‘Gets in, no posturing, no palaver
then out, leaving you stunned’ – Raymond Carver.
‘A battered, hungover rodeo crew
raises dust, lucks out in love’ – Annie Proulx.
‘Rural family secrets and sorrow
painful, honest detail’ – Alice Munro.
‘Sexual tension, lives facing ruin
due to chance events’ – Ian McEwan.
‘Incisively, his unerring searchlight
reveals the stressed conscience’ – Richard B. Wright.
‘Witty, wise, and wonderful, he never
stumbles, takes no wrong turns’ – William Trevor.
‘These clever characters are hard to like.
Savagery, but with pity’ – John Updike.
About this poem
I like experimenting. For example, with this traditional English sonnet form in a modern register. In this case, I invented book blurbs of my favourite prose writers.
About Ian Smith
Ian C. Smith lives in the Gippsland Lakes region of Victoria. His work has appeared recently in “The Best Australian Poetry”, “Cordite”, “Eureka Street”, “Island”, “Sleepers Almanac”, “Southerly”, and “Westerly”. His most recent book is “Lost Language of the Heart”, published by Ginninderra.
