It gives us great pleasure to welcome our new Poet-in-Residence, Lakshmi Kanchi, at the Wetlands Centre Cockburn!
Lakshmi Kanchi, pen name SoulReserve, is an emerging Western Australian poet of Indian descent. Her poetry explores love and its tumultuousness, fantasy and zest in nature, and allegories that provoke thought and evoke tender feelings. Her writing anatomises the complex linkages between nature, history, language, culture and perception.
Lakshmi is the recipient of the 2021 Pocketry Prize for Unpublished Poets, and her poem "Watermarks" was shortlisted for the South Coast Writers Centre's 2022 Poetry Prize. She is also a Centre for Stories fellow. Her published works appear in—'Portside Review', 'Saltbush Review', 'Across Vast Horizons', 'Poetry d'Amour – 2019 & 2020', 'Letters To Our Home', 'Recoil 12', 'Blue Bottle Journal', 'Burrow Journal', 'Brushstrokes II', and 'Creatrix.'
Lakshmi is a familiar face at the Centre. She has been a long-time volunteer, participating in our events, conferences, Get Wild About Wetlands school holiday programs, and sausage sizzle fundraising drives at Bunnings.
This is a community-focused project that is open to one and all.
As a poet-in-residence, Lakshmi will be available at the Centre every Thursday from 9 am to 4 pm to discuss matters and answer your questions on poetry, eco-poetics, and writing for the environment. There is also a calendar full of exciting events planned for the year, including poetry workshops, poetry readings, online events, an anthology of community-sourced poetry, and an interactive poetry installation at the wetland precinct.
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A wonderful idea