Hothouse poems by Tracy Ryan published 2002 Fremantle Press (Australia); 2006 Arc (UK)

... this collection is rewarding on all levels -- there is wit, beauty, and some serious thinking. She is never complacent about the work of  poetry, but shows its role as inspiration and deflector of desire.         -- Julieanne Lamond, Southerly

It reveals [Ryan] as very much an artist who knows what she is doing and like to do what is worth doing... probably Ryan's best so far. -- Geoff Page, Canberra Times

Ryan's flower poems chafe at the limits of the descriptive lyric, grafting the organic world with moments of personal history, the play of sexuality, and the limits of geography...                                                                                            -- Christina Pugh Read Christina Pugh's review of Hothouse in Jacket

As the title suggests, Tracy Ryan's Hothouse is full of life -- flowers, fruit, insects -- but not necessarily the kind found in nature. It is a strikingly post-Romantic work: a book about creation, but also about things going to seed, about being displaced, living away from home... The flowers and interiors of Hothouse open themselves to a significance, even violence, that their domestic context would usually occlude... The power of Ryan's poetry comes from its recognition of the poison within the things we think beautiful...                                                          -- David McCooey, Southerly