A Classical Page, Calligraphy in Gray

Abstract

Robert Gray, Grass Script. Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1979. Paper $5.95. 64 pp.
Geoff Page, Cassandra Paddocks. Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1980. Paper $5.95. 67 pp.

On those rare occasions when conversation turns to contemporary Australian poetry, Robert Gray and Geoff Page are commonly mentioned - and sometimes dismissed - in one breath. Both belong to the busy generation of poets who appeared in print in the late sixties, going on to publish slim first collections at the beginning of the seventies. Both identify quietly with the more conservative inclinations of their generation, contributing regularly to Poetry Australia and Quadrant rather than to New Poetry or Your Friendly Fascist - and are omitted from avant-garde anthologies such as Applestealers and The New Australian Poetry as a result. Both are devotees of William Carlos Williams, from whom they have adapted and developed their characteristic forms and sense of craftmanship, though neither comes near his American mentor for sheer vitality. Both have roots in the North Coast of New South Wales, whose landscape provides the background - and, in Gray's case, the subject - for many poems. And both write poetry reviews for newspapers, and, not surprisingly, admire and recommend the other's work.