Poetry champion Sarah Temporal launches debut collection

Sarah Temporal’s debut poetry collection, Tight Bindings, has been two decades in the making. The acclaimed performance poet, teacher, facilitator, and convener of the Poet’s Out Loud spoken word event series has written and performed for twenty years

but has mostly guided hundreds of other young and emerging poets to discover their voices.

“It’s a huge moment for me and I’m glad to have such an amazing community to share it with. For years, people have asked if I have a book to buy, and now, finally, I can say yes,” Temporal said.

“I still struggle with imposter syndrome in my work. It was a real shift to be accepted by my publisher—it released so much worry and allowed me to focus on making the best work I could.”

The project was born during the pandemic lockdown when the prolific performer could perform no more.

“I thought that was the time to finally commit these poems from my performance repertoire to a book,” she said.

“The title work is about giving birth to my daughter when I needed an emergency C-section because she was ‘trapped in the tight bindings of my body’. I then thought about all the ways we are bound to each other – in families, in secrets, in the stories we tell ourselves – and the light and dark of those bonds.”

Best of Australian Poems, Heroines Anthology, and Australian Poetry Anthology have anthologised Temporal’s work. Her poems are rooted in a razor-sharp social awareness.

Despite, or because of, the local and global pressures of life, she is optimistic about the future of poetry.

“Audiences are getting stronger. That’s easy to see at a regional poetry night when 100 people show up. It’s a myth that people don’t read poetry – whether that’s because of live engagement such as slam or because of internet superstars like Rupi Kaur. It’s exciting to see such interest.

“People here understand the arts as vital for well-being and healthy communities. My practice took off when I moved here. This will be like throwing the bouquet at a wedding – I hope that the next poet-to-be gets inspired to write their book,” she said.

A poetry slam will run alongside the launch on the theme of ‘Binding/Breaking Free’ with $500 worth of prizes.

The launch on Thursday, August 15 begins at 7 pm at M|Arts. Head to poetsoutloud.org/events