Brenda Eldridge Brenda Eldridge i(A121126 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 y separately published work icon Simple Pleasures Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2024 27458335 2024 selected work poetry 'The almost inescapable presence of TV advertising and social media in our lives means we are being constantly bombarded by information. News can be about devastation by natural forces, or the unspeakable atrocities of man’s inhumanity to to his fellow beings. We are exposed to the appalling behaviour of so-called world leaders and wonder why our young people find it so hard to believe in anything. Closer to home we struggle with broken relationships, illness, tragedy and loss. Coming to the end of 2023, I stopped to look at poems I had written during the year and was reminded of the small things that quietly filled me with joy and hope. They’re things that aren’t what would be called newsworthy but still they have value. As well as the big traumas, life is about noticing the simple pleasures…' (Publication summary) 
 
1 y separately published work icon Sounds and Silences Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2023 26939697 2023 selected work poetry 'Vivid memories prompted by hearing a few stray notes playing sent me wandering through my very rich life to renew my love of particular pieces of music and songs. When I started writing poems, I recognised that, for me, music is like ekphrastic poetry. A composer responds to something and in turn there is my response to the composer. From my own experiences, I was reminded how my mental image or emotional response to a piece of music was not necessarily what the composer had in mind. Being more aware of the silences throughout a piece of music or when it comes to an end, I started to write about silence. In doing that, I realised that in our ordinary lives it doesn’t exist. What is silence? It appears to be a momentary pause between one sound and the next – a heartbeat. Even if everything else can be blocked out, we can still feel or hear our own heart beating. Having got that far, I explored places where there was ‘silence’ and discovered what I could really hear.' (Publication summary) 
 
1 y separately published work icon Dancing Dots Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2023 26603888 2023 selected work poetry

'Unexpected challenges to my self-confidence and then reading The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli sent me on an exploration of time and memory. Rovelli took my understanding of time to pieces from a physics perspective and put it back together again from a philosophical one. Ive been aware for years of those famous words of Descartes – ‘I think, therefore I am.Rovelli is saying something similar, that it is our memories that make us who we are. Rovelli says everything is made up of atoms and photons and more besides, and they are in constant motion – hence the term dancing dots. I love the notion that a rock isnt rock-solid at all, but a mass of dancing dots. And if everything in the universe is made of dancing dots, what of our thoughts and our spirits?' (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon Stepping into the Blue Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2023 25746640 2023 selected work poetry

'As a child, I drove my mother to distraction with my never-ending stream of 'Whys?' I knew I had reached the end of her patience when she answered with 'Why? Because.' My stream of questions has never run dry, rather I have learned over long years to accept that most things have only a temporary answer because more and new information and understanding will appear as I read and experience more. In the world of sea, wind and sky, questions have become more like musings and these days I don't need anyone to give me answers - I am content to witness and be part of the mysteries of the intangible.' (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon Ebb and Flow Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2023 25000103 2023 selected work poetry
1 y separately published work icon Whimsical Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2022 25000025 2022 selected work poetry
1 y separately published work icon Liminal Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2022 24895602 2022 single work autobiography

'The question is, how did I become a seventy-two-year-old woman, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, wife, stepmother, editor, poet, essayist, artist and friend who ends every single day sending her prayers of thanks to the moon? A frank and moving reflection on how a shy English child fulfilled her potential in Australia.'  (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon Dance of Light Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2021 23742872 2021 selected work poetry
1 y separately published work icon Remnants and Reflections Brenda Eldridge , John Egan , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2021 23742356 2021 selected work poetry
1 y separately published work icon Flower Child Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2021 22957861 2021 single work autobiography

'‘I write to make it real.’ How often I have said that over the years? I didn’t make it up to sound clever, it is what I do and who I am. In a life filled to overflowing with richness and challenges, there has been much to write about and I have. Flower Child was born when I was thrust unexpectedly back sixty-something years into my childhood by the perfume of a flower in a quiet room. Flower Child is a tiny glimpse of a time, the place and some of the people that laid the foundations of who I was to become. It is where I learned the standards and values that I have lived my life by. In the doubt-filled aftermath of a recent challenge to the core of who I am and how I live, I have again found healing in writing. These are my memories.'

Source : publisher's blurb

1 y separately published work icon The Crow : Poems from South Australia Brenda Eldridge (editor), 2020 Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2020- 26827664 2020 periodical (3 issues) 'The Crow is a quarterly poetry journal published in March, June, September and December each year.' (Publisher's website)
 
1 A Privileged Life i "I've lived a privileged life", Brenda Eldridge , 2020 single work poetry
— Appears in: I Protest! Poems of Dissent 2020; (p. 74)
1 Haunting Cries i "Man-made tracks took us to", Brenda Eldridge , 2019 single work poetry
— Appears in: Mountain Secrets 2019; (p. 121)
1 y separately published work icon Coming of Age Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2019 18316579 2019 selected work poetry
1 y separately published work icon Fly Me Away Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2019 18316465 2019 selected work poetry
1 y separately published work icon Connecting Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2019 17055083 2019 selected work poetry 'Lives hold promise and promises. Keeping one promise might mean breaking another, for life is anything but simple. I had promised myself I would not go back to England – or, if I did, I would stay there. I did not want to pull myself up by the roots to leave it again. But I also promised Stephen that I would go anywhere with him. We had often spoken of going to England – his daughter still lived there – but we were both mindful of my promise to myself and why I made it. When the opportunity came along for us to go to Scotland to fulfil Stephen’s long-held dream to explore Scotland by train, I took a deep breath and said, ‘Yes, let’s go.’ Then his daughter moved from England to the Netherlands so inevitably our trip was extended. I was troubled that I had broken my promise to myself. But things never turn out as we think they will. In making this trip, I found my life had become like a Celtic knot. I found my place again in my childhood family, and in the world. It is said that home is where the heart is, and that proved to be true for me. Connecting is not a holiday travelogue. It tells how I made connections – connections that unified a lifetime’s experiences.' (Publication summary)
1 y separately published work icon Unknown Edges John Egan , Brenda Eldridge , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2018 18317582 2018 selected work poetry
1 Flexing i "Mostly a restful blue-grey", Brenda Eldridge , 2018 single work poetry
— Appears in: Wild 2018; (p. 152)
1 y separately published work icon An Unexpected Harmony John Egan , Brenda Eldridge , Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2018 13457244 2018 selected work poetry

'Two poets find an unexpected harmony in a very special collaboration.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 y separately published work icon Silver Tree Brenda Eldridge , Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2017 13458565 2017 selected work poetry
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