The Man From Lightning Ridge And Other Verse

This collection of original poems starts with three about a miner who lives in Lightning Ridge and who travels widely across Australia; to Byron Bay, Sydney and Darwin. There is also a final poem where he goes further afield to South Africa and the stunning inland city of Bloemfontein. There are other poems in the book that deal with a range of topics including; dog fighting, a bank robbery, the conflict between the New South Wales and Queensland rugby teams, a flash flood, the Australian kangaroo and emu, issues such as domestic violence, child abduction, romance, shearing, climate change, refugees and a host of other themes beside. Some are meant to be funny, many offer a political or social view, and some reminisce about lost love and the cost of war. The 'bush' and people that live in the bush are never far from the themes at the core of the verse in this book and in my view, these themes rest at the heart of Australian bush poetry.