Cirrus@Austlit

'For once a month, in the several years before I returned to Australia in 2016, I met with a group of poets hosted by Michael Wurster at Coffee Tree Roasters in Shadyside, Pittsburgh, to discuss poetry. On any given month about ten poets would turn up for an in-depth several hours long reading and discussion of a poetry book selected by one member of the group on a rotating basis. When it was my turn to select a book, as the only Australian poet in the group, I inevitably chose a book by an Australian poet, all of whom were unknown to the rest of the group. This was in part to introduce the other members of the group to fine Australian poets, and in part to broaden my own reading of such poets. One of my selections was The Goldfinches of Baghdad by the late, great Australian poet, Robert Adamson, a book that was obtainable in the U.S. through its American publisher, Flood Editions. Each member of the group bought the book, read it, and attended the meeting to read poems from it and discuss them. It was the first time I had read a collection by Adamson, and I came out of my reading of the book and the detailed shared perspectives of other readings of it, with a deep appreciation of Adamson’s poetry.' (Introduction)