Explore the world and earth's ecosystems through the tantalising language of poetry in a newly released collection.
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Earth Dwellers is a Tasmanian poets way of touching on the importance of ecological restoration for ecosystems that have suffered from humans taking too much.
Kristen Lang, based in the north-west, said though the collection may be classified as eco-poetry, she did not sit down to write it that way.
"The pain of environmental degradation has increased," she said.
"The poems are my response, and to understand where I am and the places I love."
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The works in the collection were written from 2002 to 2020, with no visible progression in how places have changed as such from the way they once looked to now.
However, a change in tone was used, with the recent poems having a sharper feeling.
"Each poem has a life of its own," Lang said.
"I don't have set forms."
The poet avoids the constraints of traditional forms and rules of poetry, instead letting the sound patterns she hears inform her writing.
"Free verse emerges as I discover the patterns," she said.
She attributes understanding the flow of a poem from the sound patterns, in part, to her musical background.
Lang said some poems flow out of her, while others could take years to put together.
"Over years the bulk of the hard parts is going to be in the editing," she said.
"I love editing. It's a highly creative process I find."
The poet didn't think of herself as a writer when she was younger or at university, instead finding her passion a little later in life when she started reading poetry.
"I realised it was this whole other world I could step into," Lang said.
"[The sensation] was like discovering you could breathe underwater."
The writing process is different for every author and for Lang, she made sure to keep her mind open and available to respond to a thought when it demanded her attention.
"I am regimented," she said.
"It's about getting myself out there and into the places that will stir me up."
The poet said for all those wanting to get into the writing sphere, they should continue to read and write, and ensure they have another job for income.
"The only way you can figure out if it's going to work is to keep doing it," she said.
"Don't be afraid to get people's responses."
Earth Dwellers will have a book launch in Hobart on March 25 but will also feature at the Tasmanian Poetry Festival and a reading in Burnie.
The book can be found online at giramondopublishing.com/books/earth-dwellers and in bookstores.
"I hope anyone can pick it up and enjoy it," Lang said.