34-37 Degrees South - 2023

Introduction
Between My Country—and the Others—
There is a Sea—
But Flowers—negotiate between us—
As Ministry.
Emily Dickinson, Verse 905
Whatever your politics, however you voted on the Voice Referendum,
country remains a foremost concern to modern Australians, whether it’s
the journey of reconciliation between Australia’s original inhabitants and
a settler society, the tension between urban Australians and the bush, or
finding ways to nurture country in times of global environmental change.
Sometimes country can mean finding a place of comfort; sometimes it
can appear as strange and unfamiliar.
One of the many delights in editing this volume has been enjoying each
poet’s creative response to the theme. Here you’ll find thirty unique
perspectives, ranging from the personal and the intimate to the grand;
poems about trauma, change and hope, and some wry humour too.
The collection is divided into three chapters. ‘You Are Here’ gathers
poems with local concerns: the passing of two beloved chickens,
swimming in the Murrumbidgee River at Wagga Wagga or a salutary
re-take on Dorothea Mackellar’s I Love a Sunburnt Country. The poems
in ‘Voyages’ explore international concerns: returning to a graveyard in
Silesia, learning Spanish at a picnic or remembering a garden in Tokyo.
The final chapter, ‘Inland Empires’, explores more personal issues:
loss, transitions and the body itself as a territory marked by signs and
experience.
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