Title: Ardent
Description: Jane Gibian is one of Australias most promising young poets, and Ardent is her first major collection. Gibian's poems exhibit a range of poetic forms, including haiku, tanka and the pantoum, all of which are designed to throw a sharp focus on, and draw maximum resonance from, the small or fleeting detail. Many engage with foreign places and cultures, particularly Vietnam, and with the experience of negotiating a world which is unfamiliar, fascinating, and strange. The poems have a certain shyness or reserve, but are also hard-hitting when you least expect it, exhibiting an irony which gives her voice a strong, earthy, realistic quality.