Cooee

This year I attended the Bankstown Poetry Slam Grand Slam (grand final) at the Sydney Opera House.

For me, the standout performance was not to be found among the competing poets—but in the musical interlude (while the judges conferred).

A new musical act was being introduced: Cooee Music—comprised of Kirli Saunders and Mark Chester Harding, both multidisciplinary artists in their own right.

The songs on their first album, Messengers, are both haunting and catchy. My particular favourites are probably Daisies (below), the fun Dingo Song and the ecopoetic Messengers.

Looking a little deeper, I found out that the lyrics to most of the songs are based on poems from Kirli Saunders’ collection Returning, which I decided to acquire.

Returning is such a beautiful book, illustrated throughout in full colour (paintings, drawings, photographs) by Kirli herself.

Here are a couple of quotes from the poems, to tempt you:

‘[I] switch the phone to moon mode
…
go rogue
…
go clouds of white in blue wren open sky backdropping scribbly gums and their scribbly moths frilly wings enchanting’

from ‘Go Rogue’ by Kirli Saunders 2023

and

‘Hold me sacred

like the plovers’s egg
caged in mirrigang’s mouth’

from ‘Sacred’ by Kirli Saunders 2023