The Rot

by Evelyn Araluen

The Rot is a recalcitrant study of the decaying romances, expired hopes and abject injustices of the world. A liturgy for girlhood in the dying days of late-stage capitalism, these poems expose fraying nerves and tendons of a speaker refusing to avert their gaze from the death of Country, death on Country, and the bloody violence of settler colonies here and afar. Across sleepless nights, fractured alliances and self-destructive coping strategies, The Rot is what happens when poetry swallows more rage than it can console, quiet or ironise – this book demands you ready yourself for a better world.

Genres: Poetry, Australia, Politics, LGBT

144 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2026

About the author

Evelyn Araluen is a poet and teacher researching Indigenous literatures at the University of Sydney, where she is completing her PhD. She coordinates Black Rhymes Aboriginal Poetry Nights in Redfern and is a founding member of Students Support Aboriginal Communities, a grassroots organisation based in Sydney. Born and raised in Dharug country, she is a descendant of the Bundjalung nation.

Reviews

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

made me want to cry, write poetry, fight

[amelie mcintosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dropbear is the poetry collection of a generation so truthfully I knew this wouldn’t touch the reverence that holds for me but by fucking god no so-called ‘australian’ author is touching Evelyn Araluen. ‘Most of life is making love work, clearing space on the counter, folding back the things we’ve learnt to endure.’ So ridiculously beautiful it made me ache

[Clem McNabb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish everyone got a copy of this under their pillow like the tooth fairy. Some of my favourite lines/parts;

there/are many ways to name love, even more/
to consume. Stay a while, this waiting is/
safe here. I want to hear about your door.

The long discussion on Tracey Moffat and Jedda.

All the talk of sleeplessness - what it can mean when it is not just about sleep, what it feels to be awake against your own will, an allegory for political/social consciousness.

Such urgent reading. Resistance as practice. This was always meant to hurt.

[Indie · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh she's in her poetry era now

[EmG ReadsDaily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful. Urgent. Profound.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

[Mon Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could inject a book into my veins, it would be this.

The prose is achingly beautiful, grabs you, and holds you for the duration of this. The various forms used to express the themes in this book–ahh. I absolutely could not get enough of this.
5

[elbow ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars
The best minds of our generation are / sourcing rent from mutual aid, are / inhaling mould knowing there / will be no old age to pay it back.
it's been a few years now since i read dropbear, and was fortunate enough to run into and chat with evelyn araluen the day after i finished it. since then, a lot has changed in my life, and in hers. i've graduated high school, been devastated and elated by political shifts in australia, and watched the rest of our world descend further into fascism. the latter two are true of araluen too, and this poetry collection draws on her experiences post-october 2023. the rage and hurt that we've all experienced since then are palpable in her writing.

standouts in the collection for me included Real Estate, Upfield Line, Girl Work!, (iii) 256GB OF SALVAGED MEMORY, WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR HANDS, Losing Dogs, and Glory Be The Girlypop. i think i really resonated with the poems that commented on feminism and capitalism and the way they intersect. reading this also made me really excited to reread dropbear.

i'll end my review with a quote from one of my favourite poems, which happens to mention a really frustrating occurrence on my local train line: Upfield Line service dead zones contracted by Merri-bek Labor hacks to intercept your screen time .

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evelyn Araluen is a powerhouse poet and this collection expresses rage and despair with clarity and sharpness. The final section in particular was excellent. The absolute hands down best poem title I’ve ever read is “I’m summoning Sofia Tolstoy from the bath with a spell I bought off Etsy”. The final poem “I will love” made me cry. I didn’t connect as much with this collection as I did with her previous one, Drop Bear, but this was a solid collection that I am glad to have read.

[Lia Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

so so good.

also loved the mitski references.

[G Batts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evelyn Araluen is incredibly online. I know this not just because of all the poems in this collection about how much time she spends doomscrolling but also because this work feels incredibly rooted in the online discourse of 2024. Thus, the collection shows the inefficacy of published poetry as a platform because being published in late 2025 many of the poems already feel dated. It’s a shame because Araluen clearly has technical chops and there’s some genuinely moving parts. I wish she had taken a bit more time in writing this and let the poems stew more, and especially to become less literal. Unfortunately there are certain universalities to current forms of colonial/capitalistic oppression and I think the book could have felt more timeless and had something original to say if she expanded the example set beyond the devastation in Gaza.

Also, calling the book The Rot bothered me. Maybe it’s just the way my brain works but I feel there is something inherently moist about rotting. But the imagery in this collection is quite dry. Except for the poems in her bathroom. So the emphasis becomes about her mouldy rental (mouldy rentals being a favoured topic in The Guardian in 2024). Well, I don’t know who needs to hear this but owner-occupiers have mould too, it’s related to build quality not tenancy. We buy dehumidifiers and move on with our lives.

