At the Florida

At the Florida
AuthorJohn Tranter
LanguageEnglish
GenrePoetry collection
PublisherUniversity of Queensland Press
Publication date1993
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint
Pages99 pp
Awards1993 The Age Book of the Year – Poetry Prize, winner
ISBN0702225533

At the Florida is a collection of poems by Australian poet John Tranter, published by University of Queensland Press in 1993.[1]

The collection contains 54 poems from a number of newspapers and literary publications, such as The Bulletin, both in Australia and overseas.[2]

It was the winner of the 1993 The Age Book of the Year – Poetry Prize.[3]

Contents

  • "Storm Over Sydney"
  • "The Romans (for Dr Grahame Caisley)"
  • "A Marriage"
  • "Journey"
  • "Ariadne on Lesbos"
  • "Leaving the Sixties"
  • "Days in the Capital"
  • "God on a Bicycle"
  • "The Painted Veil (for Philip Mead)"
  • "Anyone Home?"
  • "Australia Day"
  • "The Moths (for August Kleinzahler)"
  • "Opus Dei"
  • "Gravity"
  • "Decalcomania"
  • "Dark Harvest (for Dana Gioia)"
  • "Stony River"
  • "At the Florida"
  • "Falling"
  • "Hot Nights"
  • "A Man and a Woman"
  • "North Woods (for John Ashbery)"
  • "The Other Side of the Bay (for Pamala Karol)"
  • "Curriculum Vitae"
  • "Con's Cafe"
  • "Another Country"
  • "Cellar"
  • "Cubans"
  • "Oblivion"
  • "Dizzy"
  • "The Narcolept"
  • "Smoke"
  • "Two Views of Lake Placid (for Susan Wyndham)"
  • "Prose Poem: At Naxos"
  • "Snap"
  • "Percentage Macedonian (for John A. Scott)"
  • "Tantrum Gang (for Kenward Elmslie)"
  • "Old Europe"
  • "Exiles"
  • "Snip"
  • "Family Scent"
  • "Acid Rain"
  • "Mahogany"
  • "Gasoline"
  • "Box Contaminant"
  • "A Plume of Ash"
  • "Chicken Shack"
  • "Cable Chimp"
  • "Bachelor Pad"
  • "Bells Under Water"
  • "April Surprise"
  • "Adler, Honda and Co"
  • "Quaker Clambake"
  • "Haibun : Aurora"

Critical reception

In The Sydney Morning Herald reviewer Heather Cam called the collection "a sophisticated cocktail" that "leaves a moody aftertaste and is apt to induce intellectual morning-after befuddlement."[4]

In a survey of the finalists for the 1993 The Age Book of the Year – Poetry Prize in The Age newspaper, this collection was described as "Brooding, nostalgic, but at times disarmingly tender."[5]

Notes

  • Dedication: This book is dedicated to the memory of my mother Anne Katherine Tranter nee Brown 1906-1989

See also

References

  1. ↑ "At the Florida by John Tranter". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  2. ↑ "Austlit — At the Florida by John Tranter". Austlit. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  3. ↑ ""Jolley's way with words, not money, brings new success"". The Age, 23 November 1993, p16. ProQuest 2521743746. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  4. ↑ ""Connections for the exiles"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 August 1993. ProQuest 2527814971. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  5. ↑ ""1993 'The Age' Book of the Year Finalists"". The Age, 13 November 1993. ProQuest 2521519459. Retrieved 19 June 2026.