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New Release: Poetry Collection
Reviews
"As I approach mid-life, and continue to write about the unique experiences of women, I am ever more aware that my entire life has been absolutely nothing like the lives of men ... In her elegant, mature poetic voice, Lo articulates this multifarious experience by examining herself in a great array of roles, including homemaker, wife, mother, friend, teacher, daughter, child, Christian disciple, justice-seeker and revenant, to emotionally moving effect"
—Esther Ottoway, "A Series of Mirrors", Rochford Street Review
"Many Australians may be reluctant to read poetry from a Christian point of view, yet Lo’s writing is entrenched in spiritual searching and questioning that draws in the reader, much like the work of contemporary poets Mary Oliver and David Whyte [...] This collection asserts Lo’s position as a writer, mother, feminist and person of faith, asking us to see and embrace her as a multifaceted artist. "
—Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon, Artshub
More Reviews
"It is [...] glimpses of these different kinds of love, familial, divine, transcendent, love of art and love of community that ultimately give this collection its otherworldly glow."
—Judith Huang, Mascara Literary Review
"This collection is the work of thirty years and is particularly redolent of the very female experience of domestic life, not as bliss or boredom but a full life lived with tenacity and struggle [...] powerful and unflinching."
—Lisa Collyer on Substack
" ... reflects on transnational diasporic experiences [...] agilely switches between places."
—Caitlin Maling for Cordite Poetry Review
"well worth reading and re-reading."
—Jackson for Westerly
Against Certain Capture
The prize-winning collection, now in its second edition, is back in print.
Second edition reprint by popular demand
2004 WA Premier's Book Award for Poetry
Peer-reviewed and highly rated on Goodreads
Also available
Bree's Forest Adventure
illustrated by Emily-Rose Lochore
A gentle walk in the tall karri forest for Bree and her family, looking for wildflowers. They are happy to see different species of orchids and see some pretty little birds.
And finally they find what they are really looking for - the very rare Karri spider orchid!
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Seagift 2024
Seagift 2024 is a collection of stories and poems.
This collection ranges over a wide number of topics and themes: from a gruelling interrogation in Mongolia to the rapture of speaking in tongues. There is horseriding, choir-singing, and perfect char bee hoon. There is a mysterious child who can foretell disaster. There is grief at many kinds of loss and the horror of a looming Plague Angel. There is hope everywhere: blossoming like pea flowers; and love in a “coconut rough” voice. There is a determined joy in birthday cakes and the wonder of a sneezing dragon.
Edited by Miriam Wei Wei Lo and Alison Dench.
MWWL poem here: "The Kingdom of Heaven".
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Poetry of Change: The Liquid Amber Prize Anthology
The poems in Poetry of Change constituted the longlist for the 2024 Liquid Amber Poetry Prize.
In their different ways, they offer us insights into profound changes - such as the ageing body, shifts in relationship, various forms of grief, the cataclysmic roll of climate change, the leftfield hit of the pandemic, as well as incidental changes of season, perception, fashion, the daily round.
Edited by Rose Lucas, Ali Whitelock & Renne Pettitt-Schipp.
MWWL poem here: "Stopping Traffic (peri-menopause)".
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Hello Keanu!
Hello Keanu! is a poetry anthology that brings together an eclectic group of Australian poets on the theme of Keanu Reeves.
Edited by Emily Sun & Sarah Yeung.
MWWL poem here: "breaking out / fitting in".
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Seagift
Seagift is a collection of stories and poems that circle the theme of joy.
This collection moves from joy-riding the streets of Armadale to the toothless grin of a baby to the joy of learning another language. Many of the stories and poems approach joy from the angle of sorrow, anger, or heartbreak. There is also joy in answered prayer, new beginnings, and even in uncertain endings.
Edited by Miriam Wei Wei Lo, Melinda Tognini, and T. C. Shelley.
MWWL poem here: "Definitions".
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Resilience
Resilience is a collection of fiction, poetry, essays, and creative nonfiction
that explores resilience from many different perspectives. It is also a celebration of the 15th year of Mascara Literary Review which has championed diverse voices in Australian letters for all of its existence.
Funny, thought-provoking, and often deeply moving.
Edited by Michelle Cahill, Monique Nair, and Anthea Yang.
MWWL poem here: "Autographs" (3).
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What We Carry: Poetry on Childbearing
What We Carry brings together the voices of more than 60 contemporary Australian poets to provide lyrical and embodied accounts of childbearing.
Featuring diverse voices and perspectives on experiences of infertility, conception, termination, loss, pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period, this collection illuminates the endlessly different ways the potential to carry life is experienced.
Edited by Ella Kurz, Simone King, and Claire Delahunty.
MWWL poems here: "No Epidural" and "Friend".
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The Language in My Tongue
An Anthology of Australian and New Zealand Poetry
Edited by Cassandra Atherton and Paul Hetherington.
MWWL poems here: "Searching for Words", "No Epidural", "Just Before Covid-19 Hits I Sell My Gold".
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The Fremantle Press Anthology
of Western Australian Poetry
is a comprehensive survey of the state's poets from the nineteenth century to today ... It is a volume for locals and visitors, for Western Australians and Australians in general, and for readers of poetry from around the world who are interested in how poets who share certain geographies reveal their differences and similarities in generative and creative ways.
Edited by John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan.
MWWL poems here: "Don't Call Me Grandma", "Bumboat Cruise on the Singapore River".
Raving Reviews
Jackson
Within their brevity, Lo lucidly evokes these women’s characters and times. Against Certain Capture adopts this approach, offering 21 shortish poems, devoting half to each grandmother. She does so by subtly deploying poetic craft.
Helen Hagemann
Against Certain Capture opens as a generous homage to family and the various struggles of two women. The poetry is dense, lyrical and poetic lines such as “starlight touching the first dew of morning” are peppered throughout.
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