Lakesong

299.00

Author: Lakshmi Kanchi
Published Date: 01/11/2022
ISBN: 978-93-92494-17-8
Pages: 98
Category:

Description

Warm, accessible, distinctive. This first collection navigates the complex terrain of the migrant journey. Kanchi writes to place herself in both India and Australia. She writes with a curious and observant eye and with great sensitivity towards the natural world. There is a gentle, but heartfelt warning here of the consequences of ecological disaster, whichever part of the globe one calls home. The poet uses the resources of poetry—its playfulness, its attentiveness to sound, its capacity for comparison—to draw us, again and again, to beauty: the beauty of place, of language, and of connection in relationship. She also uses the same resources to probe the depths of anguish. Her observations of the complex dynamics of the maternal relationship are particularly insightful. These are poems that stand at the edge of the cliff of longing and sing. — Miriam Wei Wei Lo

LAKSHMI KANCHI, pen name SoulReserve, is an emerging Western Australian poet of Indian descent. Her poetry explores love and its tumultuousness, fantasy and zest in nature, and allegories that provoke thought and evoke tender feelings. Her writing anatomises the complex linkages between history, language, culture, perception, and nature. She is the current Poet-in-Residence at The Wetlands Centre Cockburn, working towards making poetry accessible to everyone in the wider community. She is a Centre for Stories fellow and the recipient of the 2021 Pocketry Prize for Unpublished Poets. Her poem ‘Watermarks’ was shortlisted for the South Coast Writers Centre’s 2022 Poetry Prize. Her poem ‘The Sacred Place of Lotus’ was “Highly Commended” in Poetry d’Amour Contest, and ‘1064°C’ was “Commended” in Ros Spencer Poetry Prize—announced at the 2022 Perth Poetry Festival. Read her published works in—Social Alternatives, Portside Review, Burrow Journal, The Saltbush Review, Blue Bottle Journal, Seagift Journal, Recoil 12, Poetry d’Amour—2019, 2020, & 2022, Letters To Our Home, Brushstrokes II, Under the Paving Stones, The Beach Anthology and Creatrix.

Green Leaves / Red River is a collaboration between Centre for Stories and Red River. The project supports eight poets from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to publish their first book of poetry. The project also provides editorial fellowships to emerging editors. It has been made possible with funding from the West Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. The series is a collaboration that connects people from different cities with different histories and different experiences, all towards creating a poetic culture that is distinct and unique. With a focus on artistic excellence, Green Leaves / Red River nurtures new voices and supports poets no matter their place in the world. It is a way to share opportunities, to think in an original way, and to continue making poetry visible and valued. We are proud of the work we can do based here in New Delhi and Perth, and acknowledge the traditional owners of both places. Thanks to the readers and dedicated to all the poets out there, Green Leaves / Red River will entertain, intrigue and enlighten you.