Robyn Cairns is a Melbourne-based poet. Her collection, Horizon, was published by Ginninderra Press earlier in 2023. Robyn’s poems capture the delight of familiar horizons close to home, and new horizons further afield.

Horizon presents around 70 haiku with several, tanka, haibun and longer poems interspersed along the way.

The residents of Melbourne were subject to a series of lengthy lockdowns during the pandemic and Horizon takes that experience as its starting point. In the beginning, the experience of lockdowns was surreal, almost apocalyptic:

strange days
rain falling
on blank pages

emerging to a changed Earth cicada

Though, with the passage of time, the physical constraints came to be the new normal and people found beauty in unexpected ways:

fading afternoon
creating a sculpture
in the dish rack

two-hundredth day in lockdown googling blowflies

As a child growing to adulthood, we begin by living within the confines of our home, then our backyard and our neighbourhood, before venturing further to view distant horizons. The magic of Robyn’s book is the way it uses the background of a pandemic to depict this progression and highlight the joys of movement and discovery. As we follow Robyn’s journey, we see once again how wonderful it is to emerge into this world.

waiting for sunset
a small fairy wren
and then another
hop across the back fence
as beautiful as that

and this extract from Robyn’s poem titled Stage 4 Lockdown Melbourne – For Jo:

celebrating this new age love
of urban environment
everybody noticing nature
sprouting from cracks in footpaths
spilling over corrugated fences
singing from trees

While poems about the discovery, and re-discovery, of home and neighbourhood often reflect a gentle peace and satisfaction, it is the freedom to travel and explore new horizons that brings exhilaration (especially for a lover of nature and birds):

rural backroads
every direction
a sea of stars

first sweep
of my paddle blade
the tilt of a heron

heart becoming open sky a blue-winged parrot

Robyn’s poems truly are about the appreciation and enjoyment of horizons, near and far. Her poems remind us that, whether our world is confined or expansive, there is always beauty to be found. You can purchase a copy of Horizon by Robyn Cairns from Ginninderra Press at this link.