Catch Fire

What other book offers fire, snow and apes, seedy moths and hens with a penchant for Mozart; bees and babes and babies (occasionally edible), steroids, speed and lycra, ESL and the CIA and a lone black-clad figure called Chainsaw? There's home economics, microeconomics and astrophysics, the most affirming haiku ever written and an idea for our national flag that will make even photocopying a patriotic activity. 98 South Australian poems that scream or whinge or exalt or whisper: YOU ARE HERE.

Aidan Coleman was born in Aberystwyth, Wales in 1976 and lived in Nottingham, Wollongong, the Barossa and Gawler before settling in Adelaide. He has been published in a number of journals and newspapers in Australia, the UK and the USA. His poems have appeared in a number of anthologies, including the Best Australian Poems of 2005 and 2006, and have been performed on ABC Radio National’s Poetica. His first collection of poems, Avenues & Runways, was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award. He is also an English teacher.

Juliet A. Paine is a local South Australian, born in 1979 and raised in Adelaide, and has also spent three years living in Hobart. She attended Saint Peters’ Girls’ School in Stonyfell and the University of Adelaide graduating with a BA Honours (First Class) in English. Her poetry, articles and short fiction have appeared in both local and national journals and newspapers. Her first collection of poems, Poems for a Paranoid Generation, was published by Ginninderra Press in 2001. She has also won numerous grants and academic awards. She is currently a senior English teacher at Loreto College, Marryatville.