BOOK LAUNCH

7pm Monday 19 April, Smith’s Alternative, Canberra
(Doors open 6:30pm)

Join us for the launch of two new Recent Work Press titles, part of the That Poetry Thing readings and the Poetic City Poetry Festival in Canberra:

Errant Night by Jerzy Beaumont. What would you do if you looked up and saw that the night sky was darker than usual? That the stars had disappeared, and nobody was doing anything about it? What do you do when a loved one tells you that their world is darker than usual? That they see no light, and don’t know what to do about it? Born from loss, Errant Night is a first-hand case study in resilience. In this sequence of prose poems, Beaumont draws upon the sci-fi wonder of interstellar travel to throw comparative light upon burdens unspoken.

Our Tongues are Songs by Rico Craig. In Our Tongues Are Songs, Rico Craig pursues the intimate, the voices people use as they speak to their private fears. Craig brings his unique ear for lyricism, his eye for human need, to bear on the promises people make to themselves as they attempt to find solace, companionship and meaning. His haunting use of image fills the day-to-day world with the uncanny — bats are comforted by children, old women weep tattoos, the earth burns, television stars comfort teenagers as they struggle with anorexia, encroaching sands spill the dead into an unnamed city. This book spans voices, generations and countries; it sides with the young and old as they try to carve their humanity from the swirls of despair.

Jerzy Beaumont

Rico Craig