Waiting for the Past - Softcover

Murray, Les

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784101168 ISBN 13: 9781784101169

Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd., 2015

Synopsis

The clearly focused lyrics of Les Murray’s Waiting for the Past are rich in topographies and the languages peculiar to them —wonga vines, lyre birds, gum trees, shrike thrushes, tallow boughs, boab trees, the octopus in Wylies Baths killed by sterilising chlorine. With the erasures the modern world brings, words, landscapes, and lives descend to the Esperanto of the modern. The poet, with a salutary resistance, rejects the computer and the incursions of the leveling Modern in favor of old-fashioned typewriters, unlikely saints, lived-in places, farming in the spirit of ancestors. This is the past he waits for in scenes unmade by human carelessness, not only in his rural place but across the world. The poems speak of the unspeakable, including old age, vertigo, illness, and the durable resilience of married love.

About this title

About the Author

Les Murray is the author of numerous novels and poetry books, including The Biplane Houses, Freddy Neptune, and Taller When Prone. He is the recipient of the Governor General's Prize, the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, and the T. S. Eliot Prize.

Edition details

• Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd.
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1784101168
• ISBN 13: 9781784101169
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 72