Canberra Light by Cliff, Paul NEUF 2024

In this, his fifth full-sized collection, Paul Cliff evokes thecity of Canberra and surrounding region, where he has lived for the past 20 years. The poems work via characteristically wide-ranging moods and voice registers, from lyrical and elegiac to narrative and comic. They also deploy a variety of forms, from sonnets and odes to fables and epigrams, underlain by seductive rhythms and arresting metaphor. The capitals festivals, institutions and monuments, everyday street life, suburbs, and lakescape are investigated, while the more distant terrains of Weereewa (Lake George), Namadgi, the Monaro, the Snowy Mountains, and the South Coast of New South Wales are also evoked in engaging and often striking terms.