Triple Citizenship

<p>Gomes' poetry collection Triple Citizenship explores identity through landscape and culture. She intimately examines how one is shaped by their world no matter how small and minute the influences may be. Her colourful and romantic language fills each poem with an intimate and memorable voice. A voice that reaches out from across the seas of her home to transport all that hear it. She invites the reader to reflect on their own identity and see the magic of their culture that emerges from their kitchen to their mother's fingers.</p><p>   -Sofie Fernandez former editor of <em>The Quarry Journal</em></p><p><br></p><p>Two words come to mind when reading Bruna Gomes's Triple Citizenship: longing and belonging. These poems explore identity with a speaker who simultaneously belongs to three cultures yet not wholly to any of them-a speaker who at the same time longs for the pieces of her life that are missing and incomplete. There is a glittering unrelenting feel to the language the focus of light through the facets of a diamond; yet the poems crack open under the pressure of examination to reveal grief sometimes anger and frequently pride. These are poems that struggle with the definition of self. These are poems that matter.</p><p>   -Anne Britting Oleson author of <em>The Church of St. Materiana</em> <em>The Beauty of It</em> and <em>Alley of Dreams</em></p><p><br></p><p>This is a fine first collection from a young poet. These are poems written from the experience of multiple cultures traditions and languages. With a flair for form and detail Gomes conveys a sense of an assured identity which is barely contained in its abundance of love for life and family lived across different countries. Often dazzling in conveying the poet's Brazilian background and with a unique rich voice throughout the collection is compelling. It presents a new voice to follow and has certainly left its mark on this reader.</p><p> -Marcelle Freiman Associate Professor of Creative Writing Macquarie University; author of <em>White Lines</em> (Vertical)</p>