The Drop Off

by David Stavanger

Entering the liminal space of shared custody and societal tropes of the 'broken family', with a blend of poetry, with other forms. This new volume unravels the day-to-day reality of co-parenting, exploring the ways we stay afloat.
Exploring the liminal space of shared custody and societal tropes of the 'broken family', this collection is the follow-up to Stavanger's award-winning Case Notes. A blend of poetry, found text, short-form prose, reportage, and longer poetic non-fiction, this work unravels the day-to-day reality of co-parenting amid growing environmental and class concerns, and the ways we stay afloat.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2025

Reviews

[Rozanna Lilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stavanger riffs on the dilemmas of divorce and shared parenting arrangements, on neurodivergence and stigma, on social inequalities in contemporary Australian society, on deer roaming the Illawarra landscape, and so much more. Running through his poetry and short form prose is a deep attraction to word play and absurdism. It is the deceptive plainness of his poetry, and the deep sadness underlying much of it, that really speaks to me. He asks what it means to love and to connect, finding no easy answers: 'Your son sends you a photo of a cat. / You send him a photo of a dog. / This is not a metaphor' (The Drop Off, 11). 'Sister' interrogates family secrets, wondering at the phantoms that shape interior lives. Sometimes Stavanger is digging deep; at other times he is skating across language and its possibilities. And it is this dual impetus, a kind of constant movement between hiding and revealing, between energetic play and exhausted reflection, that makes this book so readable.