"The Street Poet thrusts us into the hypnotic synocpoation of the city and grapples with the ebb and flow, the unpredictability and impermanence of the streets, its art and life. And ultimately it asks, how do we cope with the fear of the unknown? Attard gives us an answer: we wait, we watch, we listen."
- Amelia Joy, author, 'All Summer Long'
"The Street Poet is needed in not only the poetry world but the literary one ... Filled with the good, the bad, and the ugly of everyday life, we experience the stories of strangers in the city, but also the personal odyssey of a writer struggling with the ups and downs of life, while blossoming into someone extraordinary."
- Emma Woodhead, Notes from the Library Podcast
"I worked in Melbourne's CBD for a decade ... and the way Jaidyn has managed to capture it all in this book is exactly as I remember it. You may not be an anxious, paranoid poet, but maybe that's why Johnny/Jaidyn sees things so much more clearly than others who've written about this city. Melbourne is beautiful and shiny on the outside, but when you dig down, it's gritty, defiant, industrious and resilient, and that's because of the people who are hidden away behind the shiny facade."
- Jess Carey, author, 'Melbourne: 363 Days in Lockdown'
"Vivid, brave and propulsive ... Jaidyn Luke Attard is 'The Street Poet.' In his debut solo collection, he writes directly to our humanity without losing sight of the current moment. His poems circle fragmented lives within the city of Melbourne, while also finding the value of joy in fractured spirits, including his own."
- Fotoula Reynolds, author, 'Kair³s' & 'Silhouettes'
"The first thing you'll notice when opening this book is just how eclectic and aesthetically pleasing it is ... It's unashamedly strange and experimental, and it heralds the arrival of a writer that has found his voice ... Everything is fact/everything is fiction/everything is frantic. It's a real rush to read ... Unabashedly punk and underground, full of heart and humour, Jaidyn's first full-length solo feature is an epic entrance into literature."
- Beau Windon, 'Dear Lover' (Samuel Johnson) & Mascara Literary Review's 'Resilience' anthology
"Through his alter ego Johnny, Jaidyn Luke Attard takes us on the wildest of rides through locked-down Melbourne. Gritty, honest and not for the faint of heart, The Street Poet is writing at its most immediate. Having followed Jaidyn and his band of literary brethren on social media as they took poetry directly to their city, I lapped up his chronicle of this 'unprecedented' period."
- Benjamin Dodds, author, 'Airplane Baby Banana Blanket'
"Both blood nose and love story; a staggeringly tactile recitation of the disconnect brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in Melbourne, as told by someone only just learning to breathe. This is part zine, wrapped around chapbook, wrapped around live grenade; it is beauty, it is time capsule, it is exorcism."
- Ian William L, poet
"A piece of art! Fleeting snapshots of a young man discovering his place as a poet, as an observer of the streets. A journey of a reclusive writer finding courage, finding a new lens in the lives of strange and gritty characters throughout the city."
- Matt Desmond, author 'Blooming in Graves'
