The emptied bridge

The poems in Jackson’s third full-length collection explore themes of environment, society, gender, sexuality, parenthood, and daily life: the climate change of the world and the self. This is crafted, literary poetry, aware of its contemporaries and antecedents; yet these are poems that anyone with reasonable English can read or perform, that can break free from their author, go out and do work in the world. They encode rhythm and intonation along with possibilities of meaning. Their music will alter the atmosphere in your head. (Publisher’s description)

The emptied bridge explores isolation, connection, and landscapes internal and external. It is a wide-ranging collection that plays throughout with form, rhythm and technique. The poems are infused with intelligence, humour and a deep longing. Sometimes the language is haikuesque, delicate and light, sometimes it is philosophical or matter-of-fact, and often it is charged and raw. Jackson’s distinct voice captures the poignancy of loss and hope and the consolations of music, nature and colour. Edgy, visceral and muscular, The emptied bridge bravely carries its reader through experiences of shadow and light.
— Julie Watts (Legacy, UWA Publishing 2018, winner of the Dorothy Hewett Award for an Unpublished Manuscript)

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