Ōtepoti Dunedin Unesco City of Literature South D Poet Lorikeet Jenny Powell’s latest poetry collection, Biology Field Trip [a different way of seeing], explores native wildlife and local environments to offer readers hope for the future.
The original impetus for the collection was an apocalyptic idea of future collapse.
"Some years ago now, I was having a conversation with my son, who said to me that by the time his daughter was grown up, he didn’t think the world would function any more," Powell said.
"I was kind of so upset, really and the more I listened to other people, the more I realised this was, like, such a widespread anxiety."
She felt it was her duty, her job as a poet, to address this through her writing.
She decided to apply an outward gaze to the natural world, taking advantage of opportunities to visit locations including Quarantine Island/Kamau Taurua and Taiaroa Head.
At The OPERA wildlife rehabilitation centre by Harington Point, an encounter with a penguin made a lasting impression.
"There was a little penguin looking at me through a slat in the fenced-off area there.
"Its eye was just like that, it was looking at me and I had already decided the title of my collection, which is Biology Field Trip, [a different way of seeing]."
The bird gazing at her seemed to be making contact, as if it was saying "this is a different way of seeing the world, here is my universe that I’m sharing with you".
The book could be viewed as a way of relieving some of the angst and stress that confronts us, being able to look and feel uplifted.
"I guess we get in such despair sometimes that we can’t see those things," Powell said.
"This is my giving back and offering a different view."
The book is published by Cold Hub Press.
Book Launch
Biology Field Trip [a different way of seeing] by Jenny Powell
Thursday, June 25
5.30pm - 7.30pm
(Programme and refreshments)
Dunningham Suite
Floor 4
Dunedin City Library
