Between Two Skies - Kay Cairns

Between Two Skies is a collection of poems written since poet Kay Cairns arrived in Australia in December 1983, after emigrating from Northern Ireland during 'the troubles'. The poems express her experience as a migrant, not only in discovering the landscape and culture of the new country, but also the conflicting feelings for the country she left. The collection's title, Between Two Skies, and overarching theme, is that of the ever-present dichotomy between love of the new country and nostalgia for the land of one's birth.

The collection therefore consists of two sections. The first section, Discovering Australia, contains poems that are responses to first encounters with the Australian landscape and climate and, apart from 'Wacol Migrant Centre', they have a Western Australian context. Some also reflect a growing awareness of the effects of colonisation on Australia's First Nations peoples.

The poems of the second section, Remembering Ireland, express a nostalgia and affection for the physical landscape of Ireland and for family left behind. They are also an exploration of cultural identity in the context of the political and religious divides that still exist there.