Eremos

Emily Dickinson, that most enigmatic and profound of poets who declined to polish her work for publication, once compared life to stepping from uncertain plank to uncertain plank, with the dark night above and the sea below. Fear that the next step would be her ‘final inch’ gave her, she wrote,

…that precarious gait
Some call experience.

EREMOS contributors write from their own experience, and this is what gives the magazine its strength and special flavour. Even book reviews consist of the reviewer’s own response rather than a dry analysis of content. It struck me that Emily Dickinson was right in saying experience has a ‘precarious gait’. It takes courage to draw from our own wells in reflecting upon life. We may at times feel we are hobbling, made lame by vicissitude, or weaving from side to side in confusion at life’s complexity, to say nothing of feeling that the surface beneath our feet is less than solid. Yet the result, as we muddle through, is an honesty and an originality which adds to the riches of collective human experience. Where would we be if we were not able to share the deeper parts of our selves?

The cover of this issue, a photograph of the ‘Grieving Mother’ sculpted by Silvio Apponyi, accompanies an article by John Wiley in which he reviews a life of experiencing the company of Indigenous Australians, along with years of struggling with his concept of God. Bridget McKern’s spiritual biography follows, rich in challenging experiences and the search for understanding and reconciliation.

Unusually, the next four articles are about books, but we make no apology for that, given my comment above. EREMOS book reviewers are deeply involved with their subject and respond with feeling, as you will see from Elaine Lindsay’s reading of Alicia Ostriker’s For the Love of God, Ellie Johnston’s review of An Intruder’s Guide to East Arnhem Land by Andrew McMillan, Lynne Robert’s response to The Faith of the Outsider by Frank Anthony Spina and, lastly, George Emeleus’ review of the latest edition of Noel Preston’s Understanding Ethics.

In the midst of these reviews is a poem by Jeffrey Guess which, thanks to the magic of a poet’s way with words, simply sits well with this issue and these times.

The collection of contributions concludes with Harry Graves’ short reflection on bulls, beauty, danger and china shops, then comes our usual column about books, ‘Sue Recommends’, followed by the Info pages which hum with the buzz of activity going on in Eremos at the moment, including advance notice of the AGM to be held on Sunday 9 November.

I hope as many of you as are geographically able will be there. The Eremos Council and I look forward to meeting you and enjoying not just the AGM but a guest speaker and the good company of other Eremos members.

Jacquie Pryor