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'Sheila Rowbotham has written that the political expression of personal experience lies within the domain of novels and poetry. Seldom has this principle been made more apparent than in the anthology Mother, I’m Rooted. It becomes more and more clear with each one of the [152] poets and 542 pages of the book that this is the unambiguous expression of a social consciousness which cannot be glossed over or dismissed as belonging to a “radical” fringe. For these poets speak from all corners of the female social situation in Australia, and cover the whole spectrum of political consciousness … the anthology includes the whole gamut of women’s experience, married, single, lesbian, heterosexual, mothers, workers housewives. Poets, they speak out in tones of despair, anger, melancholy, loneliness, solidarity, sardonic bitterness, humour, hope and hopelessness. This very diversity and wholesale inclusiveness gives Mother, I’m Rooted, a strength and a unity. A strength from the rawness of the poetry, uncompromised and undiluted by the male publishing regime; and a unity from the common experience of being woman' (87).
Source: Howarth, Peter. 'Out of Nightmares into the Sun' Hecate 1.2 (1975): 87. (Note: Howarth's review gives the number of poets in the collection as 155; the correct number is 152.)
Contents
- Untitledi"Mother, I'm rooted", single work poetry (p. 18)
- Traumai"The shores of pain have sudden, swift uneasy shallows;", single work poetry (p. 19)
- Untitledi"please don't ask", single work poetry (p. 20)
- Regreti"Clever indulgence curbing the energetic heart", single work poetry (p. 21)
- Lookingglass Womani"She knows this female world is a prison", single work poetry (p. 22-23)
- An Occupied Mindi"There's an eye looking out from inside my head -", single work poetry (p. 24)
- Caughti"Just when I'm not looking", single work poetry (p. 25)
- Miss Everington Straight Lacei"Miss Everington Straight Lace", single work poetry (p. 27)
- Logical Male Illogici"If women are so good at gathering", single work poetry (p. 28)
- Untitledi"Duty bound", single work poetry (p. 29)
- Me Todayi"It was silent today", single work poetry (p. 30)
- Like the Cumquatsi"Like the cumquats on the tree", single work poetry (p. 31)
- There Was This Mani"There was this man", single work poetry (p. 32)
- I Think I'm About To Diei"I watch my children walking towards the plane.", single work poetry (p. 33)
- Chapultepeci"Poor mad Carlotta", single work poetry (p. 34)
- Argument on the Accuracy of the Footprinti"because i-am/am-not a tranquil one", single work poetry (p. 35)
- Untitledi"an when yr in trouble watch", single work poetry (p. 36)
-
Summons '74i"when ya feel each dream's doctored",
single work
poetry
(p. 37)
Note:
- Dedication: (fer Nike)
- With first line: when ya feel each dream doctored
- Alonei"one the other (whoever)", single work poetry (p. 38)
- Senryui"so long ago", single work poetry (p. 39)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Generations of Women Poets : Sisters Publishing is Established
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 363-370) -
‘Women’s Writing’ and ‘Feminism’ : A History of Intimacy and Estrangement
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Outskirts : Feminisms Along the Edge , May no. 28 2013; 'Women’s Liberation in Australia and elsewhere created feminist readers and writers. Consciousness-raising and reading and writing were intimately linked. Within the women’s movement, journals, magazines and newspapers were launched, small presses inaugurated and writing and reading groups formed. Subscription lists charted the explosion in new titles by, for and about women, and feminist bookshops stocked them. Women’s writers’ festivals, poetry readings and book launches were opportunities to find and promote new work, and to meet other feminists. Some women writers from the past were rediscovered and many contemporary female writers were championed. One of the most successful writers to emerge on the Australian literary scene in the 1970s – Helen Garner, whose debut novel Monkey Grip (1977) won the National Book Council’s Book of the Year award in 1978 – directly linked her ascendency to feminism. A specifically feminist literary criticism began to develop. More generally, feminism also helped to expand the market for women’s writing, so much so that by the 1980s major publishers were developing lists of women’s fiction and/ or subsuming feminist presses into their operations.' (Author's introduction) -
Pam Brown’s Sydney Poetry in the 70s : In Conversation with Corey Wakeling
Corey Wakeling
(interviewer),
2012
single work
interview
