The Rot (Evelyn Araluen, UQP)

In The Rot, Evelyn Araluen returns with a blistering follow-up to her Stella Prize–winning debut, Dropbear, proving once again her unmatched ability to splice lyrics, theory, memory and critique. This is a collection that refuses containment – formally or politically. Araluen’s poems seethe and shimmer, turning language into an instrument of resistance, refusal and deep ancestral reckoning. From the lacerating clarity of ‘Uplock Actuator System’ to the elegiac tenderness of ‘Jinda’, The Rot is both deeply grounded and restlessly experimental. Araluen moves deftly between sharp poetics and diaristic fragments, often collapsing the boundary between poetry and essay. The result is genre-defiant and emotionally pulverising. Themes of intergenerational trauma, climate catastrophe, Palestinian solidarity and the violence of colonial memory recur, but so, too, does love – for kin, Country, comrades and language itself. There’s a radical generosity in how Araluen writes through exhaustion, grief, anger and survival, refusing to simplify or soothe. Her voice is as wry as it is weary, formally sharp yet emotionally raw. Araluen’s lines linger like bruises, refuse closure and demand you sit with the discomfort. Like its title suggests, The Rot decays and blooms, unearthing what festers beneath the surface of so-called Australia. This is a vital, devastating book that insists we remember, defy and remake. Essential reading for those invested in the future of poetry, criticism and Blak resistance.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Ellie Fisher (she/they) is a writer whose work has appeared in print and online. Ellie is a PhD candidate in creative writing at the University of Western Australia. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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Category: Reviews