A selection of the best poems from Australia's literary journals.

This is the first of a new series, offering a poetic snapshot of the year that was, 1 July 2020-30 June 2021--featuring 100 poets and 100 poems across an astonishing range of poetic voice, approaches and themes.

Elizabeth Campbell's poems always seem daimonic, running along an edge of surprise. They are in fact written very slowly, sculpted to a dense inner clarity. It helps that she is a master of the rhythms of free-verse lines, their questings, turns, and landings. She explores the mind's readiness both to misconceive and ti find a solid world. Her poems are full of tangible objects yielding significance, whether the theme is travelling, singing, dreams, or sacred or secular love - or a recurrent observation of horses: their physical presence, and the veering of their barely graspable consciousness. The ten poems of the title sequence, addressed to a little-known-about medieval scribe, scrupulously view the smallness of the leavings of lives underlying history. These are a remarkable meditation on thinking and solitude.

The Best Australian Poems 2010 vibrates with correspondences. The images in some poems are reflected in others … until the individual poems begin to read like stanzas in some epic story of this country.' - Robert Adamson Selected by one of Australia's most acclaimed poets, this inspired collection captures the richness and scope of present - day Australian verse. It features innovative and exciting poems - many published here for the first time - from our best - known poets as well as daring and insightful works from rising stars. Together they create a lively sense of conversation, of voices criss - crossing the continent, exploring the many themes that animated and inspired the nation's poets in 2010. Contributors include: Chris Andrews, Judith Beveridge, Ken Bolton, Peter Boyle, David Brooks, Pam Brown, Joanne Burns, Elizabeth Campbell, Justin Clemens, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Luke Davies, Bruce Dawe, Laurie Duggan, Stephen Edgar, Anne Elvey, Lionel Fogarty, Lisa Gorton, Robert Gray, Martin Harrison, Kevin Hart, Barry Hill, Sarah Holland - Batt, L.K. Holt, Lisa Jacobson, John Kinsella, Anna Krien, Anthony Lawrence, Geoffrey Lehmann, Kate Lilley, Astrid Lorange, Roberta Lowing, Rhyll McMaster, Jennifer Maiden, Kate Middleton, Peter Minter, Derek Motion, Les Murray, Geoff Page, Peter Rose, Gig Ryan, Jaya Savige, Craig Sherborne, Vivian Smith, Peter Steele, John Tranter, Chris Wallace - Crabbe, Petra White and many more.

In this book, the editor selects the most vigorous, varied and interesting poems of the last year. This sparkling collection shines a light on the phantasmagorial nature of poetry, evoking images, transformations and events that range from the playful to the melancholy by way of exuberance and satire.

'What a rich, strange and diverse lot these poems turned out to be ... I suspect that these baroque and potent imaginings can only have come into existence as fragments of dreams or nightmares.' - John Tranter In "The Best Australian Poems 2011," celebrated poet John Tranter selects the most vigorous, varied and interesting poems of the last year. This sparkling collection shines a light on the phantasmagorical nature of poetry, evoking images, transformations and events that range from the playful to the melancholy by way of exuberance and satire. Featuring award-winning poems alongside brand-new works, as well as a mix of emerging and renowned poets, this is a volume of surreal beauty and emotional resonance. Poets include: Robert Adamson, Ali Alizadeh, Jude Aquilina, Ken Bolton, Pam Brown, joanne burns, Sarah Day, Bruce Dawe, Kate Fagan, Michael Farrell, Angela Gardner, Geoff Goodfellow, Lisa Gorton, Jennifer Harrison, Sarah Holland-Batt, Jill Jones, Cate Kennedy, Andy Kissane, Mike Ladd, Kate Lilley, Jennifer Maiden, David McCooey, Les Murray, Ouyang Yu, Felicity Plunkett, Peter Rose, Gig Ryan, Jaya Savige, Thomas Shapcott, Craig Sherborne, Pete Spence, Peter Steele, Maria Takolander, Andrew Taylor, Tim Thorne, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Alan Wearne and many more...

Award-winning poet Caroline Caddy's latest collection is an acutely observed meditation on her encounters with the world. From the south coast of Western Australia to China, her poems chart a breathtaking journey across landscapes, punctuated by departure and return. From these poems, the reader may be rewarded with 'that human thrill / of sensing a pattern beginning to form / the delight at finding it doesn't' ('Shanghai renga'). The Australian Book Review said Caddy's 'carefully crafted poems are refreshing journeys of discovery which open up unfamiliar places, bring them potently alive.' Quadrant praised her 'stunningly original descriptions' while The West Australian said Caddy 'is to be hailed as a master poet with a style and panache all of her own'.

Sometimes rude, never crude, WomanSpeak explores topics where the great men of literature never dared venture. Written in collaboration by renowned female South Australian poets, Jude Aquilina and Louise Nicholas, the poems in this collection are both humorous and reflective, covering a range of topics including women's health, body image and fashion. Performed at women's workshops, SA Cervical Screenings and other medical conferences nationally, the poetry gives an insight into the rituals and unique experiences of women.

Award-winning poet, critic, editor and academic Sarah Holland-Batt takes the helm again as editor of this year’s Best Australian Poems. Previous contributors include Judith Beveridge, Stephen Edgar, Fiona Wright, Clive James, Lisa Gorton, Robert Adamson, Dorothy Porter, John Kinsella, David Malouf, Cate Kennedy and Les Murray. Sarah Holland-Batt is the author of The Hazards (UQP, 2015), which won the poetry prize at the 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, and Aria (UQP, 2008), which won the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, the Arts ACT Judith Wright Award, and the FAW Anne Elder Award and was shortlisted in both the New South Wales and Queensland Premiers’ Literary Awards. She is presently a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Queensland University of Technology and the poetry editor of Island.