Ginninderra Press
ASIN: B09HKYK9HL
ISBN-10: 1761091867
ISBN-13: 978-1761091865
Paperback: 102 pages
"In The Density of Compact Bone, Magdalena Ball stuns with her elegantly constructed paean to earth, sky, water and her requiem to loss, both ecological and personal."
"Magdalena Ball's poems are replete with images and symbols and sometimes pictorial representations of our guilt and desires. Her poems sometimes sing of the extinct creatures who breathed their last to question us for our inhuman actions, nature and its "objective correlative' in poetic diction. Magdalena Ball captivates her readers with cogitations on dreams, failures, moments of joy and despair, contemplations of serious existential truths and quest for the same. Her poems transport us to a land of ecstasy, the parabolic pathway of moving away and returning to the same trajectory of existence with a new promise or at least a complacency of some kind, or just a sense of well-being. Her poems are a must-read!"- Ketaki Datta
This post will share some of the parts of poems from this book by Ball. When we read, we infer. Inferring is text on the page mixed with our own thoughts. We deduce the meaning of the poetry for ourselves. Others may see the same text differently, as we all have unique life experiences. This is what makes book discussion groups so interesting. When I read the text below, I think of overconsumption and landfills. What do you think?
The billboard
flashing in neon
excess buy buy buy bye
hardwired to self-destruct.
A few poems ahead, Ball writes about loss. Is this what someone thinks at the end of a relationship? Is it about climate change, the ending of an evening, or perhaps how life changes after a funeral? It isn't fair to you, dear reader, as the entire poem is in the book. Yet, do you get some sort of impression?
I know this is something we share
raising a glass, not thinking too much
about the uncomfortable fact
that that we’re sliding
towards an edge.
So starts the poem How to make Lokshen Kugel:
Begin with tears. There will not be enough. Salt is essential. Break something. A dish perhaps if you cannot find a heart. There will already be chips. There is no perfect crockery.
What are you thinking about these words?
I cannot write a review to show how wonderful this book is because I am not a poet or writer. I was a first-grade teacher and so I appreciate Ball's writing but can't come close to honoring it as it deserves.
The book ends with a land acknowledgment. Ball is from Australia. Have you noticed other books, webinars, or videos with land acknowledgments? How do you feel about Elders emerging?
"These poems were written on the unceded land of the Awabakal people. I acknowledge the traditional custodians and pay my respect to Elders past, present and emerging."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Magdalena Ball is a novelist, poet, reviewer and interviewer, and is the Managing Editor of Compulsive Reader. She has been widely published in literary journals like Meanjin, Cordite, Red Room, and Westerly, in many anthologies, and is the author of several published books of poetry and fiction. Her work has won or been shortlisted for several prizes including the Newcastle Poetry Prize, the Melbourne Poet's Union International Competition, and the Grieve Writing Competition. She is a longstanding (>25 years) member of the Hunter Writers Centre and has been an active participant (as both moderator and performer) in the Newcastle Writers Festival since it's inaugural event in 2013, as well as other literary festivals such as the Hunter IF, the Sydney Writers Festival, and the Digital Writers Festival. Find out more about Magdalena at http://www.magdalenaball.com
Review by Carolyn Wilhelm
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