[ValTheBookEater]

genius. I like everyone else loved Dropbear and dare I say The Rot is even more outstanding (personally speaking it really connected with me at this point in time). I especially loved the censoring of words like “men”. I loved all of it basically. I hope to be able to write half as well as this. But also I really appreciated how such lyricism and meaning can be drawn out from a sense of despair and questioning of everything around you, whether that be state violence, colonial violence, person-on-person violence or self-inflicted violence.

It felt both autobiographical but also like the narrator was a protagonist with a Shakespearean-like (thank you The Conversation review) characterisation navigating being a “girlypop” in a world left contending with ongoing colonial structures (you will see what I mean when you read this because its excellent).

This line, among many others, shall stay with me: “until love kills you you will love”.

READ IT ASAP!!

[liv (≧▽≦) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars ----

Marxist female rage encapsulated perfectly in under 100 pages.
I liked this, but I think listening on audio wasn't the way to go, it was difficult to follow.

The first quarter of the collection was the strongest for me personally; the anti-capitalism, radfem, gifted-kid burnout was too real! In general though, this poetry collection summed up how it feels to be a young, empathetic, socially conscious person, watching the world fall to pieces, and no one will listen to your generation nor take your concerns seriously (despite now outnumbering boomers).

I recommend, but pick up a physical copy!

[chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

i knew this collection would be incredible the moment i got to hear evelyn read out a couple poems at a keynote address a couple weeks ago. there is such an urgency to every poem in this book. poetry like this reminds me what the form is for; it is an act of resistance above all else when we are living in times like these. “most of life is making love work, clearing space on the counter, folding back the things we’ve learnt to endure.”

[Deb Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complex and while I got some of the references from other readings, and attending a wonderful in person event with Araluen, I acknowledge significant parts went over my head. But some parts really stopped me in my tracks and gave me pause. She is certainly hewing her own road.
Billionaire Liturgy …how to make a billion? incubate god in a crypto mine and never leave an orangutan in one piece -
Real Estate …the best minds of our generation are
sourcing rent from mutual aid..
Retired from sad new career in geese…Most of life is making love work, clearing space on the counter, folding back the things we’ve learnt to endure.

[Vivi Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this while reading the Essential June Jordan and thinking… would love to write something about June and Evelyn and how they both straddle love work and revolt… how they are both poets unafraid of the literal, of describing their present moment… and then I got to the final poem in this collection and it was subtitled “After June Jordan”. Gorg!

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is such a hard poetry collection to rate because it’s such an intense reading experience, and one I fear I am just not smart enough to truly appreciate.

There were some lines that absolutely flawed me. Just beautiful and raw and electric. The rage and anger in every page is palpable. The exploration of capitalism, colonialism, genocide, mental health and girlhood is on point.

I both loved and hated every moment of this, which I think means the author did something very right. I’m sure this collection will be polarising, because it’s hard and it doesn’t hold your hand gently.

[Natasha (jouljet) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blistering book of poetry and points, from the current days of angst, anger and horror at the world. The attempts all of us make at making a difference, an impact, at standing up and being a witness.

Woven with the visceral anger that is being a woman in today's world, the bubbling rage of watching a genocide live streamed is also present, as it is on our minds.

Powerful. Frank. Unflinching.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was so much here, moving and profound and eye-opening, universal yet deeply personal. I don't think I've read a poetry collection before, so it was a unique experience to read a page and feel like you have to sit with it before moving on. So many things resonated but there were also things that went over my head and deserved more time from me.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a library borrow but the minute I see it in a bookstore, it will be a purchase. It was that fucking good. I had to have breaks between reading with how raw and the truly skewering nature in which Araluen weaved her words. Stunning. Outstanding. Visceral.

[Holly G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich, generous, and unflinching

Exploration of the creeping and pervasive rot contaminating and distorting all.

Romantic decay followed by gut punches followed by a refusal to look away, from girlhood, from colonialism, from Gaza.

Until love kills you, you will love.

[Molly Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been a long old while since I dabbled in poetry and my goodness what a book to come back to!! I would strongly recommend this to anyone searching for words to inspire renewed energy in their activism in such difficult political times. These poems both held me accountable and held me, all at once. What a collection.

[Em Prez · Rating 4 out of 5]

first poetry book I have read in a really long time - glory be the girly pop was a highlight

[charley gonzaga · Rating 5 out of 5]

GOD READ THIS every single world straight fire and fact holy shit this is the best thing i've ever read

[Maria Blackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a poet, what a force. Amazing work.
Highlights include One Day the Books Will Count the Dead, Change Agent, and Unlock Actuator System

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Billionaire Liturgy and On Ghosts were 5 star material. (It was all great).

[__mickayla__]

Wow. 🖤❤️💛

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit. Everyone should be this mad.

[Allie Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are all slouching toward the bearable
living, turned backs to the violent edge.


…how far do you
have to be from the gun and the
knife before the recoil won’t shudder
in your hand? before the blood
won’t touch your face?


have you tried aesthetic
rehabilitation?
have you tried
dragging this across
the desert to repent?