Fish Eaters - Softcover

A cohesive thread runs through the order in which poems are placed in the book. The author has written poems which are not over-literary in form, so that they may be accessible to people who do not normally read poetry. Some are written in what may at first seem a lighthearted way; this is done to underline the seriousness of many of the messages. The themes are the preciousness of marine life, the urgency of environmental concerns, the dangers to threatened species. A particular challenge in the writing of these poems was to reflect on scientific matters, without letting a poem become a piece of prose, and without going into too much technical detail. The James Lovelock concept of Gaia is alluded to, an example of a lighthearted look at a deadly serious subject, the behaviour of the jet stream and its effects on climate. There is also a poem about the tsunami, based on a childhood experience of the author. This poem is one that reflects the author's unique and individual life experiences. Another example of a particular piece of knowledge comes with the poem 'pole of inaccessibility'. Although the author gathered the material for this poem within the Institute, she was able to add the Coca Cola can that was found under the north pole, having met the Canadian explorer who was the first person to dive there. 'Bulk mailing' returns to the theme of damage to the environment, again using a light tone as it reflects on the devastation to wildlife from the effects of ships emptying their tanks of noxious fluids. The final poems in the book reflect on humanity s place within the environment, and the inescapable fact that we ourselves are composed mainly of water.