Mines (poetry collection)

Mines

Author	Jennifer Maiden
Language	English
Genre	Poetry collection
Publisher	Paper Bark Press
Publication date	1999
Publication place	Australia
Media type	Print
Pages	104 pp.
Awards	2000 NSW Premier's Prize for Poetry, winner
ISBN	9057040468

Mines is a collection of poems by Australian poet Jennifer Maiden, published by Paper Bark Press in 1999. ^[1]

The collection contains 40 poems from a variety of sources, with some published here for the first time. ^[2]

The collection won the 2000 NSW Premier's Prize for Poetry. ^[3]

Contents

• "Foreword: Night Drive"
• "Look, I'm standing on no-floor"
• "Fairy-Bread"
• "Trick Ending"
• "The Nubian Spoon"
• "Can We Drive Into the Monster, Jenny?"
• "The Orient Queen"
• "Moonstone"
• "Girlfight at the Penrith Show"
• "The Garnet in Rose Gold"
• "Pain Poe"
• "Sea of Nectar, Seething Bay, Sea of Moisture, Marsh of Decay, Sea of Ingenuity, Lake of Death, Sea of Crises, Bay of Dew, Sea of Tranquility, Serpent Sea, Sea of Fertility, Border Sea"
• "The Case of the Pharaoh's Penis"
• "And He's Got Daisy Mae"
• "Diane Beamer Poem"
• "Lapis"
• "For Its Own Sake"
• "Beast on Ice"
• "Dove on Ice"
• "The Lord of Shalott"
• "Should I Call It Small Ornaments"
• "Rose Moon"
• "Jagungal"
• "Estella"
• "White Christmas Tree"
• "The Potted Palm in the Al-Rashid Hotel Foyer"
• "Menopause as a Bee Freed from a Fairy Floss Machine"
• "The Squadron"
• "Lady's Chair"
• "Still Life: Jack-in-the-Box with Moonstones"
• "The Case of the Dalmatian Diamond"
• "Three Poems at the Thirteenth Pillar : The White Fiat (First Version)"
• "Three Poems at the Thirteenth Pillar : The White Fiat (Another Version)"
• "Three Poems at the Thirteenth Pillar : The Chauffeur (One Version)"
• "Afterword : Mines"
• "The Butler"
• "Evening Emerald : Desert Fox, December, 1998"
• "Madeleine Albright Wears Two Lapel Pins"
• "Madeleine Albright is Not in the Picture"
• "It Might Well Be a Bright Yellow Explosive, Might Well Be a Branch of Blossoms Or It Might Well Be Madeleine Albright"

Critical reception

Pam Brown, reviewing this collection in The Age newspaper found many depths in the poems: "Precious jewels and humbler sequins shimmer alchemically in many poems, and a bee trapped and then set free from a fairy floss machine at Australia's Wonderland can be transformed into a liberating menopausal symbol in Maiden's complex world-view." ^[4]

See also

• 1999 in Australian literature

Notes

• Dedication: To my daughter Katharine Margot, my husband David, my mother and the memory of my father.
• Ali Gripper interviewed the poet for The Sydney Morning Herald about the collection, and her other work ^[5]

Awards

• 2000 NSW Premier's Prize for Poetry. ^[3]

References

1. "Mines by Jennifer Maiden". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
2. "Austlit — Mines by Jennifer Maiden". Austlit. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
3. ""Aboriginal book floors competition"". Sydney Morning Herald, 16 May 2000. ProQuest   2527651786 . Retrieved 19 November 2025.
4. ""Tales From an Uncertain Time"". The Age, 22 January 2000. ProQuest   2527547536 . Retrieved 19 November 2025.
5. ""Dark Suburban Muse of a Rare Maiden"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May 2000. ProQuest   2527609982 . Retrieved 19 November 2025.