review

The Launch of the new poetry collection, Natural Light by David Atkinson :

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Sunday afternoon, 1st December 2024  was a celebratory afternoon for the launch of David Atkinson’s new poetry collection Natural Light . We gathered at Hannah’s Bar in Beecroft. The gathering included family, many friends  and poets from the U3A Poetry Appreciation Group, from the Pennant Hills Poetry Group  and many  other interested poetic friends . As MC i welcomed everyone and introduced  the teacher and poet Richard Clark who launched  Natural Light. In his launching speech, Richard  described some of the  poetic techniques  and read poems to show these.  It was an interesting speech and  he gave some very expressive readings of David’s poetry.  David read some of his poetry and thanked all those who have supported him on his journey.  And then we enjoyed refreshments and had a great chat all together .

 

     

Run Sheet for David’s Natural Light

  1. Good afternoon everyone.      My name is Colleen Keating and i am a poet and a writing friend of David..     Welcome everyone. It is good to be here together  for this celebration . and what a wonderful gathering  we are.    The bringing  forward of a book is a long journey and worth celebrating and  your presence is an honour to David  and to poetry. 
  2. We will just take a moment to gather ourselves and i ‘d like  to acknowledge  the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today , the Wallumedegal people of the Eora nation and pay respects to the first story tellers and  to the elders past, present and emerging.
  1. (a)Housekeeping – there is a bathroom directly across the courtyard but only one there. There are more bathrooms down the stairs and inside the centre or, alternatively, down one level via the lift.  Please just look around and check if anybody needs a seat if you can stand.
  2. (b)Order of events  I will introduce Richard Clarke. who will launch David’s new book . Richard will speak and read a few selected poems of  David’s 
  3. (c)Then David  as poet will speak and share some of his  poems.  At the end of the formal part we will  spread out and wait a few minutes for refreshments to be organised  And we can catch up with friends and celebrate this special occasion . The books will then be on sale for 25 dollars and David will be outside very happy to sign it.  We are all in for a treat. 

3. “It is now my pleasure to introduce Richard Clarke to launch David’s book. Richard says he was fortunate to have been born to literature-loving parents and to have married an avid reader, and since retirement to have been invited by David to join both the U3A poetry appreciation group hosted by Wendy Walker in Eastwood ,of which  many of that group are here today and the poetry writers’ group convened by David himself in Pennant Hills. And most of us are here to celebrate with  David.  Richard was an English teacher for forty years, He enjoyed nothing better than exploring great poems with his classes and imploring the students to write their own.Often in our groups we defer to Richard as he is an encyclopaedia of knowledge on poets, their background history, and grammar in general..  Now that he is writing his own poetry Richard says he is beginning to understand why many of his students found it difficult to turn theory into practice. But Richard powers ahead with his own writing. I remember when he had his first poem published  and we were very excited and  now in a short time his poems have been published in three countries. so we call him now an Internationally published poet.    Please welcome Richard.”

 superb Fairy wrens pg 47

4. Thank you Richard and now please welcome David to tell you about his  poetic journey and read you some of his selected poems.

5. Thank you David . 

6. That concludes the formal part of the afternoon. Please relax now and spread outside and buy a book. It will take  5 minutes  or so  while drinks and afternoon tea are set out.                                                                  

Poems to be read, or referred to, by Richard

Villanelle of the Drought (p.127)

Assembly Machinations (p.53)

Sonnet of the Fire (p.29)

Searching the Storm (p.48)

Adrift in the Desert (p.108)

The Ambivalence of Organisms (p.56)

The Challenge of Algebra (p.69)

Of Owl and Eeyore (p.128)

Poems to be read by David

The Old Hume (p.3)

From Impermanence (p.59)

Wedge-tailed Eagle (p.43)

Verandah (p.9)

The Buoyancy of Butterflies (87)

Review  by Colleen Keating 

    of 

Natural Light by David Atkinson 

“With an acute lyrical touch and an unerring ability to evoke sights, sounds and sensations,  David’s poems reveal new depths upon every rereading.” These affirming words by Richard Clark who recently launched ‘Natural Light’, come from an appreciation of the rich use of imagery, and the way in which the poet, speaks to his reading audience . 

