Carmel Summers
Lost in the Pleiades
Ginninderra Press, 2023
‘Who would not want to time-travel through the night sky? This is exactly what Carmel Summers offers us in her latest book Lost in the Pleiades. This is much more than a collection of verse - it is a compilation of careful poetic research into a cluster of stars that has fascinated humanity since its first discovery. Summers takes us through the present and mythological past in a journey of awe as it we learn to read star maps and explore the mysteries of the Pleiades. There is plenty of whimsical beauty in this collection. Venus photobombs the Seven Sisters. Joanna Lumley attends a hypothetical Javanese sacred dance. Galileo writes a treatise. We revisit a childhood fairy tale. This selection of poetry is Carmel Summers' best yet. She has a gift for choosing the most appropriate form for each poem and her writing is humorous, poignant, wildly exciting and always respectful. It's a must for every bookcase. Lost in the Pleiades twinkles with wonder like Jane Taylor's well known children's poem. I'm still hankering after that Seven Sisters bracelet with Orion's stone set in the middle!’ - Hazel Hall, Australian poet and musicologist
‘Lost in the Pleiades by Carmel Summers is a stylistically diverse and meditative poetic exploration of the seven sister jewels in the night sky. She brings a feminist perspective to historical sources and mythological tales that have woven stories around the constellation of the Pleiades. From Galileo to the Australian First Peoples, we are taken on an historical and geographic journey that is yet deeply personal and reflective of contemporary life. We are invited to look heavenward to see “those lost girls glow and glitter” and to realise that “they shine to remind us - to love”.’ - Julie Thorndyke
About the Author
Carmel Summers is a Canberra poet. Her poetry has been published in journals in Australia and overseas as well as in anthologies and The Canberra Times. She has been short-listed in poetry prizes, including the Blake, ACU, June Shenfield, Glen Phillips, Magic Oxygen and Grieve. Her work includes a range of genres, including Japanese forms, formal and unstructured poetry and she is currently exploring new ways of opening up history through poetry.
Her experimental tanka book, The last day before snow, written in response with eight other Australian poets, including Kathy Kituai won the ACT Publishers Award for Poetry in 2017. Her collection, Lost in the Pleiades, is inspired by the Pleiades or Seven Sisters constellation. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Macquarie University and is currently writing a poetic biography of Elizabeth Cook as part of her PhD at the University of Canberra.
