Dedication for this powerful verse novel reads ‘to all who have endured extreme loss / and especially the women / who walked beside me / who taught the freedom of nature / and how to honour her song.’ The poet relates her life as a search, in finely distilled verses on the page. The reader will piece together life events and experiences from the sparse sentences in first-person and powerful scene setting with few words, set out by the book’s designer in Typewriter font. The book’s designer has laid the verses on the pages thoughtfully – plenty of blank spaces to encourage the reader to linger on the deceptively simple poetics of Eckermann’s language. Readers who have some knowledge of Indigenous history, in particular the child removal policies of the Australian government throughout the twentieth century, will find her voice a compelling personification of these. One distillation of this book follows: ‘It charts a journey through grief and celebrates the healing power of Country.’
Abi Cobby Eckermann is a Yakunyatjtjara woman who, along with her mother and grandmother, identifies as a member of the Stolen Generations. This grim heritage, and giving up her own child, have informed her poetry. She was first published nearly twenty years ago and is highly regarded within the literary community. Maori writer Witi Ihimaera has observed that ‘she dips the pen in her own blood and writes with it.’ A brief biography with author photo are appended.
This book won the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Book of the Year, and the Indigenous Writers’ Prize as well. It was longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize, and for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Poetry Prize.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