This new book is David Atkinson’s third published poetry collection after ‘The Ablation of Time’ (202  and ‘Strands and Ripples’, (202  ) both published by Ginninderra Press.  David grew up in the Riverina  and knowing this  the reader can appreciate more  the way he pays reverent attention to the landscape, the birds, the sheds, tools, country roads and road kill and the Hume’s long distance journey to connect with the city. 

‘Natural Light’ is a striking book, full of remarkable pictures  capturing the human condition and the natural world.  An example of this where memory gives us movement  is from ‘Whipcord’,

Transfixed, we swerve in aversion, wary and watchful,

as the brute, terror of the imagination,

topic of tales, slithers away. 

Piques a flashback to that folio of boyhood fears;

an eastern brown slides through a dream.

The Holden accelerates, the small boy braces,

steeled like a vehicular strut, then the weight 

of the work boot, as breaks squeal

in a controlled skid through the writhing backbone.  

There are poems where David has set himself a task of research of a subject and then works it into a poem.  How he enjoys the challenge of different forms of poetry.  You can see him working out his poetry to put together a collection of his work that shows variety of subject and form and falling back into the things he loves and is most comfortable with. Hence we are gifted with a book of poetry that surprises wherever you open its pages.

The poems are arranged into six sections:   In the first section titled The Scaffold of Time  there are moments of reminiscing. One example of this is on a breathless country night as a child, sleeping on the verandah with his family he remembers,

in the open we are kneaded into nature. 

The night breathes a soft–hued concerto, 

         the wildlife variations.’

and 

Beyond the strands of ringbarked trees

the muted moon rises

and the stars are glow worms

over the riverine flats.

In ‘Bow Wave’  how wonderful to watch the way the poet shifts us from the country’s hard hot days of washing day to pondering a dream Manly holiday with memory of his mother,

In the freestanding washhouse she launders

the clothes, her farmer husband’s khakis,

reek of the shearing shed and the killing tree.

After igniting the copper, boils the garments

and bed linen; the spit of split kindling,

the flames prancing in the grate. 

And  then as reader we feel the cool ocean breeze with her dream

the South Steyne churning its bow wave 

slamming the subservient wharf.

even as

Her neck sallow, not yet seared swarthy

by the sun, she groans, heaves the bedsheets,

feeds them into the clothes wringer,

hand-operated, the water squeezed down

flowing, gurgling into the drain.

This scene is part of my own memory of helping my mother and grandmother but I wonder what the next generation will picture here.  However it is important for it to be remembered. 

In the poem ‘Generations of Ritual’, the imagery shows how the fates have determined the change and similarity in lives with the colourful phases,

The pungency of lucerne hay, 

the prickle of the fleece’s burrs. 

the taste of the moonrise frost

solo star in the top paddock,

 In the section, ‘Unswept Wings’  there are many gems including the prize winning poem ‘Gang Gang’,

When you sweep in, deep wing beats,

you skim along the runaway of azalea blooms.

In an ambience of apricity, I observe

your free flight through the bush reserve; 

I know why this time you alight alone.

I watch your actor’s bow to the water,

curved beak leading to its cere,

eye staring off across your canopied 

territory of eucalypts;

The award-winning poem, ‘Wedge-tailed Eagle 

takes us deeper,

In a rhythm of etiolated recall my spirit

aches for the passing of the years.

The fundamentals seem to have been recast,

a perception of having taken

a long journey to the interior. 

The moment to expore the season

with Vivaldi, to grasp the assertion,

the fretwork of the river red gum.

At last the opportunity but I am ageing

and my soul yearns for peace.

Time is transient and pitiless;

I must seek out the resting ripple

of the remote and elusive platypus

in the headwaters of the Coxs River

and turn back to accompany you

on your buoyant ascent.  

