Right Way Down

Right Way Down, poems chosen by Rebecca M Newman & Sally Murphy, illustrated by Briony Stewart (Fremantle Press) PB RRP $17.99 ISBN 9781760993429

Here is an anthology of poetry for upper primary school students aged 9 to 12 years by Western Australian poets from a range of diverse backgrounds. Some, such as Sally Morgan, AJ Betts, Meg McKinlay, and Dianne Wolfer, are well-known, but there are many ‘new’ talented poets such as Jake Dennis, Nanci Nott, Julie Watts, and Sian Turner.

The poems are gathered under headings, Come on In! Creative Thinkers, Creature Features, The View from Here, and Coming Home. Overall, it is interesting to note that most of the poems fall under the categories of landscape, weather, and animals, with no poems about family, school, food, or sport, all topics of interest to children. In fact, there are few poems where a child is central to the poem. The exceptions are Xanthe Turner’s ‘Nightmare Nights’, Jen Banyard’s prose poem, ‘You are Here’, Renae Hayward’s ‘Sick’, and Abbey Fields’ ‘She Wanted to Write a Poem.’ Another criticism of this collection is that some of the poems are slight, with fewer than ten lines. There are, as well, only a few lyrical poems. Because the poems were exclusively written by residents of one Australian state (Western Australia), there would obviously be fewer poems from which to choose.

The book is illustrated on most pages with black, white, and grey drawings by award-winning author and illustrator, Briony Stewart. At the back of the book is a surprising inclusion of a glossary of Noongar words. There’s also information about each of the poets, and an acknowledgement to the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries which helped with funding of the book. Finally, there is information about the book’s editors Rebecca M Neman whose poetry has been published in Australia and internationally in magazines and anthologies, and Sally Murphy, with over fifty books to her name, and poems in numerous anthologies and journals.