'the hungry air' | ISBN 978 1 877010 903 | 90 pgs | March 2020
As a serious intelligent child would, Rachael walks around her memory house: her mother, her
relations, her island, its gothic history; and then one particular cut-off sweet lost relationship,
which she re-visits again and again. Using old Kodak photos, particular moments become timeless.
An unaffected book, the poems are serious, both in subject and use of language. It’s rigorous,
unsentimental. Rachael walks around sadness, doesn’t dwell – but nor does she let go. And she’s
a mistress of the perfectly paced ending to a poem. A very unusual and truthful book.
Maurice McNamara
What makes us the creative person we become? Rachael Guy observes haunting incidents from her childhood
that resonate decades later. A fresh, emotionally mature, insightful and compassionate voice for
Australian poetry.
Julie Chevalier