Paperbark Wetlands is a collection of poems by Melinda Irvine lyricing the Australian landscape. Presented as a multimedia** eBook, the book contains original photographs, narration and video.
Paperbark Wetlands is an invitation to walk among the melaleucas of the Australian coastline and some of the magical places across wider Australian landscape. Visually enriched haiku, shaped and free verse poems are complimented by digital technologies making this a unique poetry experience.
Paperbark Wetlands is the first eBook and collection of poetry by Melinda Irvine. Having been a reader of traditional poetry for most of her life, she found in the writing and construction of her own poems a movement into multimedia forms.
The poems in the book all began differently. Sometimes as she was out strolling headlands in the late afternoon remembering times on the same path when a young girl: poems emerging days later while journalling. At other times while out bushwalking with purpose in the Australian summer heat, inspired she’d settle under a tree with her notebook and scribble away until ants or unsettling thunderstorms would move her forward to her destination. She would craft the poems later in a coffee shop or in the car while that storm hit. At other times she was after a specific photograph for an unrelated task, and months later a poem would leap out of the image she was editing. A few of these poems were even written (unplanned) in the author publishing tool as new possibilities in the pictures presented themselves.
But no matter how they emerged, all these poems represent a shift in her thinking toward poetry. For as she began writing and presenting them on her website as blogs, somewhere in the creative process new pieces of media would suggest themselves.
At the back of the book is a small glossary of useful terms mainly relating to the languages and cultural heritage of indigenous Australians.
Paperbark Wetlands is a little place to get lost in your lunch break.
**Please note that some interactive features may not be available on all devices.
