A Journal of Australian & International Cultural Reviews, News and Criticism.
The Flowering Dark is a materially gorgeous book with a wonderfully evocative cover, and I congratulate the publishers, Mark and Steve for the revamped (and warmly re-welcomed) 5 Island Press for producing such a beautiful holding-space for Sue’s poems, and for choosing Sue’s book to relaunch the press.
David Adès latest collection, The Heart’s Lush Gardens (Flying Island Books, 2024) was recently launched in Sydney. Before the launch Richard James Allen interviewed David.
Natural Light is a striking book, full of original images, capturing the human condition and the natural world. These are broad themes and longstanding interests of the poet.
Today I am honoured to stand beside Fran, to share her love of fine words, music, sound, rhythm, nuance, cadence, and story, for all poems are stories in some way, cameos of life – stories that tell us, as readers, who we are; who we have been, who we may well become, and possibly give clues to the direction life may take.
The title, Afterlife, works in two ways. The first is as a literal afterlife, the kind many different cultures believe in, the life after death that is a kind of immortality. A number of poems in this collection explore this concept and our human need for reassurance that there will be a life after death.
Nat’s poetry is highly polished, subtle and filmic in its detail. ‘Separation Blues’ is, I believe, Nat’s thirteenth book – and what a gorgeous production it is! Within its pages – which span more than four decades – you will find his characteristic precision and concision; powerful opening lines and dramatic closes; razor-sharp observation; clipped phrases; as well as skillfully painted portraits of people, places and eras.
I’ve been savouring Small Epiphanies over the last few weeks. Savouring is the perfect word because these poems are intricately layered with sensual detail and richly textured.
I think this is a marvellous and engrossing publication which so beautifully showcases how the two art forms complement and enhance each other – there haven’t been too many collaborations between differing artists in Australian poetry
As a Scot, who frequently aches to have the cockles of her cold Scottish heart warmed, the poems in Snail Mail Cursive have warmed them in the most primordial of ways.