Local poetry has returned to its former glory in Perth as Fremantle Press collaborates with three of the state’s finest for its latest project, New Poets.
After a lull through the earlier part of last decade, WA’s poetry scene has resurged with burgeoning popularity for a promising future.
New Poets compiles the full-length works of three WA poets, each carving out their own niche for three distinct collections.
Emma Rooksby, J.P. Quinton and Scott-Patrick Mitchell have garnered their own succinct styles, unwavering in character and strength.
Made up of an academic; a journalist and a landscape architect, there is very little these three poets share except their evidently robust passion for the craft.
Author of ‘Time Will Tell’, Emma Rooksby remains a relatively unknown but up-and-coming force in the poetry scene, residing on the east coast.
Rooksby gave an insight into the editing process under the guidance of renowned WA poet and anthology editor Tracy Ryan.
‘It was an absolutely fantastic experience… I had never worked with an editor before,’ Rooksby said.
‘What she wanted to do was show her appreciation of the poems but point out the areas that probably weren’t quite right.’
The WA-born academic seemed ecstatic over the release of ‘New Poets’ and said it was very exciting to be published for the first time.
Poems such as Summer, Blakely’s Red Gums and Flood conjure up succinct imagery but as a critic has suggested, ‘feel the silence and darkness pressing against our world.’
Rooksby drew much of her inspiration from the vastly different landscapes in Perth and around the country.
‘A lot of what I try to do is bring a passing awareness of what’s around us into consciousness,’ Rooksby said.
Critics have labelled Mitchell’s selection as playful and experimental with language, confidently drawing strong themes from nature and humanity.
J.P. Quinton’s contribution has been praised as informed and ironic, a tribute to the scattered human existence along the fringes of the Swan River.
Fremantle Press publisher Wendy Jenkins was glad with how New Poets emerged and the delicate balance between similarities and contrasts between the authors.
She also said poetry remains among the hardest of industries in which to get a full-length work published.
‘There are a lot of people writing. Unfortunately it’s very difficult to get a very long print run because there aren’t so many people reading,’ Jenkins said.
New Poets is sale on now through Fremantle Press, New Edition, Planet Books and all good bookstores.
Want to win a copy of this book, plus a copy of Scott-Patrick Mitchell’s zine MoTHER [has words…]? Be the first person to email books@planetvideo.com.au mentioning the title of the book. Good luck!
Benn Dorrington
