"When I visit that place I feel with him"

Loki Liddle reflects on his POEM FOREST poem.

'Angus' is a deeply personal poem about a place and a person. The place is Flat Rock at Tugun Beach and the person is my dear, dear friend Angus who I spent my teenage years with around that place. Flat Rock was our favourite spot. We made fires there and have an infinite amount of memories tied to the place and to each other. Angus passed away there in 2019. Quite suddenly and mysteriously, while having his usual morning swim. He was 26.

Angus was like my big brother, and as a teenager, the only other blakfella I had around at that time in my life. He was a guide and he taught me alot. So now, of course, Angus and Flat Rock are synonymous in my mind. When I visit that place I feel with him and when I swim in the water I feel with him.

This poem is about that feeling. When a person and a place become connected. And what it is like to love a place, and land, as if it were a person.