Self-Raising Poets

The reader might notice that each of the latter two of these books is larger than its predecessor by about one hundred pages. That is in part because those two have an anthological or retrospective dimension and are treasure-troving the work of decades; in Wollert’s case, six decades. Amazon Publishing has opened some doors to poetry by enabling print-on-demand, and that is a good thing in an environment in which many publishers will look with trepidation at the financial risk of committing to a print run where it is doubtful that even costs can be recovered. Perhaps this form of publishing is in some ways like the panner for gold who can at last gain access to land in which there is a chance of paydirt, rather than sitting at home and lamenting the lack of prospecting leases.

David Kelly’s poems are presented in a well-crafted book by Ginninderra and come credentialled with a significant list of prior publication. The list includes shortlisted and prize-winning poems, and so…