All You Need Is Love

Amelia Fielden, a well-known poet and translator of Japanese literature, has compiled an eclectic tanka anthology, featuring over 60 of her fellow Australian writers. All You Need is Love immediately takes me back to the Beatles' big hit of 1967. Unlike those lyrics, the lines and phrases in this collection are far from repetitive, and offer much more depth of feeling and emotion. I'm captivated by 'harmonies of perfect pitch and tone', 'the labour of colouring-in between the lines', 'how to linger in anticipation', and whether or not 'love still holds its heat'. Many of the poets look beyond sensuous relationships to explore love in the broadest sense of the word. Humorous or profound, these deceptively simple-looking tanka embrace everything from crimson rosellas and bowerbirds to ironbark and billabongs. Whether writing about India and Japan or about their home country of Australia, talented tanka poets share their love of family and friends, poetry and Beethoven, cappuccino and champagne. I suspect this heartwarming anthology might be the perfect antidote for those not-so-perfect days - days when we need a reminder that All You Need is Love. - Susan Constable, tanka editor of the online journal A Hundred Gourds