From March onwards we have offered essays on noteworthy poems of place, with these appraisals continuing to appear on the twenty-first day of each month subsequently.

Readers may already value how our tanka co-editor, Jo McInerney, has written a series of powerful evaluations of poetry in that Japanese-based verse-form.

She has pursued shifts in focus, from a comparison of single pieces by a range of poets; to a set of stand-alone poems from one writer; to a sequence by a further Australian tanka poet.

Early in the year to come, Jo will evaluate an additional tanka string written by one poet, but – after that – plans to take yet another step, making an appreciative study of respective contributions to an interchange of tanka, created by a pair of writers in partnership.

One of our co-editors for longer poetry, Peter Roberts, is also building on previous approaches.

Currently he is developing a full-scale comparison between two separate yet connected pieces of free-verse work from the one poet, with this new essay likewise set for release in 2026.

Today’s newest posting in Catchment Views moves on from examining single lengthier poems of place – written in vers libre – to considering work in a traditional Western form, the villanelle.

Catchment Views has morphed in yet another way as well, in recent months, with our team of commentators having been joined by prize-winning West Gippsland writer, Jeannie Haughton.

Local audiences will know her first and foremost as a playwright, having been co-founder of Off the Leash Theatre, a regional company that takes pride in performing Australian plays with bite.

Working in different areas (often through the Baw Baw Arts Alliance), Yvette Stubbs convenes Poetry Bauhaus, running Open Mic sessions each month, preceded by writing workshops.

One of these was conducted by internationally respected Australian poet Ross Donlon, who focussed in part upon list poems: as a prompt there, Ross used ‘The Car’ by Raymond Carver.

This sparked a piece of anaphora by Gerard Lewis-Fitzgerald, published here – helping Yvette with Poetry Bauhaus, he joined her in presenting a short play at a Bbaa Arts Gala evening.

In Catchment itself, Jennifer Fell has returned to our editorial team, helping to select longer poetry here, with Peter Roberts & me continuing, working as a threesome for the first time.

The strong support always given to this journal by Marlene & Mike Ogden – in the Arts Alliance’s IT crew – is something which does not change, however!

Our gratitude as a team goes out to other Bbaa members as well, especially Sue Murphy & Jeff Thege, at a committee level, along with Heather Brimblecombe, editing the group’s newsletter.

We are also grateful to Paul Strickland (from 3BBR-FM) for recording & editing our readings of poetry from previous editions, as posted each fortnight until New Year in Catchment Voices.

Early in the new year, again thanks to collaboration with 3BBR-FM, a new initiative called Tanka Tones will follow the same pattern, this time with readings of selected tanka from Editions 1-5.

Our appreciation extends to the Australian Haiku Society, the Australian Writers Resource, the Victorian Writers Centre & Gippsland Writers, for promoting submissions in both verse forms.

With extra contributors, we are offering new poems of place from about 70 poets once again: from town & country, desert & farm, forest & coast; Canberra to Sydney, Melbourne to Perth.

Readers will find travellers’ poems, yet these go beyond post-card depictions, as writing that is reflective; sparked by recent experience or by memory; by feelings as diverse as grief & hope.

Locale emerges in thought-provoking ways, through experiments using distinctive approaches.

As newer voices, a couple of contributors are such emerging writers, they are still school-aged.

Another biographical statement shows its author as returning to writing once older, having last written in a dedicated way as far back as when a student in the mid-Twentieth Century.

May these poems of place – with different styles of verse & pitches of voice – bring locations to life; people & creatures too; from settings across this country; from beyond these shorelines…

Our deepest hope with Catchment 5 & beyond is to keep reaching new readers who do not compose verse themselves!

Rodney Williams
Editor
Catchment – Poetry of Place
Baw Baw Arts Alliance