Birds and water- a pair that indicates
vitality, a dynamic system, a system
that changes season by season. But
in our unsettling of the land we have
removed the seasons and the birds

Susan Hawthorne

Unsettling the Land is a reflection on the plight of the land in these drought-addled times, conjuring through both text and illustration the complex relationships that create and sustain our unique...

it takes neither dynamite / nor earth quake /
the business of circus / is its own upheaval

Circus as drama and risk, as exuberance and irrepressible spirit, is the central metaphor Patricia Sykes uses to open a world where public and private share the same tightrope. The poems speak of women searching for footholds along the spectrums of politics, power, history, culture and...