Review by Stacey O’Carroll
Author: Samuel Wagan Watson
Publisher: UQP
RRP: $19.99
Release Date: Out now
“it spilled out onto the bitumen
like the bursting stomach of a consumed beast
the writer’s black suitcase
bleeding onto the pavement…” (The Writer’s Suitcase)
Initially published in 2004 and winner of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, acclaimed first First Nations poet Samuel Wagan Watson’s collection, Smoke Encrypted Whispers, is back as part of UQP’s First Nations Classics collections. Including an introduction from award-winning author Tony Birch, the new print brings Wagan Watson’s collection of evocative and imaginative poems to a new readership.
“the dreamtime Dostoyevskys murmur of a recession in the spirit
world
they say,
the night creatures are feeling the pinch
of growing disbelief and western rationality…” (for the wake and skeleton dance)
Wagan Watson’s poetry blends mundane, everyday activities with imaginative language choices to create a sense of place. Many of the poems work together to create a sense of journey, a road trip to find connection or to quiet the restless chatter calling him back. Whether at a pub or a room noisily invaded by mosquitos, the reader travels alongside Wagan Watson through each stanza towards a new understanding of the poet or themselves. Within Smoke Encrypted Whispers smoulders the craft of an artist. One who pulls from two worlds and ancestral ties to create a style all his own.
“…secrets into the wind
onlookers gasping in shock
the writer in a ball of terror
his state exposed to the world…” (The Writer’s Suitcase)
There are a few standout poems in the collection. The Writer’s Suitcase, in particular, sparked close to home. Wagan Watson perfectly depicts how writers vulnerably expose their inner thoughts and selves through their writing and the terror they feel putting their work out into the world. We spill our worlds onto the page and hope to find readers who relate to or enjoy our writing but live in fear of those who may burn our work to ashes. In author’s notes #2, Wagan Watson starts the poem in a familiar place, “all good wordsmiths get ‘the thousand-yard stare.’” Either the author is trapped in thought of how to fill the blank page, or they are lost in a world of imagination trying to bowerbird their next work together. These poems are just a few of the memorable poems in Smoke Encrypted Whispers.
Having previously studied Birra-Gubba, Mununjali, Germanic and Gaelic descendant Wagan Watson’s short stories, immersing myself in his poetry was captivating and something all aspiring poets and authors should do. Samuel Wagan Watson’s second edition of Smoke Encrypted Whispers should hold pride of place on any writer’s bookshelf.