Friday Poem – ‘How I Hold the World in This Climate Emergency’ by Cath Drake

~ Seren Books

Our Friday Poem this week is ‘How I Hold the World in This Climate Emergency’ by Cath Drake from her debut collection The Shaking City, which is longlisted for The Laurel Prize 2021.

This cover shows a colouful purple and orange painting of a shaky cityscape.

The shaking city of Australian poet Cath Drake’s debut poetry collection is a metaphor for the swiftly changing precarity of modern life within the looming climate and ecological emergency, and the unease of the narrator who is far from home. Tall tales combine with a conversational style, playful humour and a lyrical assurance.​ The poet works a wide set of diverse spells upon the reader through her adept use of tone, technique, plot and form. She is a welcome new voice for contemporary poetry.

How I Hold the World in This Climate Emergency Sometimes I hold world in one hand, my life in the other and I get cricks in my neck as the balance keeps swinging. I walk uneasily. Sometimes I am bent over with the sheer weight of world, eyes downcast, picking up useful things from the ground. Sometimes one shoulder is pulling toward an ear as if it’s trying to block the ear from hearing but can’t reach. Sometimes my body is a crash mat for world. I want to say ‘I’m sorry I’m sorry!’ but don’t say it aloud. I am privileged so I should be able to do something. Sometimes I lie on my side and grasp world like a cushion. I’m soft and young, and don’t feel I can change anything. I nudge world with affection, whispering: I know, I know. Sometimes I build a cubby from blankets thrown across furniture. There is only inside, no outside. When I was a child, world was a small dome and change came summer by summer. Sometimes I make a simple frame with my arms to look at world. I’m not involved directly. It carries on without me. This way I can still love the sky, its patterns of clouds and contrails. Sometimes I’m chasing world through the woods, bursting with hope and adrenalin. Oh God, am I running! I want to keep moving. My mouth is full of fire. Some days are like bread and milk. I just get on with pouring and buttering. I want the little things to be what matters most again. Sometimes I hold little: I’m limp and ill. Days barely exist. It’s enough to make soup.

The Shaking City is available on the Seren website: £9.99

This poem also features in the anthology 100 Poems to Save the Earth, available for £12.99

Create your free Seren account and enjoy 20% off every book you buy direct from us.

Cath recently appeared on the Mouthful of Air podcast to talk in detail about this poem. Listen on their website.

Listen now

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