I've been feeling rather guilty about a book sent to me in late 2013 by Black Inc. I'm usually very conscientious about reading and reviewing books that I've accepted for review - not so much for those sent to me "on spec" - but I slipped up with Black Inc's The best 100 poems of Dorothy Porter. … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Black Inc’s Best 100 Poems
Dorothy Porter
Dorothy Porter, On passion (Review)
Do you read "little" books? You know those small books that are carefully placed on bookstore sales counters where you are buying the book you really came for? I don't often, but every now and then one catches my eye. Today's review is of such a book from Melbourne University Press's Little books on big themes … Continue reading Dorothy Porter, On passion (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian literary couples
Are you fascinated, like I am, by literary couples? It seems so romantic to share one's calling with another ... even if the reality is not always as idyllic or as successful as it sounds. We've all heard of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Virginia and Leonard Woolf, to name … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian literary couples
Dorothy Porter, The bee hut
The most powerful presence is absence (from "Egypt") The above lines open Australian poet Dorothy Porter's The bee hut, a collection of poems mostly writen in the last five years of her life. The lines are prophetic ... and they appropriately open a collection which deals very much, though not exclusively, with the tension between life … Continue reading Dorothy Porter, The bee hut
Whispering Gums 