In the section ‘Anchored’,  one poem  The Challenge of Algebra’ stands out for its thoughtful attention to our wider broken world with the last two tercets,

Faith is a trait which cannot

be contained; it bubbles

and spurts like water

from an underground spring, 

from a young maths student pinned

under the earth of Mariupol

Further sections are  ‘The Ochre of Dawn’, ‘Light on the Breeze’, 

and in the last section titled ‘Interwoven’ 

I especially appreciate Villanelle of the Drought  with 

‘the yawl of callous crows; he dreads their shriek

alighting on a victim in the glare.

The stricken ewe has slumped, half-starved and weak

As Richard Clark commented in his launch Atkinson is a master of enjambement and I was interested to spend some time observing his skilful working of this technique  and how it draws the reader in.  I say this because I  especially relate to his portrayed country world of the 50’s with the droughts and struggles, having spent my childhood in the country albeit a different direction The New England Tablelands. 

It is an interesting journey to see how the poet comes to terms with his memories and the sense of struggle. He accepts the learnings especially from the birds , their lightness of being and so opening the perspective of being untethered and free. and how he comes to the finality with family that brings him home. 

‘Natural Light’ is a worthy collection, full of surprises, poems like gems, some of them have their beauty in the natural light alone,. Others to be given attention, given a bit of spittle,  polished, held, contemplating their translucent beauty. Their show of luminance which as poems here  illuminates the way.   

 

 

David Atkinson’s recent poems, brought together in this latest volume of his work, offer many worthwhile insights on the human condition and the natural world. These broad themes are longstanding interests of David’s – as well as his fascination with birds in their environment and the delights and challenges stemming from those we know best, our families.  – Graham Wood

In this,  David Atkinson’s third collection , his poetry explores the complexities of the human condition, the delights of our flora and fauna, the lost charms of the rural world he knew as a child and the rewards and challenges of family life. With an acute lyrical touch and an unerring ability to evoke sights, sounds and sensations. David’s poems reveal new depths upon every rereading. His poems have achieved success in numerous competitions and have beed published widely in Australia , the USA and the UK – Richard Clark

Windfall issue 10 2022 Review by Simon Hanson

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Windfall: Australian Haiku, Issue 10, 2022 – Review

Simon Hanson

The 10th and final issue of the much-loved journal, Windfall: Australian Haiku, was released in January 2022.

Windfall is an annual journal edited by Beverley George and published by Peter Macrow at Blue Giraffe Press. The cover artwork is by Ron C. Moss, with design and layout by Matthew C. George.

Originating in Japan, the popularity of this short poetic genre has spread widely around the globe. Australian interest in haiku dates as far back as 1899 when an Australian haiku competition was conducted(1). Subsequently, in the 1970s, Janice Bostok produced Australia’s first haiku magazine, Tweed(2).

More recently, the Australian journal, paper wasp, ran for 20 years until ceasing publication in 2016 and, with the internet leading to growing interest in the genre, other print and online journals have encouraged and supported the writing of haiku.

For the past ten years, Windfall has focused solely on haiku about Australian urban and rural life, written by Australian residents. These poems have incorporated many elements of our landscapes, seasons, flora and fauna into the haiku form.

spring equinox
over the moonlit creek
a pobblebonk chorus

Mark Miller

leading
into sundown
dingo tracks

Tom Staudt

virgin rainforest
ninety-four rings
on a fresh cut stump

Andrew Hede

Nature haiku such as these enable Australians and others to appreciate images and sounds associated with the birds, animals and plants of this country.

waning moon
in the mangroves
fireflies stir

Maureen Sexton

rising heat
a jabiru crosses
the sun

Cynthia Rowe

winter afternoon —
golden wattle glows
on black sky canvas

Sheryl Hemphill

Windfall has chronicled some of the best Australian haiku for a decade. Issue 10 presents haiku by 63 poets. By my count, 20 of these poets also appeared in Issue 1, which suggests around 40 of the current Windfall poets have emerged in the intervening period. The growing Australian haiku community certainly includes a healthy influx of fresh voices and fresh ideas.

