The Fickle Pendulum

The Fickle Pendulum contains sequences on figures who place scepticism and faith in the balance, such as St Thomas and Galileo, and on others, such as Benoit Mandelbrot and Laura Riding, who suggest it might be possible for the two to be reconciled. Although this meditation is at the centre of this collection, it proceeds to more personal experiences, such as his own boyhood growing up on the shores of the Parramatta River - though always with a sense that, beneath the distractions of contemporary life, the questions are as large and awkward as ever. If there are no easy answers here, there is nevertheless a sense, as Browning says, that 'All our life is some form of religion'. In verse that is measured and always thoughtful, Scully weighs the detail and delight of things against their difficult, confronting implications.

Table of Contents:
A Tensile Faith 1 Didymos Judas Thomas 3 Thomas Texts 10 "To Pass By" 11 Three Songs from the Acts of Thomas 12 Two Postscripts 14 Other Robes 17 The Good Samaritan: A Circumfluence 19 "All our life is some form of religion" 22 Footnotes to a Sermon 23 The Common Sense of Bats 25 The Patron Saint of Politicians 26 The Sage of the Stomach 28 Faultlines 31 Galileo Galilei 33 Daughter-Sun 40 Responsorial Psalm 43 Approximate Science 45 A Deceptively Similar Mind 47 Parallel Lines 50 Radio Waves 51 Homing Instinct 52 In Defence of Rome's Starlings 53 Entanglement 54 Forever Riding 55 Forever Riding 57 A Poem I Cannot Understand 63 How a Poem Differs from a Painting 64 The Democracy of Dog-Walking 65 The Theft of Poetry 66 Obiter 69 The Eulogist (Last Words) 71 Sung Water 73 "The Nature of Ice": An Enchantment 74 Deep Sea Callings 75 An Icelandic Saga 77 A Chorale of the Savanna 78 Henley Park Canto 80 The River Remembered 82 Memory Ridge 83 The Triune Brain: Reptile, Limbic and Neo-Cortex 86 Sanctuary 87 World Peace 89

About the Author :
Paul Scully ventured unsuccessfully into the being-published world during my 20s and 30s, and returned to it in my 50s when he left full-time employment as an actuary in investment management for a so-called "portfolio career" that allowed him the time to pursue his artistic interests with more purpose. This led him to attending poetry workshops, being published in a series of Australian and American journals and culminated in his first collection, An Existential Grammar, published in 2014 by Wallah Press. It was short-listed for the Anne Elder Award. He then completed a Master of Creative Writing at the University of Sydney University, which produced his second collection, Suture Lines, published by Guillotine Press in 2016. He is currently a candidate for a Doctor of Creative Arts, also at the University of Sydney. His individual poems have been published in print and online journals in Australia, the UK and USA, and has been short-listed and commended in a number of prizes, including the ACU and Newcastle Poetry Prizes. He also writes occasional reviews and other pieces on poetry and matters tangential. He is currently a Director of Australian Poetry.

Review :
The Fickle Pendulum contains sequences on figures who place scepticism and faith in the balance, such as St Thomas and Galileo, and on others, such as Benoit Mandelbrot and Laura Riding, who suggest it might be possible for the two to be reconciled. Although this meditation is at the centre of this collection, it proceeds to more personal experiences, such as his own boyhood growing up on the shores of the Parramatta River - though always with a sense that, beneath the distractions of contemporary life, the questions are as large and awkward as ever. If there are no easy answers here, there is nevertheless a sense, as Browning says, that 'All our life is some form of religion'. In verse that is measured and always thoughtful, Scully weighs the detail and delight of things against their difficult, confronting implications.;- Martin Langford