The Best 100 Poems of Gwen Harwood

'The outstanding Australian poet of the twentieth century' -Peter Porter

O could one write as one makes love

when all is given and nothing kept,

then language might put by at last

its coy elisions and inept

withdrawals, yield, and yielding cast

aside like useless clothes the crust

of worn and shabby use, and trust

its candour to the urgent mind

its beauty to the searching tongue.

Gwen Harwood's work is defined by a moving sensuality, a twinkling irreverence and a sly wit. This anthology brings together the best 100 of her poems, as selected and compiled by her son, the writer John Harwood.