Some poems in Windfall relate to the interaction between nature and the human environment.

opera house steps
a long-nosed fur seal
soaks up the sunshine

Vanessa Proctor

rainforest glade
an empty packet of Smith’s
catches the sun

Nathan Sidney

While others use local flora and fauna to portray aspects of Australian behaviour and culture.

black cockatoos
in tree shadows
he stops treatment

Earl Livings

beachside walk
the roughness of
banksia pods

Nathalie Buckland

dunny
without a door . . .
the Milky Way

Leanne Mumford


Credit for Windfall’s success must go to editor, Beverley George, and to publisher, Peter Macrow. Beverley’s deep knowledge of the haiku form has enabled her to assemble a marvellous selection of Australian haiku for each edition of Windfall, while Peter has supported the journal throughout its life.

Beverley George selected the following haiku to conclude the 10th issue of Windfall. It was a wonderful choice, with the poem capturing a quintessentially Australian scene. But, more than that, the poem does not despair about ending. Rather, the poem celebrates the vitality of birth and renewal.

sheltered paddock
the udder punch
of a newborn

Glenys Ferguson

For ten years, Windfall has made an important contribution in recording the work of Australian haiku poets. Now, we all look to the future.

Review by Gregory Piko

A limited number of back issues of Windfall (No. 4 to No. 9) and of the final issue (No. 10) are available for $10 per copy, postage included. Cash or stamps are welcome, as are cheques payable to Peter Macrow. Please address to:

Peter Macrow
6/16 Osborne Street
Sandy Bay TAS 7005

1) Scott, Rob, “The History of Australian Haiku and the Emergence of a Local Accent,” The Haiku Foundation Digital Library, accessed January 22, 2022

2) Dean, Sharon Elyse , “White Heron: The Authorised Biography of Australia’s Pioneering Haiku Writer Janice M Bostok,” The Haiku Foundation Digital Library, accessed January 22, 2022

Compulsive Reader: Review of Olive Muriel Pink

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Review of Olive Muriel Pink:

Her radical & idealistic life

A poetic journy

Colleen Keating

Ginninderra Press 

3rd September 2021 ISBN: 9781761091599, 320 pages, paperback, $40

by Beatriz Copello

I do not think there is a better way to honour a woman of the calibre of Olive Muriel Pink than to write a book of poetry about her life.  Colleen Keating has done just that, she has written a poetic journey about this unsung Australian heroine. 

With a sharp eye and lyric touch, the world of Olive Pink becomes alive, it is a passionate story told with knowledge. It is evident that the poet has invested years researching the life of Olive Pink. The poet says: “I have been researching, writing and thinking about Olive Pink for over a decade now.  The discoveries that come along the way – the portraits unveiled – are very stirring.”  

This collection covers many years in the life of Pink, it starts in 1884 and finishes in 1975. The book also has a foreword, a prologue and a chronology as well as notes and bibliography. The labour of love that went into writing this book would grant the author a doctorate.

The author in Notes explains that she aimed to write a book that fell between an accurate scholarly presentation of Olive Pink’s life and her own personal interpretation of it.

Olive Pink was a fighter for justice who advocated for the rights of First Nations People, she was also an anthropologist, artist and gardener. Keating from the first poem in the book alerts the readers about what they will encounter throughout the pages, in this excerpt from “Olive the pioneer” she writes:

Who is Olive?
She defied the silence
caused discomfort
annoyed the authorities.
Her letters shouted from the edge.
She heard budgerigar dreaming
and drummed to a different tune.
She pushed against the colonial tide.
If the answer is ‘eccentric’
in her death she will be twice dismissed. 

Who is Olive? History asks.
She broke the silence
her voice for the voiceless 
remembered the forgetting.
She visioned justice in the courts.
Her feet knew country.
She carried red dust
under the fingernails of her heart.
She listened to elders, learnt language
wrote down stories, sketched arid plants
medicinal, nutritional, ritual.
If the answer is ‘anthropologist’
in her death she will be twice honoured. 

