"GREEN SINGER: (SOME LOCUSTS) SIXTY SIX FROG POEMS". ROBERT PENE 1947 2014

Made by one of Australia’s most significant artists, Green singer: 58 frog poems for J.S.N. 1987–97 calls attention to the poetry that’s possible when categorising the natural world. Each page of the book features a single common name for a cicada, from ‘Red Roarer’ to ‘Black Prince’ to ‘Lamp Lighter’.

Reflecting MacPherson’s fascination with language – as well as systems of naming and representing the world – the work playfully upends the simple ‘device’ of a book, as Green singer is printed with an ink that, when exposed to the light, will fade and disappear.

The book’s unusual restrictions on function reflect its subject. From a human perspective, a cicada’s life cycle is predominantly unseen: living many years underground, the insects emerge into the light to unfurl their wings for a brief few weeks at the end of their lives.