POETRY SPOTLIGHT: 'Maleficent' by Cath Kenneally
Our poetry spotlight shines on award-winning poet Cath Kenneally today, with the poem of the week taken from her collection Thirty Days' Notice.
Post written by Poppy Nwosu
I decided to choose Cath Kenneally's collection Thirty Days' Notice for the poetry spotlight this week, mainly due to the fact that Wakefield Press will soon be publishing a brand new book by Cath, and it occurred to me that I'd never read any of her work.
It seemed like the perfect time to familiarise myself with Cath Kenneally and her award-winning poetry!
I have to say, after delving into this collection, I could never put it better than poet (and cover endorser) Peter Goldsworthy has in this quote:
'My favourite Kenneally poems have a high stab ratio per stanza.'
Cath Kenneally's poems really do feel quite raw and spiky (is spiky a good word for 
describing poetry?) and yet her work also includes many gentle moments too.
After reading through this collection, I selected my favourite to share today, a poem that took me until the end of reading to really understand. I won't spoil it though, you will have to read it for yourself.
I found 'Maleficent' beautiful and moving, and I like the mixture between warm words and soft love, against real-world horror. To me, it reads as a modern love poem that feels raw and frightening, and oh so real.
I hope you enjoy it.
'Maleficent' by Cath Kenneally's Thirty Days' Notice
I hope you enjoyed reading this powerful poem as much as I did!
More on Thirty Days' Notice:
This collection forms a day-book of poems, set in various locations, especially Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington, London and Bruny Island (Tasmania), all significant for Cath Kenneally.
Reflective, wry and occasionally rude, the poems in Thirty Days' Notice have their origins in the everyday, dropping in on backyards and beaches, train stations and airports, cafes and kitchens, provoked by photographs, books and letters, relationships and solitude, an undead Catholic childhood and the pangs and pleasures of motherhood as they ponder what a life of days might add up to.
For more of Cath's work, visit our website.
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