Saturday, November 19, 2022

Poetry gifts on a bargain budget

I'm not one to encourage rampant consumerism. There are plenty of others doing that this time of year, but it has just been brought to my attention that the University of Western Australia Press (UWAP) is having a massive sale on poetry titles. 

By massive sale I mean poetry that normally sells for an already reasonable $23 is on sale for $5!  These are no bargain basement titles.  I'm talking some of my very favourite poetry books of all time, like Judy Johnson's Dark Convicts, Beth Spencer's Vagabondage, Thuy On's Turbulence, Emily Ballou's The Darwin Poems, Jill Jones, Quinn Eades, David Stavinger, Tricia Dearborn, holy moly - there's so much goodness here - how to choose - who gets what?   
If you haven't got enough books by the time you're finished with UWAP, go visit Flying Island's poetry shop where you can pick up titles for $10 a pop: https://flyingislandspocketpoets.com.au/shop/, including my own High Wire Step.  

Why should you give poetry for gifts this holiday?  For one thing it's very hot right now - everyone wants poetry. I don't know how this happened but it's true and you can't go wrong with a good poetry book.  For another, it's not something you can just read and be done with like a fast-paced adventure novel.  Good poetry has you coming back again and again, so you're giving someone a gift that they can enjoy repeatedly - it's a lot of concentrated beauty.  And right now, it's an unbelievable bargain.  Holiday gift giving sorted.