 2001; (p. 58-59)
— Review of Halfway Up the Mountain 2001 selected work poetry -
Untitled
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Imago : New Writing , vol. 13 no. 2 2001; (p. 124-127)
— Review of Halfway Up the Mountain 2001 selected work poetry ; A Cretive Life 2001 selected work poetry ; Blue 2000 selected work poetry ; Over the Bridge 2001 selected work poetry -
Le Temps Perdu
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Women's Book Review , vol. 13 no. 1 2001;
— Review of Halfway Up the Mountain 2001 selected work poetry -
Love and Vertigo : The Blue Mountains as Veranda in Australian Women's Writing
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 25 no. 2 2011; (p. 171-175) The Blue Mountains have often been used as a backdrop in Australian literature. Elizabeth Hicks looks at several of these texts by Australian women which were written during the fifteen years between 1987 and 2002, a period which loosley corresponds to theat of third-wave feminism.
-
The Wild Workshop : The Ghost of a Brontëan Childhood in the Life of Dorothy Hewett
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 February no. 89 2019;An indelible part of the Brontë mythology is their symbiotic development as young artists in an isolated environment. Some time ago, Juliet Barker’s biographical scholarship on the culture at the parsonage and the Brontë siblings’ lives in Haworth has questioned that isolation in terms of the rich resources available to the Brontës siblings and a family culture that strongly encouraged their imaginative and artistic development. More recently, director Sally Wainwright’s TV movie To Walk Invisiblehas meticulously recreated the dynamic relationship between the Brontës’ childhood fantasy worlds and their adult writing, along with the strategic ways in which the three sisters built a professional path towards their lives as novelists directly through their sibling bonds. Wainwright’s interpretation of the sisters’ creative lives has gone some way in recovering both the weirdness and the ordinariness of the Brontës in it they seem closer (more graspable) than in any recreation of their lives encountered before.' (Introduction)