Windfall

In his sixth book, Greg McLaren finds his stories in those of others, and others' in his. These poems seek, suspect, and deepen connection; they nod, wink, and pay, in nearly equal parts, homage and fromage. While Windfall includes responses and asides to, and satires of, contemporary writers, it also sees McLaren further exploring his interest in classical Chinese poetry. He takes these poets for a drive through new contexts, reimagining their poems, eking out connection across culture, history, experience, and space into a voice that is shared and his own.

This is a refinement of McLaren's poetic signatures - avian life, creative palimpsest and homage, the mythic melancholy of the Hunter Region and Sydney's inner west, laconic absurdity - to a new level. There is mastery in his fringing of gothic moods with dry humour, and his ability to go to the edge of self-questioning but always return with some awkward blossom or shiny bottletop. - Bonny Cassidy

Every poet is a scavenging bird, but few have a beak as sharp as McLaren's. This book is a clean forage through seasons and our social world. He picks at place and culture, as well as the poetry landscape, with skilled variation and departure. If you took a road trip with McLaren nothing would escape him, not even a falling feather. - Nathan Curnow