AustLit

'‘So much of life is experienced through the attention Elaine Barker gives to shoes in this admirable, absorbing collection. Shoes measure roads taken, carry memories, arouse speculation, record other worlds and histories. Their ordinariness takes on the infinite variety of humanity in the hands of a poet whose supple idiom of the “oddly angled”, surprising observation yields to deeper meditations on change, time and dream. What Gauguin’s shoes evoke for the poet is true of her own art with its “brief tender lines” and “sharp precision”. These shoes step out of the wardrobe, the photo album or the museum with the rhythm, balance and agility of dancing feet: “heel, toe, heel, toe, / as affirming as a heartbeat”.’ - Nicholas Jose ' (Publisher's blurb)