When Peter Porter died in 2010 his reputation as one of the greatest Australian poets had long been settled.
Chorale at the Crossing
gathers together the work Porter completed after the publication of his widely-praised final collection
Better than God
, and shows a remarkable and capacious mind—apparently furnished with half the contents of Western culture—still working at full tilt, despite the imminence of his own passing.
contains love poems, comic excursions, and meditations on art, death, music, and nature, all written with Porter's phenomenal technical facility and immense good humor.
is the last word from one of our wisest and most compassionate poets—and is, quite simply, necessary reading.