Here is an anthology of poetry
for upper primary school students aged 9 to 12 years by Western Australian poets
from a range of diverse backgrounds. Some, such as Sally Morgan, AJ Betts, Meg
McKinlay, and Dianne Wolfer, are well-known, but there are many ‘new’ talented poets
such as Jake Dennis, Nanci Nott, Julie Watts, and Sian Turner.
The poems are gathered under
headings, Come on In! Creative Thinkers, Creature Features, The View from Here,
and Coming Home. Overall, it is interesting to note that most of the poems fall
under the categories of landscape, weather, and animals, with no poems about
family, school, food, or sport, all topics of interest to children. In fact,
there are few poems where a child is central to the poem. The exceptions are
Xanthe Turner’s ‘Nightmare Nights’, Jen Banyard’s prose poem, ‘You are Here’, Renae
Hayward’s ‘Sick’, and Abbey Fields’ ‘She Wanted to Write a Poem.’ Another
criticism of this collection is that some of the poems are slight, with fewer
than ten lines. There are, as well, only a few lyrical poems. Because the poems
were exclusively written by residents of one Australian state (Western
Australia), there would obviously be fewer poems from which to choose.
The book is illustrated on
most pages with black, white, and grey drawings by award-winning author and
illustrator, Briony Stewart. At the back of the book is a surprising inclusion
of a glossary of Noongar words. There’s also information about each of the
poets, and an acknowledgement to the Department of Local Government, Sport and
Cultural Industries which helped with funding of the book. Finally, there is
information about the book’s editors Rebecca M Neman whose poetry has been
published in Australia and internationally in magazines and anthologies, and
Sally Murphy, with over fifty books to her name, and poems in numerous
anthologies and journals.
