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Airplane Baby Banana Blanket
The latest collection from Benjamin Dodds interprets the bizarre true story of Lucy, a chimpanzee raised as the 'daughter' of Oklahoma psychotherapist Dr Maurice Temerlin during the 1960s and 70s. With deep empathy and an eye for subtle, telling moments, Dodds offers a complex reimagination of Lucy's fraught hybrid life through unflinching poems that fascinate and unsettle in equal measure.
- GenresPoetry
90 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2020
15 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Dodds
9 books13 followersBenjamin Dodds grew up in the NSW Riverina and studied at the University of Sydney.
He is the author of three poetry collections: The Ease of Eggs (5 Islands Press, 2025), Airplane Baby Banana Blanket (Recent Work Press, 2020) and Regulator (Puncher & Wattmann Poetry, 2014).
Airplane Baby Banana Blanket was shortlisted for both the 2021 Judith Wright Calanthe Award and the international Poetry Book Award. Dodds's work has appeared widely, including in Rabbit, Meanjin, Southerly, Best Australian Poems, and Best Australian Science Writing, and has also been broadcast on ABC Radio National.
Dodds has judged the Quantum Words Science Poetry Competition and the Val Vallis Award, and has been a poetry reader for Overland. Off the page, he has worked as a laboratory technician with the NSW Department of Agriculture, spent time as a clerk in a video store, taught English and Italian at the secondary school level, and, for nearly two decades, has been a proud public primary school teacher.
He is the author of three poetry collections: The Ease of Eggs (5 Islands Press, 2025), Airplane Baby Banana Blanket (Recent Work Press, 2020) and Regulator (Puncher & Wattmann Poetry, 2014).
Airplane Baby Banana Blanket was shortlisted for both the 2021 Judith Wright Calanthe Award and the international Poetry Book Award. Dodds's work has appeared widely, including in Rabbit, Meanjin, Southerly, Best Australian Poems, and Best Australian Science Writing, and has also been broadcast on ABC Radio National.
Dodds has judged the Quantum Words Science Poetry Competition and the Val Vallis Award, and has been a poetry reader for Overland. Off the page, he has worked as a laboratory technician with the NSW Department of Agriculture, spent time as a clerk in a video store, taught English and Italian at the secondary school level, and, for nearly two decades, has been a proud public primary school teacher.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 26, 2021
Beautifully crafted poems reflecting on the human/animal interface. Language and space are structured so that we move through Lucy Temerlin's life with our hearts watching. I loved this compelling telling.
December 27, 2020
Ben's second collection of poetry is inspired by the real life events of Dr Maurice Temerlin who raised Lucy, a chimpanzee, as his own daughter.
This is a poetic retelling of a fascinating story that engages at the core emotional level of who we are. As Judith Beveridge says on the back cover, the work is "deeply haunting and goes straight to the heart."
Once I'd finished reading I wanted to go back to the begining to start over again, such is the power of this collection.
This is a poetic retelling of a fascinating story that engages at the core emotional level of who we are. As Judith Beveridge says on the back cover, the work is "deeply haunting and goes straight to the heart."
Once I'd finished reading I wanted to go back to the begining to start over again, such is the power of this collection.
February 23, 2024
The best non-fiction poetry collection I've read. One that will reverberate for a long time. Read it! If you have any interest in animal ethics, our relationships with animals, the wild, nature versus nurture. Devastating. Beautiful.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews