Earth Works – Edited by Janette Fernando
Product details
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Poetica Christi Press (2007)
ISBN: 9780975749159
Trim size: 210 x 148 mm
Synopsis
So does Earth work? What on Earth are our responsibilities as the inhabitants of this planet? Have we messed it up so badly that it’s no longer working? Does our Earth work include enjoying the Earth? What about the relationship between land and people? These and other issues are touched on in the wide range of voices from the 47 poets represented in this anthology, some from The Wordsmiths of Melbourne Poetry Group and some from entrants to the recent Poetica Christi Press Poetry Competition.
“Earth Works enjoys the diverse pun of its title in this always reflective, occasionally polemical and often spiritual poetry anthology. Human seasons turn a tune here the same as the planet’s. Whether people in their historical and psychological complexity or garden creatures in their daily simplicity, Earth Works gathers its subjects with poetic love and attention. Personal dramas and global crises interweave as two score and more poets engage in this unique anthology’s serious celebration.” From Kris Hemensley.
EVEREST
Black fingers clutch the icy crag
His gloves are shredded, his clothes wet through
He’s coming home in a body bag
Down in the valley he made the brag
he’d be the first to see the peak view
Black fingers clutch the icy crag
Halfway up, breathless, he started to lag
his legs ton weights, his face grey-blue
He’s coming home in a body bag
When he passed a corpse holding a flag
he realised the damage ego can do
Black fingers clutch the icy crag
They turned up the oxygen, carried his swag
but his speech was slurred. It was then they knew
he’d be coming home in a body bag
The highest mountain, the hardest drag
only existed for him to subdue
Black fingers clutch the icy crag
He’s coming home in a body bag
Jennifer Chrystie
