Poem: The Work
With the forthcoming re-issue of three of her collections as e-books, Heather Sladdin writes about winter, nature and the process of writing in this week’s Poet’s Corner contribution.
Photo: David Clarke/flickr
The Work
it is mid-winter and a posse of black knights are gathering over the Bremer Ranges two pelicans paddle on opposite sides of the river as a jagged line of ibis fly south to the Coorong a houseboat glides from the bank while a slow train from Adelaide scrapes across the metal bridge and climbs towards Tailem Bend the weight of its containers a high-pitched strain of wheels on rail like I strain to finish my work the angst of glimpsing a distant star and labouring to explain its quintessence I dream that I might simply reach out and touch it if I remembered how as soft clouds rally a canopy over the river the mercuric waters turn into a glimmer of gold I step into the river to learn ebb and flow the way fish jump out of water the myriad works of light the rhythm of my body the layers of being the lifting of spirit as I float in the light and the work of being is the work of doing the work of sensing a waking threesome
Heather Sladdin, of Murray Bridge, was born in Adelaide. During a retail career in the US and Australia, she gained her BA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a Graduate Diploma in Women’s Studies from Adelaide University. She tutored and lectured at UniSA and SAIBT (Navitas) in Creative Writing, Editing and Publishing, Communication and the Media, and other associated subjects.
Currently, Sladdin edits and mentors for writers. Two collections of her published poetry, “rooms of discovery” and “the grammar of grapes”, and the verse novel “Patterns of Being”, are about to be brought out as e-books. You can read more about her found here.
