mark the dawn

by Jazz Money

Genres: Poetry, Australia

112 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2024

Reviews

[birchie]

the ‘into the still air’ and ‘break this breaking day’ sections holds such strong, evocative poetry - unfortunately lost in between everything else

[Ali]

"Sister, we're marvelling at shadows writ upon those dreams by those who walk here still"
From Jazz Money's If that ghost is still here come morning.

In a life before I had a computer in my pocket, I used to take poems, or excerpts from them, that moved me and painstaking copy them out to stick on my bedroom wall. I still have collections of these, from Dorothy Porter to Alice Walker to Gerard Winstanley, with ancient blu tack welded to them and small tears from being moved from share house to share house.
Jazz Money's poetry makes me want to write it out. In this case, as I passed my copy of Mark the Dawn along, I did scribble, with now arthritic hands, the lines I couldn't bear to close the book on. Unfortunately, with older eyes to match the older hands, I suspect I have introduced errors in this process, so don't rely on my quotes, go buy or borrow a copy of this collection because the words will sing for you better.
As this long-winded introduction might suggest, I do struggle to review poetry. Partly because I just want to stop talking about it and go and read it again. Good poetry moves something inexplicable, fits together like words and emotions and shapes on a page should always have danced together like this, and the poet has the genius to see it. Money's poetry is sometimes lyrical and abstract, as in the start quote, sometimes more furious, funny and fast as in mardi gras rainbow dreaming:
"oh yay it's the liberal party what a special day what a lovely float thanks for spending all that money so everyone could have a vote"
And there is a way to use words to provide comfort, as in these lines addressed to a teenage self that I bet my teenage self would have pinned up with the fancy purple pen:
"I would go and hold her hand now say that love will come crashing in without invitation this road stretches all the way until it comes back again"
Money's poetry is obviously connected to First Nations communities, and it is her capacity to speak to the balance of pride, celebration, commiseration and protest that most works here.
"our laughter has ancestors rattling the stars to join us
our singing is ringing from the inland out to sea
the dancing has even the dust leaping in applause
and every day it grows this love, every day it grows."

[Ella smella]

‘If that ghost is still here come morning’ and ‘small soft bodied things’ - so beautiful. A sweet bday gift from my siblings 💜

[Nour]

There’s always something special about reading an indigenous poet’s collection, an inherent connection formed between indigenous folks across lands near and far, surpassing imperialist notions imposed on us.

[Kirsty Pleiter]

Jazz can do no wrong in my eyes, a beautiful poetry collection!

[Jenny Kirkby]

Like any collection of poetry there's usually a few that really speak to me. I enjoyed how Jazz Money evoked a sense of country not necessarily experienced by everyone.

[Dani Ringrose]

Well, it turns out I adore the intersections between indigenous ways of seeing the world and ways of seeing gender, and more specifically, seeing it through Jazz Money's eyes. I missed their launch of this collection in Brisbane, and really want to see them perform their work live.

I don't know whether I loved the bumhole emojis or the poem itself more in mardi gras rainbow dreaming.

"sit down soft here bub
I've been wanting to tell you a story"

"we're just bodies
made of night
reflected in water
we're just rivers
flowing towards
each other's
floodplain
desperately
seeking
the sea"

[Jess]

Wow wow wow wow wow.

[Mia Ferreira]

mark the dawn, the latest collection of poetry from Wiradjuri writer and artist and winner of the UQP Quentin Bryce Award in 2024, Jazz Money, is a commentary on the state of our modern world with all its increasing hostilities, life-threatening disasters and heart-breaking losses, delivered delicately and with so much hope, beauty and gratitude.

Read more: https://www.artshub.com.au/news/revie...

[Maggins McMurray]

this is gorgeous