Collective email: calanthecollective@gmail.comPress email: calanthepress@gmail.comWeb: www.calanthepress.com.auFacebook: www.facebook.com/groups/calanthecollectivepoetry
Dear Members and Supporters,
What an extraordinary time we’ve had this last weekend.

On Friday evening at the Zamia Theatre in Main St, Calanthe’s guest poet, B.R. (Brett) Dionysius, read from his latest work, the Calanthe Press published Critical State.
Brett is a fine reader of his own work and his introductions to the poems he read were witty, informative and presaged the sadnesses, the regret but always the hope that his poems, speaking of habitat loss and species extinction in Queensland, so evocatively articulate.  Not only are they a lament and an admonition for the sins of omission and commission against Queensland’s natural worlds, they are a valuable, nay, important historical reckoning for carelessness and dismissal of the concerns of native fauna and flora and ignorance of their interdependence.

It’s a map of Queensland and an encyclopaedia and a volume of some of the most fascinating and evocative poetry you’ll ever have the pleasure of reading. I can see its being a text to be studied and treasured by English literature students, by history students, by environmental science students, by biology students and by the average Joe Blow who just loves to know stuff. 

Critical State was officially launched on Saturday afternoon at Under the Greenwood Tree Bookshop and Artspace with a speech by Vanessa Page, a Calanthe guest poet and author of Botanical Skin, one of Calanthe Press’s publications of 2021. Like Brett’s poetry, Vanessa’s speech was a thing of beauty, extolling the wonders of Brett’s poems. So impressed were we by her careful study of Critical State and the way she spoke to and of its heart that we asked her if we could post it on the Calanthe Press website. That’s imminent and we’ll let you know when it’s up.

May I say from a personal reading, I love BR Dionysius’ Critical State. I’ve bought several copies to send to poetry loving friends and family. And a pollie or two. Truly, it is a work of great beauty and would be a fine addition to anyone’s library. 
Why not check out our website (www.calanthepress.com.au) where Brett’s Critical State and the other Calanthe Press publications can be purchased. Christmas is on its way. Consider a gift of poetry this year…oh, every year.

And a final treat for 2022 is on the 25th November, Poets@Yuulong with guest poet Steve Stockwell. Keep that in your diary and look out for the details coming very soon. 
And give us a yell if you’ve any concerns or just have something to share.

Geoff Cartwright

Secretary.