This presentation will review two poems which are Rosemary Dobson’s “The News and weather” and Idija Cvetkovic’s “Reliable Magic”. The review will highlight the strengths of the poems and any weaknesses that may be there. The paper will include a comparison of the two poems in terms of their appeal and the reason for that.

Analysis
Rosemary Dobson, author and poet, is a native of Australia. She has written a number of books on poetry and literatyre. Her work has appeared in Australian and international journals such as Antaeus and Antipodes.
In her poem “The News and weather” the poet has tried to convey a message. The message is ‘let us count our blessings’ and thank the Lord for showering us with the blessings and bounties that HE has been made available to us. The message is to look at those who face a life of deprivation. The poet has not identified which place or event in the world has moved her to use the phrase “You are lucky to be alive in these terrible times”. However the famines and starvation, in Africa particularly, are commonplace and so are the fratricidal and internecine warfares and the exploitation of poor nations by the rich nations. So any number of factors could have moved her to use such an expression.

The poet has used such words as:

“pink and white galahs” This is an Australian cockatoo having pale blue-gray\
plumage and a pink breast.
“…currawongs cry…” The shrill cry characteristic of a cock or rooster

“paddocks…cattle..” Fenced area for grazing horses
The above describes a truly rural setting in perhaps the great Australian outback. To summarize the poet has used the setting of a place of peace (rural) and plenty (figs, apples) to point out the good fortune in a turbulent world.
The poetess Lidija Cvetkovic also writes and performs dramatic monologues and performance pieces. She is a born Yugoslav who lives in Australia. In the second of the two poems, “reliable magic under review” the poetess has the poem’s narrator’s talking of magical powers. And that too in a challenging, defying way. These words reflect this: “offer you an amulet….. Push this sea sponge…. Trust my magic…. But if you..”
She talks of the fennel which is a Eurasian plant having pinnate leaves. And of feasting …on ground acacia leaves, honey mixed with dates. That is about the only similarity in the two poems. They both talk of produce of the land. There the similarity ends. The message is obscure. The theme is abstract. What is one to make of Widow Welch’s pills, a glass syringe holding… or of – plot to plunge and lodge inside …your womb…?