'Jake Goetz splices Southbank strolls with explorer diaries in this jump cut account of Maiwar’s millennia of history. The poem meanders, like the river itself, from headwaters near Kilcoy, bending, switching back on itself before eventually draining into Moreton Bay as the poet grapples with colonialism’s brutal annihilation to find his place in the River City in the 21st century. It’s an ambitious first collection that makes a significant contribution to Meanjin’s mythology.
— Liam Ferney' (Publication summary)
'It’s a sophisticated piece of work that imparts its subject matter through its form. This is what I distinctly remember from first reading Jake Goetz’s ‘meditations with passing water’, in one sitting, in 2018, and what still rings true on re-reading five years later. The opening lines flow and hum like currents—lines jut out from left to right, lap at page edges, then recede. Their layout instantly brings to mind gentle river waves. This flow-form continues throughout, a steady constant.' (Introduction)
'It’s a sophisticated piece of work that imparts its subject matter through its form. This is what I distinctly remember from first reading Jake Goetz’s ‘meditations with passing water’, in one sitting, in 2018, and what still rings true on re-reading five years later. The opening lines flow and hum like currents—lines jut out from left to right, lap at page edges, then recede. Their layout instantly brings to mind gentle river waves. This flow-form continues throughout, a steady constant.' (Introduction)