If Keating wrote music, I would say she does not miss a beat, when she raises issues about Olive’s past, she does it with conviction and poignant comments, like in the following excerpt from “A new lodestone”:

The grim spectre of injustice
towards Aboriginal tribe
taunts Olive out of her grief
jolts her from self pity.
Like a silk petticoat pulled over her hair
the air is static in its darkness.
It bleeds through a colander of whitewash words

  • progress jobs, growth.

Its handprint blood-red.

The poet also utilizes very vivid imagery, the readers become Olive, we can see, smell, hear what she experiences.  Keating appeals to the senses, the following poem “Restless” illustrates this: 

In her dingy office Olive yearns
for the vast open country, large skies,
hazy horizons, a slung kettle hissing
and spitting its leak over the fire.
Burnt flesh and sizzle
of goanna still fill her nostrils.
Olive walks country in her sleep –
the pungent smell of camels
sweaty bodies, blazoned glare, flies
dust-blown storms.
That red dust under
the colour of her heart
and patter of Pitjantjatjara children
still running giggling beside her
lingers like the balm of an Indian summer.  

The poet has the skill to write about Olive’s powerful emotions without sentimentality or corniness, through these strong emotions readers can form a picture in their mind of Olive’s personality. The following excerpt from the poem titled “Heady days” is a good example of the Keating’s ability:

Olive is energised by academia.
The scissor-cut horizon
of her desert experience
challenges like a mirage.
She seizes every chance to argue,
‘The root cause is not malnutrition or disease –
They camouflage facts, treat the wrong symptoms.’
Heated discussion rises.
Angrily she fights for breath.
‘Even the most ignorant know the problems –
White man’s aggression, sexual abuse
fear, venereal disease, land dispossession.
We like to deride these facts.’
She flushes, her neck prickles as she continuous,
‘Full-bloods need their own protected country
not mission reserves.’
Her tone is strident.
‘Daily handouts from stations
Keep them tied to white man power.’

Olive Pink struggled all her life to be able to do what men were able to do, in the following poem “High Hopes” Keating captures this desire but also very cleverly imagines her mood in such a difficult situation.

Over dinner her enthusiasm bubbles.
‘After my thesis I plan
a full year of research among the Arrernte’
she confidently tells the Professor
and others grouped around the table.
‘I would like to be included
in your next museum expedition.
It will reduce my research expenses 
and my anthropology will enhance the group.’
Silence.
Unease around the room
as lightening awaits a clap of thunder.
Awkward shifts and exchanged glances
the embarrassed clearing of throats.
From her left in a deep tone,
‘That would not be possible …
‘But you took Ted Strehlow on your trip last year!’
‘… for a woman,’ mumbles the professor.
Exposed, Olive’s heart races.
She hopes they don’t notice the burn
of her cheeks.
She avoids eye contact
gazes out as one with miles to go
restless to be on her way.
She needs desert air.
‘Why does gender cause such heart break?’
she broods into the night.
‘Why wasn’t I born a man.”

I would like to congratulate Colleen Keating not only for writing this incredible book but also for honouring a woman from the past which like many other Australian heroines are often forgotten or not given credit for their achievements. Reading about Olive Muriel Pink will inspire you and give you strength to struggle to achieve your aims.

About the Reviewer: Dr Beatriz Copello is a former member of NSW Writers Centre Management Committee, she writes poetry, reviews, fiction and plays. The author’s poetry books are: Women Souls and Shadows, Meditations At the Edge of a Dream, Flowering Roots, Under the Gums Long Shade, and Lo Irrevocable del Halcon (In Spanish).  Beatriz’s poetry has been published in literary journals such as Southerly and Australian Women’s Book Review and in many feminist publications.  She has read her poetry at events organised by the Sydney Writers Festival, the NSW Writers Centre, the Multicultural Arts Alliance, Refugee Week Committee, Humboldt University (USA), Ubud (Bali) Writers Festival.

