Author(s): Louise Carter

Poetry

Powerful debut presenting a bold new female voice in Australian poetry.The poems in this collection draw upon the sounds, colours and quirks of urban and suburban Australia. Personal perceptions and associations are interwoven with snippets of speech, soundbites from TV shows, the percussive rhythm of highways and tramlines, and the atmospheric permutations of a climate in flux. Infused with a romantic sensibility, the poems dramatise the ways in which relationships are played out in ordinary circumstances, on balconies, backyards, streets and against skylines. As the poet exclaims, ‘Oh Lord of Chlorine, Gear Sticks,/ Forklifts and Cream Cheese, forgive my short attention span./ Grant me a chance to find enchantment in ordinary things.’ At the heart of the collection the extended sequence of poems ‘Golden Repair’ portrays the intoxicating highs of love and the darker emotions that come with its loss — the anger, the recriminations, the loneliness. As a doctoral student, Carter studied Luke Davies’ collection Totem — Golden Repair may be seen as her own extended outcry of praise and lament.