Cirrus@Austlit

'Written out of distinctively Western Australian settings, Spore or Seed is a narrative of pregnancy, birth and the early years of motherhood.

'Spore or Seed is a beautifully written and deeply moving exploration of the loss of self and the discovery of a new, expanded self. It traces themes of pregnancy, birth and childrearing against the backdrop of environmental threat, addressing the intersections of environmental care and caretaking. What does it mean to become a parent in a time of climate crisis? How do we decide whether or not to have children in a time of constant uncertainty amplified by the pandemic years? And how does motherhood change us? These are the questions that Spore or Seed raises and uses all the tools of poetry to explore.' (Publication summary)

'Fish Work brings the great barrier reef into poetic focus, exploring not just the fish that occupy the reefs but that vast variety of life-forms – including human – that make the reef a uniquely diverse environment. Developed over three years of field-work, during which time the poet lived and worked alongside marine researchers, Fish Work asks us to reconsider what it means to live with other beings, human and extra-than-human.

'Blending the language of scientific research with the language of popular culture and her familiar conversational register, Fish Work is unlike any other book of poetry currently available in Australia.

'This collection represents the first dedicated poetic investigation into the Great Barrier Reef in a time a climate change, paying particular attention to the far northern Great Barrier Reef, specifically Lizard Island Research Station where the poet spent several months over several years undergoing fieldwork with the scientific researchers in residence.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'It was coming to the end of my time in America. PhD applications still ongoing, I didn't know where I was going but the movers were booked, the cars and furniture in the process of being sold. It was back to that space of deciding what is necessary and what is easy to replace. I had done a lot, seen a lot, been twenty-something across twenty-something states, tried out their names in my mouth. I liked the South, the long vowels and how the rusting history on every street hung low, like a flag of a pole.' (Introduction)