AustLit

'Beetle Prayer is both a silly and somewhat serious book. Philip's poems flit back and forth, everything from a dialogue between a hunter and a thylacine, ridiculous non-matching acrostics and impassioned pieces about grief, meaning and rebuilding after the death of a family member.'

Source : author's website

'In Mountain Lion Lesley Lebkowicz returns to a more eclectic and traditional collection of poems, written over an extended period, after the tour de force of her verse novel The Petrov Poems (Pitt Street Poetry 2013) which enjoyed widespread critical acclaim and won a number of major poetry prizes. The continuity between the two is provided by her unmistakable individual voice, her perspective on the essential nature of things, and the intimate network of friends and family which ground her work and provide her with rich raw materials for her art.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'In medias res is Geoff Page’s twenty-fifth collection of poetry. For many years he has been an omnipresent force in Australia poetry, convening poetry events, reviewing for a wide range of journals and newspapers, and mentoring many of the country’s leading poetry practitioners. Well into his eighth decade, he still considers himself very much in the middle of things, as the title of this collection suggests. It is a characteristic mix of his keen eye, his quiet chuckle and his ruminations on Australian history and politics. Each line is crafted with a skill which makes it look easy, and underwritten with a sense or the deeper meanings of everyday experience, and glimpses of eternal in the everyday.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'This selection offers among the finest of Anthony Lawrence’s poems, selected from fifteen books of poetry published over the last thirty years. During that period Lawrence has become the pre-eminent Australian poet of his generation, a distinctive, distilled voice of passion and protest.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Eileen Chong’s fourth poetry collection is divided into four sections named after the four points of the compass: East, South, West, North.

'Each of those four simple words carries a rich burden of meaning. For a poet who has come from the East – Singapore – to make her life here in the West – Sydney – the opportunity to embrace these metonymic depths of place, culture and feeling is one to be cherished.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The magisterial Geoff Page’s twenty second poetry collection finds him in a contemplative mood – intimations, if not of mortality itself then certainly of a restless peace and a robust frailty. His fine eye for locality and fine ear for the vernacular are operating in full force, and the poetry ranges from the playful light verse that conjures up a broad smile to an altogether deeper mode, often reaching back into history, which might just as easily bring forth a long, deep knowing sigh.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Goodbye, Cruel is divided into five sections. An important extended sequence, as the title implies, is an exploration of the often taboo subject of self-destruction.  Another communes with the work of Rabi’a Balkhi, the first female poet to write in the Persian language.' (Synopsis)

'Jenny Blackford’s first full length poetry collection continues the theme of household animals and their obligations, expanding the universe to include history and geography, family and mythology – overlaid with the knowing wry humour which is her trademark.

'With selected barnyard illustrations by Gwynne McGinley.' (Publication summary)

'Newly published in December 2016 this collection explores inter alia the poet’s deepening contact with a Europe quite different in urban topography and cultural resonance to the bushy Adelaide of his childhood and the quiet Blue Mountains village of his recent academic life.

'It includes the poem ‘Vanity Fair’ which won the David Harold Tribe Award at the University of Sydney in 2013.' (Publication Summary)

'Earth Girls is the first collection from a poet well known to readers of small magazines and anthologies in the UK and Australia, and to aficionados of poetry prizes.' (Publication summary)

'Lorne Johnson’s close visceral connection to the flora and fauna of the Morton National Park, south of Sydney near his home in Bundanoon, gives breath to every page of this elegant chapbook. His poetry touches the ground lightly, in fleeting avian fashion, while his keen, bird-like senses miss little, whether with the photographer's eye or the poet’s ear.' (Publication summary)