The rich diversity of Australian poetry stands in no need of makeovers or prescriptions. What will benefit it is attentive and brilliant readers, of whom John Leonard is without doubt one of its finest. - Martin Harrison This anthology realigns Australian poetry from a 21st century perspective, with a selection from a wide range of living poets as well as familiar voices from the past. There is an emphasis on social observation and personal experience of Australia's changing history that gives new context to poetry by previous generations from Wright and Hope through Lawson and Paterson to Harpur, Kendall and the poets of early settlement. - Susan Lever Two centuries of poetic achievement demonstrating - no, crying out full-throatedly - that it is our poets who manifest 'a pungent awareness that language is an inheritance we accept for alteration and renewal.' This selection is panoramic, but it also has a depth and a thoughtfulness in its clusters of poems by 164 original, funny, perplexing, and gifted poets. If you love poetry, this book will amplify that love; and if you are a teacher or student of poetry, read this anthology over and over. - Lyn McCredden