Blood Relations

By Sandy Jeffs

These poems are an evocative documentation of the harrowing experiences of a child living in a hostile and unhappy home. Pain and bitterness accompany the conflicting emotions of growing up in a family torn apart by domestic violence and alcoholism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spinifex Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2000
• ISBN: 9781742194028

Book preview

Melbourne.

Also By Sandy Jeffs

Poems from the Madhouse

Loose Kangaroos (co-author)

Confessions of a Midweek Lady (forthcoming)

Blood Relations

Sandy Jeffs

Spinifex Press Pty Ltd

504 Queensberry Street

North Melbourne, Vic. 3051

Australia

[e-mail]

http://www.spinifexpress.com.au

First published by Spinifex Press, 2000

Copyright © Sandy Jeffs, 2000

Copyright © on page layout and design: Spinifex Press, 2000

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of the book.

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Cover design by Deb Snibson, Modern Art Production Group

Edited by Patricia Sykes

Typeset in Souvenir by Palmer Higgs

Made and printed in Australia by Australian Print Group

National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Jeffs, Sandy, 1953– .

Blood relations.

ISBN 978-1-74219-019-8 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 978-1-74219-402-8 (ePub Format)

ISBN 1 875559 98 1.

I. Title.

A821.4

For my

brother and sister

Acknowledgements

These poems had their origins in a family history of domestic violence and alcoholism. I was able to explore the emotions behind these poems because I was privileged to be surrounded by loving friends who lived through these poems with me. I thank Robbie and Dido for the love, the space, and the home they gave me, without which these poems would never have seen the light of day. To Lynne and Felicity, who saw many of these poems in their various incarnations and offered lots of helpful comments, I thank you for the support and enduring friendship. To the many others who have helped me along the way, thank you. Patricia Sykes was the editor from heaven. Her incisive and detailed reading of the poems helped me distance myself from my emotional involvement in the subject and allowed the poet to speak. I would like to thank Susan Hawthorne and Renate Klein at Spinifex Press for giving these poems the chance to reach a wider audience.

The author thanks the following copyright holders for permission to quote from the works cited: Anna Akhmatova, lines from ‘Requiem’ in Twentieth Century Russian Poetry introduced by Yevgeny Yevtushenko and edited by Albert Todd and Max Hayward, Fourth Estate, London, 1994. Sherryl Clarke, lines from ‘Driving Down Gravel Pit Road’, and ‘An Archeology of Self’ from Thicker Than Water, Pariah Press, Melbourne, 1999.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, lines from ‘The Ryme of the Ancient Mariner’ in Selected Poetry and Prose of Coleridge edited with introduction by Donald A.Stauffer, Random House Inc., 1951.

Gwen Harwood, lines from ‘I.M.Philip Larkin’ reproduced with permission from Selected Poems, ETT Imprint, Sydney, 1999.

Coral Hull,