'A meditative tone pervades poems that are by turn meditative and narrative. His expressions of curiosity and delight in revelations of the natural world and the vagaries of human behaviour often surprise with the intensity of their insight and verbal invention. William Tibben is one of the most readable poets of our time. ' Michael Sharkey.
'We are prompted to ask what lies beneath the veneer. In the first segment ‘the smell of cows’ it is habitations, movements, the states of being of myriad life-forms. Willem is engaged in attentive observation of each creature enacting its drama, its cabaret, its well-made play. He gives us unmistakable images of the situation, the gesture, the unfolding sequence of activity. His theme is the predicament; his task, reporting back accurately.' (Introduction)
'We are prompted to ask what lies beneath the veneer. In the first segment ‘the smell of cows’ it is habitations, movements, the states of being of myriad life-forms. Willem is engaged in attentive observation of each creature enacting its drama, its cabaret, its well-made play. He gives us unmistakable images of the situation, the gesture, the unfolding sequence of activity. His theme is the predicament; his task, reporting back accurately.' (Introduction)
