Dragons in Their Pleasant Palaces

Peter Porter's new collection, its title taken from Isaiah, continues in the same vein of prophecy as his last book: Millennial Fables. But this time his tone is lighter, sometimes quirkily humorous, and the detail of the poetry more down-to-earth, `streetwise' even. The countries he visits include his land of birth, Australia, and his beloved Italy, not to mention that special country, the Nineteenth Century. A feeling of greater clarity - a lyricism occasioned by alarm - prevails in these poems by a profound, wide-ranging, and eloquent poet.