Blog
In praise of resilience | Elizabeth Trew
13 days ago
Where can we find reliable sources of courage and resilience in difficult times? And what can help us learn to share the world more equally and less fearfully?
As people across the world prepare to celebrate World Environment Day on 5 June, the AVBOB Poetry Project pays homage to the tender, haunting words of Liz Trew, poet, former librarian and teacher, whose debut collection, My Mother the Seal (Hands-On Books, 2023) evokes wild places both inside and outside human experience. She draws strength and courage from the natural world and suggests the possibility of living in greater harmony with it. Perhaps most memorably, she evokes the persistence of hope and freedom in spite of human beings’ tendency to make a mess of things. In one memorable poem, ‘Good Morning, Hadedas’, she listens to the soft purrs of a pair of courting hadedas, mixed with the sweet chant of children in the primary school across the road. Meanwhile, she’s discarding newspapers containing developing stories about world events. Recognising something stable and sustaining in the scene around her, she greets the birds courteously and forgets the news:
Trew remembers the process that led to the writing of this poem:
“That poem came as a gift one morning. I was hearing these two lovely natural sounds, human and bird together. My pile of gloomy world news, to be recycled, was a nudge to the renewing cycle of life.”
Another poem speaks of a refugee from Darfur, determined to support his wife and baby so they can stay in a safe haven. Yet another sings the praise of a laughing dove, who persists “unshaken by the howling gale / the piercing drill next door / or the glare of my outside light…”
“Trauma and displacement infuse the collection in varying degrees,” Trew says. “Yet the subjects have found respite and resilience in change. The tiny dove perseveres in the face of threat. I want readers to feel this courage.”
Sometimes the poems demonstrate the failure of human beings to sustain such harmony. The refugee from Darfur tells her that he and his family are leaving Cape Town, where they no longer feel safe. A local armed vigilante, arriving when her alarm accidentally sounds, shakes his head at her, dismayed at her interactions with “undesirables” in their street.
She firmly believes that poetry can educate us to share the world more readily with other people and creatures with different needs from our own.
“Poetry does and should include those of us who have fallen and been hurt, and teach us to be tolerant and listen to the voices of everyone who shares the world with us.”
Trew, who also dances and practices yoga to ground and sustain herself during difficult times, is optimistic that celebrating World Environment Day can make a difference to our relationship with the natural world.
“Marking World Environment Day promotes care for our surroundings. It highlights urgent, damaging global issues. But there are also good things to celebrate: wonderful local projects, like planting healing trees. A friend collects 100 bags of rubbish regularly on Signal Hill! A homeless man grows flowers on wasteland. Poets should sing their praises and add their voices to major environmental issues.”
In the next few days, write a poem in praise of someone or something courageous and resilient that you have observed in your immediate environment.
The annual AVBOB Poetry Competition opens for submissions on 1 August 2025. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za today and familiarise yourself with the competition rules.
As people across the world prepare to celebrate World Environment Day on 5 June, the AVBOB Poetry Project pays homage to the tender, haunting words of Liz Trew, poet, former librarian and teacher, whose debut collection, My Mother the Seal (Hands-On Books, 2023) evokes wild places both inside and outside human experience. She draws strength and courage from the natural world and suggests the possibility of living in greater harmony with it. Perhaps most memorably, she evokes the persistence of hope and freedom in spite of human beings’ tendency to make a mess of things. In one memorable poem, ‘Good Morning, Hadedas’, she listens to the soft purrs of a pair of courting hadedas, mixed with the sweet chant of children in the primary school across the road. Meanwhile, she’s discarding newspapers containing developing stories about world events. Recognising something stable and sustaining in the scene around her, she greets the birds courteously and forgets the news:
“Good morning, hadedas.
Good morning, hadedas.
I brush past
the gooseberry bush
with a pile of papers,
the news of the world
ready to be dumped and then recycled.”
I brush past
the gooseberry bush
with a pile of papers,
the news of the world
ready to be dumped and then recycled.”
Trew remembers the process that led to the writing of this poem:
“That poem came as a gift one morning. I was hearing these two lovely natural sounds, human and bird together. My pile of gloomy world news, to be recycled, was a nudge to the renewing cycle of life.”
Another poem speaks of a refugee from Darfur, determined to support his wife and baby so they can stay in a safe haven. Yet another sings the praise of a laughing dove, who persists “unshaken by the howling gale / the piercing drill next door / or the glare of my outside light…”
“Trauma and displacement infuse the collection in varying degrees,” Trew says. “Yet the subjects have found respite and resilience in change. The tiny dove perseveres in the face of threat. I want readers to feel this courage.”
Sometimes the poems demonstrate the failure of human beings to sustain such harmony. The refugee from Darfur tells her that he and his family are leaving Cape Town, where they no longer feel safe. A local armed vigilante, arriving when her alarm accidentally sounds, shakes his head at her, dismayed at her interactions with “undesirables” in their street.
She firmly believes that poetry can educate us to share the world more readily with other people and creatures with different needs from our own.
“Poetry does and should include those of us who have fallen and been hurt, and teach us to be tolerant and listen to the voices of everyone who shares the world with us.”
Trew, who also dances and practices yoga to ground and sustain herself during difficult times, is optimistic that celebrating World Environment Day can make a difference to our relationship with the natural world.
“Marking World Environment Day promotes care for our surroundings. It highlights urgent, damaging global issues. But there are also good things to celebrate: wonderful local projects, like planting healing trees. A friend collects 100 bags of rubbish regularly on Signal Hill! A homeless man grows flowers on wasteland. Poets should sing their praises and add their voices to major environmental issues.”
In the next few days, write a poem in praise of someone or something courageous and resilient that you have observed in your immediate environment.
The annual AVBOB Poetry Competition opens for submissions on 1 August 2025. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za today and familiarise yourself with the competition rules.
