Peter Porter

Peter Porter was born in Brisbane in 1929 and died in London in 2010; he had lived there since 1951. He published countless poetry collections, anthologies, reviews, and essays for almost half a century. He was a frequent contributor to ABR. His collections include The Cost of Seriousness (1978), Fast Forward (1984), and Collected Poems (1983 and 1999). His many awards included the 1988 Whitbread Poetry Award, the 1990 ALS Gold Medal, the 2002 Forward Poetry Prize, and the 2002 Queen’s Medal for Poetry. He wrote thousands of reviews, essays, lectures, and introductions. His work appeared in Australian Book Review from 1985 to 2010. His fellow poet–critic Peter Steele, who wrote a monograph on Porter, published this tribute in ABR following Peter Porter’s death on 23 April 2010. ABR’s poetry prize was renamed after him to honour his remarkable poetry and generosity to countless Australian poets.

'A Very Forgiving Medium', a poem by Peter Porter

July–August 2007, no. 293 • 01 July 2007

Our landlord’s man has let us off this time, We’re not expelled.Victorians liked their mortar made with lime, Our walls have held. ... (read more)

'Masculine Endings' a poem by Peter Porter

June 2001, no. 231 • 01 June 2001

As the grand navigator steps back in his boat,As the last notes march to Heaven on a page, ... (read more)

'And on the Beach Undid His Corded Bales' a poem by Peter Porter

June 2001, no. 231 • 01 June 2001

Who was it led us to overestimate the New? ... (read more)

Peter Porter reviews 'The Amorous Cannibal' by Chris Wallace-Crabbe

May 1986, no. 80 • 01 May 1986

As artists get older, they are supposed to mature, and commentators begin to look for the demarcations of their three periods, a nice bequest from Beethoven. One vitiating side effect of this is to misplace freshness in their art. Judging the vital middle period works, and bowing before the sublimity of the late, the critic bestows a nostalgic glance over his shoulder to the early output – ah, w ... (read more)

'"The Observed of all Observers": Biography in Poetry' by Peter Porter

November 2004, no. 266 • 01 November 2004

A biographer follows the life of a chosen person or a chosen group or people, or perhaps a particular scene or epoch. An autobiographer, like a snail outed by the Sun, looks back at his or her tracks and tries to explain how he or she got this far, possibly hinting at vindication or in more extravagant mode, self-immolation. Unfortunately I am a poet, and a prose writer only to earn a living. My f ... (read more)

Peter Porter reviews 'The Penguin Book of Gay Australian Writing' edited by Graeme Aitken

December 2002-January 2003, no. 247 • 01 December 2002

This is a strange assortment of pieces. To someone who doesn’t move in any gay community, the anthology’s chief problem is its fissiparousness. There has to be a distinction between gay writing and writing by authors who are gay. The majority of contributors to Graeme Aitken’s book take gay life to be their subject, but several are included because they are gay, while not necessarily employi ... (read more)

'Fifty Years On', a new poem by Peter Porter

April 2001, no. 229 • 01 April 2001

Every Intention has something Arbitrary. Goethe Early on, my mind was in reverse.I read a book the name I thought was FromWhite Cabin to Log House, and ever afterI knew ambition must go to cancrizans. To Carthage then I came, but this was London,Waiting for th ... (read more)

'When Did You Last See Castagno?' a poem by Peter Porter

October 2006, no. 285 • 01 October 2006

Welcome to the feast, piccolo pasero,A feast that never ends, of loyalty and treachery.Two are sold for a farthing, little sparrow How did you get in, confront the traceryBeyond the boarded-up high windowTo fly so gaily past the painted sky? ... (read more)

'The Survival of Poetry' by Peter Porter

October 2002, no. 245 • 01 October 2002

Some years ago I wrote a poem called ‘A Table of Coincidences’, which contained the lines: ‘the day Christopher Columbus discovered America / Was the day Piero della Francesca died.’ This is a verifiable fact, unless changes in the Western calendar have altered things. Clearly, I was being sententious and reactionary: the ancient good of the world and its new doubtfulness seemed to start o ... (read more)

Peter Porter reviews 'Tiepolo’s Cleopatra' by Jaynie Anderson

April 2004, no. 260 • 01 April 2004

Melburnians are rightly proud of the great painting by Giambattista Tiepolo in the National Gallery of Victoria, The Banquet of Cleopatra. Now restored to its prominent position in the gallery, it will continue to attract admiration from generations of visitors, though we should hope that its neighbouring masterpiece, Sebastiano Ricci’s The Finding of Moses, is not overlooked when connoisseurs g ... (read more)