AustLit

'Thank you to Liquid Amber Press for the invitation to launch this anthology – and to the editors Rose Lucas, Anne M. Carson and Reneé Pettitt-Schipp for such a wonderful job selecting the poems. It’s a long time since I’ve enjoyed reading an anthology so much and I’m still not sure if it is the thematic intrigue of writing about home that makes this book so appealing, or if this unique group of poets has come together so prismatically the place of home in our lives cannot be better illuminated. I’m rather sad that I won’t be able to mention each poet by name, or quote from their work, but please know that I value every single poem in this book. Congratulations everyone.' (Introduction)          

'In the epigraph to this collection, a quote from Jean-Paul Sartre on Edmund Husserl suggests that we are entering a poetic that challenges the possibility of conscious knowledge; consciousness is itself a maelstrom that extrudes the intruder and has ‘no inside’. What follows is both a refutation and embracement of this assertion in chatoyant language that is as thoughtful and melodic as it is powerful. The reader is obliged to work hard to navigate the narrative, and I have rarely read poetry where the search for meaning has been felt so deeply.'  (Introduction)

'This beautifully illustrated book pays homage to the multi‐talented, often misunderstood, first superintendent of the Port Phillip District and later lieutenant governor of the colony of Victoria during its tumultuous gold‐rush years. Charles Joseph La Trobe took up duties at Port Phillip in 1839 at the age of thirty‐eight, serving fifteen years before resigning to return to Europe. While his Victorian years provide a natural focus for Australian readers, La Trobe’s earlier and subsequent experiences all contributed to the making of his legacy; the private man moulded the sometimes unappreciated public image.'  (Introduction)

'In Air Variations Jennifer Harrison offers beautifully crafted reflections and reveries, quietly spoken images, descriptions and observations of daily life: gardening, relationships, family, friends, ageing and illness. Through a precise use of poetic form and incisive imagery, these ‘twenty-two ephemera’ probe beneath the surface, leaving the reader with a feeling of loss, loneliness and lament. The quotidian is taken up with careful, tender thoughtfulness, discovering rather than defining, seeking answers but allowing the answers to change, to fly free, to not settle too hard and fast. A gentle curiosity pervades the collection, inviting a contemplation of the liminal.' (Publication summary)

'In a marvellous SBS documentary about New York women who live octo-nonagenarian lives full of vitality and insouciant style, one of the women noted, “As you get older, if you have two of something one of them is always in pain.”' (Introduction)