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 May vol. 38 no. 0 2012; 'Pam Brown is not only one of Australia's most prolific and important poets writing today, but also one of our richest archives on the history of late twentieth century Australian poetry. Since this is Cordite's Sydney issue, I thought an interview with her might evince a valuably multifarious image of, perhaps, Australia's most speedily shifting poetic landscape. In particular, as a contemporary Australian poetic history of the late twentieth century stems in part from poets closely associated with the city, it only made sense to ask Pam Brown, Sydney avant-garde collaborator, instigator, publisher and poet. Author of 16 books and 10 chapbooks, Brown has lived most of her life in Sydney, and now lives with her partner in the suburb of Alexandria. As well as offer new understandings of a period thoroughly historicised, I hoped Brown's personal recollections of the formative 1970s would illuminate the significance of those small press and handmade initiatives of the past that Astrid Lorange sees as 'non-causal' and 'monadic' in her Jacket2 archival commentary. Naturally, I was not disappointed.' (Author's introduction)
-
The Rise of 'Women's Poetry' in the 1970s
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Feminist Studies , July vol. 22 no. 53 2007; (p. 265-285) -
Those Wild Colonial Girls
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Tirra Lirra , Spring vol. 9 no. 1 1998; (p. 24-31)
-
[Review] Mother, I'm Rooted
1975
single work
review
— Appears in: Refractory Girl , Winter no. 9 1975; (p. 48)
— Review of Mother I'm Rooted : An Anthology of Australian Women Poets 1975 anthology poetry -
Woman Poets
1975
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , September no. 3 1975; (p. 75-79)
— Review of Come to Me My Melancholy Baby 1975 selected work single work poetry prose ; Mother I'm Rooted : An Anthology of Australian Women Poets 1975 anthology poetry -
Out of Nightmares into the Sun
1975
single work
review
— Appears in: Hecate , vol. 1 no. 2 1975; (p. 87-88)
— Review of Mother I'm Rooted : An Anthology of Australian Women Poets 1975 anthology poetry -
Goodbye Prince Hamlet: The New Australian Women's Poetry
1975
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , Winter vol. 34 no. 2 1975; (p. 169-179) Quilt : A Collection of Prose 1985; (p. 66-73)
— Review of Tactics 1974 selected work poetry ; Condition Red 1973 selected work poetry ; Come to Me My Melancholy Baby 1975 selected work single work poetry prose ; Mother I'm Rooted : An Anthology of Australian Women Poets 1975 anthology poetry ; Living Alone Without a Dictionary 1974 selected work poetry ; Madam Blackboots 1974 selected work poetry -
The Rise of 'Women's Poetry' in the 1970s
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Feminist Studies , July vol. 22 no. 53 2007; (p. 265-285) -
Pam Brown’s Sydney Poetry in the 70s : In Conversation with Corey Wakeling
Corey Wakeling
(interviewer),
2012
single work
interview
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 May vol. 38 no. 0 2012; 'Pam Brown is not only one of Australia's most prolific and important poets writing today, but also one of our richest archives on the history of late twentieth century Australian poetry. Since this is Cordite's Sydney issue, I thought an interview with her might evince a valuably multifarious image of, perhaps, Australia's most speedily shifting poetic landscape. In particular, as a contemporary Australian poetic history of the late twentieth century stems in part from poets closely associated with the city, it only made sense to ask Pam Brown, Sydney avant-garde collaborator, instigator, publisher and poet. Author of 16 books and 10 chapbooks, Brown has lived most of her life in Sydney, and now lives with her partner in the suburb of Alexandria. As well as offer new understandings of a period thoroughly historicised, I hoped Brown's personal recollections of the formative 1970s would illuminate the significance of those small press and handmade initiatives of the past that Astrid Lorange sees as 'non-causal' and 'monadic' in her Jacket2 archival commentary. Naturally, I was not disappointed.' (Author's introduction)
-
Towards a New Diversity : Martin Johnston and the New Australian Poetry
1994
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Island , Autumn no. 58 1994; (p. 60-63) -
Wrangles, Yawps and Awful Moans
1987
single work
prose
— Appears in: Vogue Australia , November. vol. 31 no. 11 1987; (p. 74, 76) Save Me, Joe Louis 1988; (p. 79-85) -
The Emergence of Women Writers Since 1975
1990
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature 1990; (p. 360-365)