lf Taylor is a proud Nyoongar man, stolen from his mother and raised on the New Norcia Mission, over 100 kilometres north of Perth. This is a collection of over 30 years of his writings, both poetry and short fiction. ‘Cartwarra’ is a Nyoongar word, loosely translated as ‘crazy’, and most of the collection features different takes on its meaning.

The collection begins with ‘Didgeridoo and Clapsticks’, a poem, which when read out loud, has a rhythm mimicking the implicit clapsticks. As it progresses, however, the imposition of the mission and its ‘Prayers, school/Jesus/And floggings’ emerges. Taylor’s life experience within the wider/whiter society influences all his writing. There is a brutal honesty to his poetry. His doesn’t airbrush history, either. There are numerous references to drunkenness, or scrounging for money to then be spent on grog.

The cheeky teenager, Toby, his Aunty Flo and his girlfriend, Brenda, recur through the short fiction, gelling together family, country, education and young love.

Taylor’s poetry is where his strength lies – terse and abrupt, yet simultaneously lyrical and evocative. It often features a sharp enjambment with one or two words per line, giving the poem a thin vertical structure, visually inferring the spears which appear within.

Themes of dislocation from his culture and country and the constraints of white society are a constant. The poem, ‘Loneliness’ is a standout. His poetry is spare and powerful. The short fiction is more accessible and while it lacks the punch of the poerty, it allows the reader to immerse into Nyoongar life through vernacular dialogue. Compelling reading.

Reviewed by Bob Moore

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alf Taylor spent his childhood growing up in New Norcia Mission, Western Australia, and upon leaving he worked around Perth and Geraldton as a seasonal farm worker, before he joined the Armed Forces. After a marriage, seven children and a divorce, Alf found his voice as a writer and poet.

Alf’s father’s name was Rosendo Taylor and he married his Mother Queenie Harris who came from the Fraser Ranges, not far from Norseman. Her Mother belonged to the Ngadu people. from the Norseman area.