I feel very proud to have two reviews in the latest edition of SWW Women’s Ink Magazine, Spring- Summer November 2025.
The first one is a review of Vanessa Proctor’s exquisite book ON WONDER.
This is the second one Like a Small City by Carla de Goede
Thank you Janette Conway for your very professional edition of our Women’s Ink.
Jan does it all joyfully and with comfort and ease. It shows that it is a labour of love
but it still is very demanding on time and energy and I appreciate this.
As Jan says in her editorial it has been an amazing year of celebration for the Society of Women Writers.
A centenary is no small feat for an organisation that has never faltered through all the challenges
it has been up against over 100 years and as members and friends it has been our opportunity
to support and enjoy each other writing over the time of our membership.
My first review was of the equiste poety collection On Wonder by the award winning haikuist Vanessa Proctor .
BOOK REVIEW
Like a Small City
Carla de Goede
Reviewed by Colleen Keating
In a poem called, What poetry does, Carla de Goede writes: It hits you like /a wall / whacks a punch /
and haunts you. This amazing collection of poetry does just that. In reading Like a Small City, I was plunged headlong into a dark and and painful place.
The back blurb states,‘Carla’s poems are written as a celebration of survival, even the harrowing, startling, shocking poems’ Though it was hard reading it was spell-binding.
Powerful use of words, imagery and the breathing space the poet leaves for us to feel, increases an unsettling vibe. ‘He was always punching her / face / though it happened / only once.’ Sometimes we are slowly relieved with a touch of nature,‘as even slugs squish out their messages / in silvery stains / their letters like spiderweb / tinsel.’
Carla’s use of metaphor, its play, its power takes meaning beyond meaning. The sun picks at her guitar /
and the frets grin like a mouth full of gold teeth, magma memories / bubbling out / like red jam. and the extra associated meaning in, Then I hear something / fantastic /and pop my head / back / in the oven of mediocrity.
In Wake, she begins, She held the arm with the bruise / like a walkie talkie up to her lips’
The reader will appreciate the honesty of the surreal in Carla’s writing making it strangely freeing as sometimes marked by the intense irrational realityof a dream. There is a poignant justice slant in the experimental poem, Journey out the back door, the deep understanding of the homeless with its redemptive hint in Morning Under a Bridge, and recognise the poet’s empathy for one close to death from work radiation poisoning, with the hopeless struggle to get compensation for the children in the poem, In the Armchair.
Like a Small City, Carla de Goede’s second poetry collection is a highly recommended read. It was short-listed for the coveted 2022 Dorothy Hewett Award.Many of the poems in the collection have won awards and are included in anthologies.
In an age where “reality” is often questioned and obscured, poetry is especially powerful in its ability to capture the surreality of the present moment. This poetry collection is a valued addition to the genre of Australian women’s poetry.
I will end with a favourite poem of mine, The Lake, where light shines out of the dark. Suddenly happiness took me / like a man with strong arms. and she continues, ’as the sun dips into the water / like a flamingo.’
Buy a copy and experience this heart-rending journey.
Photo: STEWART CHAMBERS