 

 

Book Review: Hildegard of Bingen: A poetic journey by Colleen Keating

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Hildegard of Bingen by Colleen Keating is, as the author subtitled A Poetic Journey based on the life of the saint Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179).

 

BOOK REVIEW      Women’s Ink Magazine  www.womenwritersnsw.org

Hildegard of Bingen – A Poetic Journey

COLLEEN KEATING

Ginninderra Press

ISBN 978 1 76041 766 6

Reviewed by BEATRIZ COPELLO

For those who do not know about this saint’s life, let me tell you she was an incredible and fascinating woman who lived in the Middle Ages in Germany. She lived an intense life dedicated not only to religion but also to science, art, music, politics and philosophy. Hildegard founded two monasteries and maintained active correspondence with kings, emperors and popes. During all her life this mystic had visions which she attributed to divine inspiration. 

In the forward of Hildegard of Bingen, Keating says she fell in love with Hildegard when she read a book lent to her by a friend. That love is evident in each page, in each poem, in each line. Through Keating’s poetry we get to know Hildegard, her life unrolls like a magic carpet. Poem by poem the reader finds out about her dreams, hopes, aspirations as well as her frustrations. 

Keatings’s poems come alive with sensory experience, her words are confident in range and depth and they are utterly clear and articulate. The poet could have been a witness in Hildegard’s life, she knows her, she breathes her, she has a familial intimacy with the philosopher. The author undertook a journey into the mediaeval world, the poems are factual and the events meticulously researched. They contain very vivid descriptions, we can see in our mind’s eye what Hildegard saw, like in

 

‘Arrival’

Disibodenberg, high in the forest
sprawls in the clouds.
The last mile steeply uphill
Secluded. 

A white butterfly dips and lifts.
Hildegard’s gaze follows it up
catches the glint of the sun
on the first stone wall.

Stoic buildings unfold
cloistered around a cobbled garth.
Their Benedictine monastery.

A monk in cinctured black robe
walks from signposted infirmary.
From beneath his blinkered cowl
he extends a welcome.
They dismount
Jutta falls on her knees in gratitude.

In Hildegard’s life the days pass coloured by monotony and sainthood and as the days pass so is her strong and determined personality developed. Poem by  poem the reader becomes wrapped in a mantle of words, words that tell us of revelations, mysticism, determination and sainthood. Keating puts herself in Hildegard’s shoes and cleverly she is able to recreate the angst, the bravery and the defiance of this incredible woman. We enter her abode, her orchard, we get to know the sisters and her godly visions. We hear two strong voices Hildegard’s and Keating’s the poet. Writing is a labour of love, the writer not only poured her love for Hildegard in the poems but also her skills and knowledge.

Intuition, growth, earthiness, inner strength, passion, justice, wisdom, art are all words that describe what emerges from Keating’s poetry. What a great way to learn through reading poetry! The poet has not spared any detail about the life of Hildegard neither has she left out information about her sources. This fascinating book contains an Epilogue, a Chronology, a Glossary, Notes and a Bibliography. In the final notes Keating says: ‘A Poetic Journey seeks a middle ground between an accurate scholarly presentation of Hildegard and a personal interpretation of her story.’

I believe the writer has achieved her purpose offering us  the opportunity to get to know a mediaeval feminist of extraordinary creativity. Colleen Keating has created a masterpiece. 

Women’s Ink! Magazine   www.womenwritersnsw.org    March 2020 p19

The Blue Nib reviews Hildegard of Bingen by Colleen Keating

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https://thebluenib.com/article/hildegard-of-bingen-colleen-keating-reviewed/

‘Hildegard of Bingen’ Colleen Keating – Reviewed

By

Emma Lee

Reviews
Colleen-Keating-Hildegard-of-Bingen

‘Hildegard of Bingen’ Colleen Keating

(Ginninderra Press www.ginninderrapress.com.au

ISBN 9781760417666, 248pp, $Aus 35)

