Placental

In your very earliest life, a placenta was a connection to your future. It delivered your only sustenance and excreted your residue. A placenta trailed behind as you pushed headfirst into the unknown. Your connection was cut and you were on your own. A placenta, discarded, died so that you may have lived.

In part, ‘placenta’ explores themes of security that may not be long lived, of being exposed to unknown environments, and of the removal of connection to past dependency.

Poems pertinent to the ‘placenta’ theme include:

- ‘Ahead, upon an iron lung:’ The situation of a young polio sufferer fated to a life of complete dependency in an iron lung.

- ‘imminence’ : The impact of a sudden adverse health event.

- ‘awful descending’ : Apprehension, prior to, & being in, flight.

- ‘When two’: The separation & isolation of a previously bonded couple.

- ‘Falling man’: A jump from great height to avoid being burnt or suffocated by smoke.

Other themes explored among the 31 poems that comprise ‘placental’ include:

- ‘He comes’: Fear of strangers.

- ‘i am he’: Recognition of one’s identity.

- ‘some memory’: Disturbing dreams.

– ‘picture a window’; & ‘the swinger’ [suicide]: Depression.

- ‘GREAT LEAP’ [China under Mao];‘Prayer #1943’ [Hitler & his Holocaust]; ‘twist (the torturer’s apprentice)’; & ‘victim course’: Persecutors & victims.

- ‘oh, see …’: Youth sub-culture:

- ‘Leichhardt Landscape’ & ‘ “i am very small” [Australian outback explorer Ernest Giles]: Man vs harsh environment.

In all, placental’s 31 well crafted, thoughtful and accessible poems offer a broad sampling of, and approach to, subject matter likely to be of interest and enjoyment to many readers who appreciate modern poetry.

‘placental’ is the third volume of a 4 volume collection by Peter Knight entitled ‘Ruminator’.