Congratulations to long-standing FSP member, David Adès, who has a new book of poetry out: Afloat in Light produced by the prestigious University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP).
David now lives in Sydney, having returned to Australia recently after several years in Pittsburgh, USA. He hopes to visit Adelaide again later this year.
David Adès’ luminous and honest collection, Afloat in Light, is chiefly a celebration of fatherhood and of paying attention, utilising Simone Weil’s notion that ‘attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity’. The collection extends to existence and loss, and a discourse on motive and meaning. Maps and moral compass are never far away in such explorations and like all good navigators Adès consults the moon and the stars to guide him through emotional terrain that crosses the globe via Australia, India and the United States. Poems about connection and love—familial, intimate, parental and friendship—hold their weight of history via scar tissue and heritage to allow ‘a vast and full space to fill the maps of our lives’. Afloat in Light delicately balances that most crucial aspect of life—of how the ordinary is anything but. Adès is a poet that fully harnesses the verve of small miracles. LIBBY HART