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was a nun, sold into a convent aged 8, initially under care of Jutta von Sponheim (1091-1136). Hildegard specialised in medical properties of herbs and plants and had religious visions which she dictated to a scribe. She also undertook four journeys to spread word of her faith and was officially canonised in 2012. Colleen Keating’s poems form a book-length sequence telling Hildegard von Bingen’s story, starting in Hildegard’s teenage years. Her confessor, Abbot Kuno, already sees Hildegard as a potential problem, in ‘Confessor’,

‘He questions Hildegard’s sincerity,
annoyed by her fervour.
He knows he is not the confessor for her.
Blessed Jutta is different
he tells himself impatiently,
compliant and so very holy.’

Abbot Kuno’s attitude reminds Hildegard of her mother’s warning in ‘Her Secret’,

‘when a beautiful light spoke to her,
when she knew more than she should
when her mother warned her to remain silent,
for fear it is the devil at work.’

However, Abbot Kuno has to grudgingly accept Hildegard’s growing fame as a healer, ‘Pilgrims’ ends,

‘Abbot Kuno builds
a small oratory for his sisters,
alert to their fame and charisma
and the revenue
they attract to his monastery.’

Hildegard continues to have her visions but, unfortunately, Jutta’s health seriously deteriorates as she pushes herself to starve and walk on frosty ground barefoot under Abbot Kuno’s urging to push her to sainthood. As Hildegard tends Jutta, she notes in ‘The Last Swallows’, ‘Jutta has her mind only

on heaven,/ to be remembered as a saint.’ In the ‘Passing of Jutta’, ‘Jutta mumbles a litany of virgins and martyrs/ Ursula, Barbara, Agatha./ Hildegard cries names/ of strong biblical women/ Deborah, Judith, Miriam, Esther, Ruth.’ The names reflect the women’s characters.

Hildegard feels ‘A Call to Write’,

‘Light blinds her.
She hears the hum and strike of words:
O fragile human, ashes of ashes,
dust of dust,
say and write what you hear.’

Abbot Kuno allows her a scribe, Volmar. A Papal Envoy summons Hildegard. In ‘Divine Revelation’, ‘The bishops sit high on large carved chairs./ Abbot Kuno sits with a severe frown/ behind an oak desk against the wall./ His impatient tap of fingers/ does not deter Hildegard.’ Turn the page and a missive, ‘The papal envoy calls your words inspired./ You are requested to continue.’ Despite the Papal Envoy’s blessing, Abbot Kuno obstructs her from completing her manuscript of visions. Hildegard goes on hunger strike. Volmar writes to Bishop Henry of Mainz who instructs Abbot Kuno to comply. He allows her to journey to Bingen to build a new abbey. ‘The Art of Perseverance’ sees the abbey established, her manuscript now has 150,000 words and 34 illuminations, and Hildegard has chance to take stock and reflect on her discovery of music,

‘a sacred text in love and trust
and the art of perseverance.
Her years are divided by liturgical feasts
her days marked by the hours
time, by the moon and seasons
rhythmic flow of the cycles.
Abbot Kuno’s stubborn
withhold of dowries constrains here.
Yet nothing constraints her spirit.

Oh, how her spirit soars.
The opera must be performed
for our new chapel opening.’

After three missionary journeys, which aren’t detailed in the poems, Hildegard returns to the issue of the withheld dowries, taking it up with Kuno’s successor, the Abbot of Disibodenberg, in ‘The Letter’

‘Not to release our dowries is unjust, selfish, illegal.
I can see you’ve ignited a black fire against Rupertsberg.
Yes, I see this in you. I’m only a poor insignificant woman,
weak and worthless, yet if you listen to me,
you’ll learn something.

Inside your soul, you  must feel embarrassed
when you see yourself for who you ware.
Sometimes you’re an angry, growling unkind bear,
but since you are so weak, you only snarl quietly under your breath.

