Brindled Words

Gerard Manley Hopkins gave thanks ‘for skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow’. These poems were all written on a small farm near the coast of South Australia, a place of couple-colour skies and brinded cows. They draw inspiration from shifting shades, both in the landscape and in the poet’s mind. They also acknowledge the influence of poets from the past, as suggested in words from the title poem, ‘for, though these poets died, their fears and loves survive, transcending time’. Some are clothed in traditional forms from the past, others in the looser garments of free verse. The subjects range from frivolity to philosophy, having shades both of light and of darkness, as befits a couple-colour collection.