Product Description
Tender poems on the death of his wife, witty Philip Larkin apercus, meditations on the spiritual need of Australians for Europe, hard-eyed satire as a political fixer dismisses as out-of-date the instruments of torture in the Tower of London: John Upton’s range is broad and his poetic skills accomplished. There’s also wit, along with rollicking humour and love of the absurd, with jealous Othello transposed into Sydney’s posh Eastern Suburbs, and a defrocked priest with a gambling habit sacked and clerking at the TAB.
REVIEWS
“In Embracing the Razor, Upton — an award-winning playwright and former television scriptwriter — handles an impressive range of forms, from free verse to couplets and more intricate rhyming structures.” AIDAN COLEMAN, The Australian
“Some poems in Embracing the Razor are humorous, some topical, some deeply personal. The first section depicts grief at the loss of a partner. It is stark rather than mawkish and descriptions of hospitals and funerals are the more telling for that.” DAVID CLUNE, Southern Highlands Branch Newsletter
“Embracing the Razor, arranged in four sections, moves from grief to satire, with social analysis and travel along the way. The poems about the death of the poet’s wife in the opening section are among the most powerful in the book.” GEOFF PAGE, Australian Book Review (paywalled)
