Collected Poems
Collected Poems brings together all John Forbes’s published poems, both in books and literary magazines. The volume includes a Foreword by Gig Ryan and an Introduction by Don Anderson.
'At the time of his untimely death in 1998, at the age of 47, John Forbes was widely recognized as one of Australia’s most distinguished poets. At once lyrical and witty, knowing and insouciant, he was in the words of Don Anderson, "our Postmodern Orpheus". He wore little on his sleeve but had a lot of knowledge tucked up it, both erudite and popular, ranging from pop music to Renaissance texts on drawing and proportion. This he juggled with a rare elan, sometimes to a surprisingly cautionary effect.' — Carl Harrison-Ford
'In John Forbes’s work poetry is thought, and for the poet, the only true act. It seems peripheral then to survey the person — of course he was like his poems, witty and brilliant.' — Gig Ryan
'Think of John Forbes as a Brett Whiteley of words with intellectual rigour.' — Don Anderson
John Forbes was born in Melbourne in 1950 and lived in New Guinea, Malaya and Townsville until his family settled in Sydney in the early sixties. He gained a BA (Hons) at the University of Sydney in 1973 and moved to Melbourne in 1989. John Forbes continued to work in various jobs, including writer-in-residence, reviewer, freelance poetry tutor, and voluntary mentor to many younger poets. Over the years, he received a number of poetry prizes and Literature Board grants, allowing him to travel. John Forbes was widely published in Australia and esteemed by his many fans, students, peers and colleagues. He died suddenly of a heart attack in January 1998.
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