Light and Shadow. "Studio Moon" by John Tranter [review]

Abstract

As one of the few Australian poets with an extensive publishing history overseas as well as in Australia, John Tranter suffers from the problem of what might be called parallel publishing. His UK books are often built out of selections from his Australian books. Just under half the poems in his new book, "Studio Moon" (published by Salt, and distributed in Australia by the Fremantle Arts Centre Press), have appeared before, notably in "At the Florida" (1993). But the best from that book has been chosen, the new poems are exciting, and the result is a book that manages to be simultaneously powerful, entertaining and revealing.