I also saw those spirit dogs
and poetry travelled with me
like rivers
I didn't ever eat alone.
'Goan Fish Curry'
'Following on from the success of her award-winning fiction debut, Heat and Light, Ellen van Neerven announces herself as a talented poet with this intoxicating collection.
'Moving between places and cultures, Comfort Food explores identity, sovereignty and the restless quest for love. Using food as her inspiration, van Neerven offers a cross-cultural vision of the exotic and the familiar. This sensuous volume sets a new benchmark in contemporary Australian poetry. ' (Publication summary)
'Ellen van Neerven’s collection Comfort Food (2016) is preoccupied with sustenance, survivance, and the conditions of poetic possibility. How is the locus of the poetic here and now maintained? This review reflects on this question through a close reading of “Finger Limes,” the fourth poem of van Neerven’s collection.' (Introduction)
