how to make a basket (Jazz Money, UQP)

‘don’t forget this place / where life begins / tell it to the bubs to pass onto theirs / when strangers come / when other trees fall’ Jazz Money writes in her debut poetry collection how to make a basket, a book that lies at the intersection of womanhood, Indigenous history, settler colonialism, queer love and memory. Money’s voice is lyrical yet sharp, moving through land, language and love as protest against colonial violence. Motifs of smoke, water and trees recur throughout the collection—an attempt to connect with her ancestors and history: ‘the old trees remember / whisper / of our people / who have been here / since the / first sunrise’. Money’s poetry has been turned into murals, installations, digital interventions and film, and how to make a basket is an extension of her engagement with form. In each poem she plays with form and the result is reminiscent of how a basket is made: over, under, across, with patterns (and histories) that are infinite. This collection would appeal to those who are fans of Eunice Andrada’s Flood Damages, Ali Cobby Eckermann’s Inside My Mother, Omar Sakr’s The Lost Arabs and Tony Birch’s Whisper Songs. how to make a basket showcases Money as a fierce contemporary poet to watch.  

Anthea Yang is editorial assistant at Books+Publishing.  

Category: ICYMI reviews Reviews