Paul Scully

'Classical, existential, erudite and unassuming at the same time, this assured first collection of a mature poet reads as if it could be another's third or fourth. In the fine Cincinnatus sequence in particular - but radiating out into striking poems that could almost be fragments of a Patrick White-like saga - there is a gratifying clarity and an impressive sense of the past as a means of ordering and focussing what can seem the blur of present being. Scully approaches his subjects with a subtlety and reserve behind which, deeply informing the gaze, lurk extensive experience, powerful feeling.'

David Brooks