The Best 100 Poems of Les Murray

Book excerpt: From his life’s work so far, spanning more than four decades, Les Murray has selected these 100 poems, his personal best. Including classics such as 'The Broad Bean Sermon', 'An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow' and 'The Dream of Wearing Shorts Forever', this elegant hardback is guaranteed to delight Murray fans and introduce new readers to his work. This is a wonderful gift, and a treasure trove of the best poems ever written in Australia. ‘No poet has ever travelled like this, whether in reality or simply in the mind ... Seeing the shape or hearing the sound of one thing in another, he finds forms’ —Clive James ‘He is, quite simply, the one by whom the language lives.’ —Joseph Brodsky ‘There is no poetry in the English language now so rooted in its sacredness, so broadleafed in its pleasures and yet so intimate and conversational.’ —Derek Walcott ‘An unequivocal national treasure’ —Melbourne Review ‘An outstanding collection.’ —Canberra Times ‘This is Murray as he sees himself: the icon in the mirror, not on the stage.’ —Australian Les Murray lives in Bunyah, near Taree in New South Wales. He has published some thirty books. His work is studied in schools and universities around Australia and has been translated into several foreign languages.