A Savage Turn

Gamilaroi poet Luke Patterson writes with an unapologetic, quiet urgency that is ever present throughout A Savage Turn. This collection of poetry is personal, but ever so vast and expansive. I was instantly caught by Patterson’s evocative, impassioned storytelling which explores his connection to Country, his Indigenous identity, the intimacy of family and culture, and a deep reverence for the Land and nature.

Divided into three parts, Patterson demonstrates an effortless ability to intertwine the past and the present. His writing immediately strikes me as visceral and strong, acting as a continuous unearthing of the postcolonial experience for him and for other First Nations people.

In his opening poem, ‘Waratah’, he writes, ‘Grief grows a totem / Like a blown‑out / Heart of an emblem’. I read and re-read this over and over. I researched totems and their significance in First Nations cultures. The weight of even just this one fragment of poem inspires in me a sharp inhale of breath.

The poet follows on in ‘Australia: A Creation Myth’ to play with gritty imagery and language that creates a potent, sensory experience of colonialism: ‘... The salt air turned foul like earth had opened / its bowels; an explosion signifying / what comes next: a well-oiled machine called colony. / It came and swallowed the birds and their pearls / of laughter heralding sunrise, then shat out / saviours.’ Patterson finishes the poem with, ‘... It swallowed earth’s / custodians, exquisite, ingenious, savage, always savage / but could not consume them.’

In the standout piece, ‘Smutty Paperbark – A Post Colonial’, Patterson continues to look at Australia through a lens of what was, what continues to be and what is, reflecting on language and storytelling. This poem, as with the entire collection, is imbued with an earnest fire that builds and builds, unrelenting.