Poems Far and Wide

Book excerpt: This very lively collection contains a wide sweep of poems, many of them prize-winning, taking readers on a remarkable journey. Some look to the past, others to the future, but all are of their time: the reverberating now. The tone is contemporary and bold, while the poet's sensibility tends to favour an eclectic inclusiveness. Uniformly, this wide-ranging and poetically engaging collection demands to be enjoyed. "As striking and triumphant in current poetry as a Gauguin in a gallery of Flemish still life." - Robert Harris, generally on Jenkins' work, in Overland. "There's a whole-heartedness about how he embraces the world he sees: aware of its faults, but never stinting..." - Sharon Olinka (USA) Thylazine website. "The wit, language play and urbane imagery we are used to from Jenkins, as well as emotional repth and an infectious delight in language..." - Mike Ladd, reviewing Dark River in Australian Book Review. "Innovative, intellectually sprightly, and artistically refreshing." - Heather Cam, reviewing A Break in the Weather in Sydney Morning Herald. John Jenkins is the author of nine collections; he also writes non-fiction, short stories, radio plays and sometimes for live performance. Born in Melbourne in 1949, John lived in Sydney in the 1970s, and has worked extensively as a journalist, both at home and overseas and now writes full time. John won the 2003 Arts Rush/Shoalhaven Poetry Prize; the 2004 James Joyce Suspended Sentence Award; and 2013 Melbourne Poets Union International Poetry Prize. He has presented master classes in Dublin and Singapore. John lives near Victoria's Yarra Valley, on the semi-rural fringes of Melbourne. He enjoys walking, good wine and hopes for a better world.