There is stuff about touch and massage in there! People who work with sportspeople’s bodies would relate

I wish I were joking about the grass but that is literally the master estate plan

Last but not least, a REALLY cool gift idea is a poetry subscription. That could be Giramondo’s poetry subscription where they send you books throughout the year(!) or a lit mag subscription like HEAT or Overland or Island that all support poetic writing. They all rock. Buy poetry!!

Another poetry collection that is so cool you should buy one for yourself too. It’s Marxism it’s pop it’s the proletariat. Buy for: your friend in your group secret santa, or the person you chat to most about eating the rich

I have no idea how Isabella Mead had the headspace or memory to exactly capture so much of early parenting days in poetry form, but she has. Buy for: your mum friend who you would like to know that you *see* her and all that she does

This one is partly about working in offshore detention with refugees, so content warning for upsetting themes. Pettitt-Schipp’s writing is accessible and very beautiful. Buy for: your politically engaged family members

Another seriously cool collection about femininity and queerness and being Filipina-Australian. There is at least one very sexy poem in this. Buy for: your femme crush

This is a really excellent exploration of Boorlo/Perth via engagement with colonial archives and loads of cosmological metaphors. Buy for: your friend the emerging writer who wants to learn about voice and research based writing, or your cousin who cares (or ought to) about First Nations writing

Judith Beveridge will be right up there as a potential Australian poet laureate (once we get one!) I think. The language is accessible but the poems are complex and extremely image based. Queen of metaphors. Buy for: your immediate family member who loves walking in nature/on the beach

This one is super dark with complex literary devices, it not easy going cognitively nor thematically. But its language rings out. Content warning serious mental health themes. Buy for: your writerly friend or the mother of a complex teen

This one is super accessible and won a bunch of awards. Barrina South writes about longing and everyday life and her relationship to country as a First Nations person. Buy for: the aunt who you got in secret santa

Toby Fitch is one of my fav Australian poets and they have new work coming out next year which is SO exciting. This one has lots about parenting and Sydney and Covid (content warning). Buy for: your Covid conscious friend or a friend who studied literature but doesn’t read enough now or a Sydney pal

This one is so cool, heaps of concrete poetry (poems in shapes), and lots about mental health. But this for: your cherished queer friend you chat about being tired with