The italics are a quote from her letter and, despite their tone, the dowries are released. There’s a ‘Last Missionary Journey’ where Hildegard talks to Volmar, ‘I must journey forth in these dark times,/ speak out for our people./ They especially need encouragement.’ Following an incident where buries a beggar in her abbey and refuses to allow the beggar to be exhumed and re-buried outside of consecrated ground, music is banned from her abbey. Hildegard’s reaction is captured in ‘The Final Letter’ to Archbishop Christian of Mainz,

‘So you and all your prelates must use the greatest vigilance
in stopping, by decree, the mouth of any assembly
of people singing to God.
Beware,
lest in your judgement you are ensnared by Satan,
who draws man out of the celestial harmony
and delights of paradise.

By silencing song in our abbeys you cut human fellowship
with the angelic praise of heaven, but graver still
you disrupt the harmony of body and soul.’

Again the italics are direct quotes. With her own life coming to an end, Hildegard notes, ‘A Circle Ends Where it Begins’ and ‘watches herself both hands in the air,/ eyes to the heavens, turn and twirl a dance of light.’

In ‘Hildegard of Bingen’ Colleen Keating has done meticulous research and brought Hildegard to life in a series of poems that follow a chronological narrative arc. The liveliest sections are where Hildegard is quoted and able to speak for herself. Some sections do however tell readers that this incident happened, then another incident happened which gives the section a prosaic, list-like feel. Overall ‘Hildegard of Bingen’ paints a picture of a compassionate, dedicated woman, not afraid to rebel and stand up for just causes when necessary.

https://thebluenib.com/article/hildegard-of-bingen-colleen-keating-reviewed/

 

A Review of A Call to Listen

colleen General , ,

 

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Call to Listen

by Colleen Keating

Published by Ginninderra Press
Reviewed by Judith O’Connor
This stylishly produced collection of some eighty poems,
with a particularly tasteful and pleasing cover, is just what it says – a plea to stop
our activities and busyness and start looking, listening and observing the world around us. The poet supplies us with any number of simple examples:

it’s a hard thing to love a rock
you need to receive it as a gift
spend time
commune
gaze . . . (‘How to Love a Rock’)

and:

. . . a fallen water tank; rusted blood red . . .

(‘Abandoned’)

But we quickly see that the range of topics and inspiration,
is far wider and deeper than what at first may appear incidental.
The collection is cleverly arranged into eight separate categories,
taking in a wide sweep of the poet’s life and experiences.
I particularly enjoyed the verses inspired by outback Australia
for which the poet has borrowed (and referenced) the words of Mary McKillop
‘We are but Travellers Here’. Having trekked to the summit of Mt. Sondar and hiked in many of the poet’s footsteps (‘Ormiston Pound’), I was surprised and delighted to read her award winning ‘Daybreak over Mt. Sondar’ and its moving description of the dawn:

…in the beginning
air static as a nylon petticoat pulled over my hair
fingerprints of red ruby . . . (‘Daybreak over MT. Sondar’)

Every page brings fresh and, at times, challenging verses on a range of human emotions from ‘Almost Dawn’ with its sensuality:

… he turns
arms cocoon me
in an aura of warmth
his breath tingles
in the dip of my neck . . .  (‘Almost Dawn’)

to ‘At the Nursing Home’:

… I fill the foot bath
my elbow checks the tepid water … (‘At the Nursing Home’)

Another of my favourites, ‘Sisters’:

… we lunch together
we celebrate
the milestone of another decade
and that word ‘remission’ a green shoot springing
from the scarred black earth…

But from being a poem full of depression and sorrow, it ends magnificently:

….we splurge
with our lust for life
toast with a glass of bubbly
Joie de vivre (‘Sisters’)

The poets voice changes to anger and outrage in other poems such as ‘Guantanamo Bay’ ( . . . this is a poem not to be read aloud; for it speaks of solitaire confinement …) and ‘War on Terror’ ( … it’s coming; through a hole in the air) along with poems reflecting visits to Japan and Fromelles.

Whatever the reader’s mood, quest or interest, these poems are sure to satisfy, surprise and inspire.