Eloise and Other Verses

In Eloise and Other Verses, Constanze Hawkins writes about loss and nature, both human and natural.

Through her depiction of loss we feel the characters of those experiencing and dealing with loss, we get a glimpse of aspects of human nature. Sometimes themes of loss are intertwined with scenes of nature. The author writes about a range of human sorrows, for example the loss of youth in ‘Dance Cockie Dance’ and the loss of a mother in ‘Mother Mother Magna Mater’. Loss is an inescapable part of the human condition and the author treats it with careful, thoughtful and poignant writing. Also included in this volume are poems portraying the natural beauty of nature. These few poems of the natural world offer new pictures of themes such as trees and the ocean. They make an interesting addition to this collection.

Constanze Hawkins studied fashion at the Melbourne College of Textiles. She completed her studies after her marriage and her young family’s move to Perth, Western Australia, with a Graduate Certificate of Design from the Curtain University of Technology. She worked in fashion predominately as a patternmaker and grader until her retirement. Constanze then began to write poetry in earnest.

A recurring theme in the author’s first book, Eloise and Other Verses, is the inescapable human experience ‘Loss’. She became interested in loss when her father died, after her marriage break-up and then when her mother died. Her experience of loss is that it is often really dealt with alone. And this comes through in her poems about loss.

Constanze is also inspired by nature, human and natural. Interests she has had since childhood.