Illustrations 70

In these memories require, poet and writer Jacinta Le Plastrier works across a range of memories, and not only those which are her own. In this endeavour of more than a decade she seeks: how does one write others' memories, meaningfully, ethically and impactfully? How does one write one's own when they are linked, and at times painfully, to the lives of others? Memory is also collective, she believes, and a commitment to fearless witnessing and knowing whether it is yours to write or not essential. Some of the poetry engages with scholarship on trauma and memory. Away from this, others write on joy, childhood its pure and darker moments, intimacy and love; also on the supernatural, an abiding passion of the writer 'these memories require takes the reader across poetic thresholds into the connected spaces of the familial, philosophical, and corporeal. Within this volume, poetry is a deftly crafted alchemy that reminds us of presences that return to skin and that shape our understanding of self. We are reminded of worlds that we know but may find too difficult to face. These poems resound in their wavelike power to traverse internal and external planes of truth. Throughout there is a commitment to love. While Le Plastrier explores the force of language to shut down and contain, her poetry also demonstrates its capacity to find new rhythms and compounds of knowing. In its ongoing search and sense of action is an acknowledgement of how we are tied to others. In its careful accrual over time, this compelling collection demonstrates Le Plastrier's generative and exciting lyricism in full light.' Ann Vickery