‘For the well-beloved: Judith Wright and Nugget Coombs‘, Meanjin, 68, 2, June 2009
Tells of the relationship between one of Australia’s greatest public servants and one of its greatest poets, drawing upon the letters they wrote to each other. Their deep feelings for the environment and for Indigenous Australia emerge.
Today, a decade on, their voices go on speaking to us of the mystery of all life, and in their later years, of strength even in frailty. Wright’s understanding speaks not only to the loves of her days. It speaks to us all, especially today. Relationship, she said, is what matters: body to earth, heart to mind and the integrity of things created or imagined. Now we may know something of what there is to know, some words may pass down their lives in a new farewell to them both from all their friends – and perhaps also to a love without an ending.
Another view of Coombs-Wright from Fiona Capp.