POETRY I AM READING: PATRICIA SYKES

Judith Beveridge once said - or maybe more than once - that Australian poets write a lot about birds. So we do. How can you not. There are so many ways. Patricia Sykes' collection Modewarre: Home Ground (Spinifex Press 2004) begins with a section titled House of the Bird. It is three roads meeting in the one bird:// modewarre (the indigenous)/ biziura lobata (the colonial)/ musk duck (the common) ... (from Modewarre - ways you might approach it p. 3). It is poetry about language and the way to cut/ water open without forcing a wound (sanctuary: Swan Lake, Phillip Island p. 52). Patricia Sykes' latest book is The Abbotsford Mysteries (Spinifex Press). She will perform at Poetry at the God's in Canberra tonight Tuesday April 9 with Alex Skovron. Hope to see you there.