Introduction to 'Anthology: Collected Poems of Edwin Wilson 1967-2002'

A number of elegantly presented volumes of highly individualistic poetry by Edwin Wilson (b. 1942) have been published over the last twenty years. They have each contained representative selections of his verse, always carefully ordered and contrasted, the poems themselves having often appeared in earlier or completed form in such literary periodicals such as 'Poetry Australia', or environmentally concerned journals such as 'Habitat Australia' or 'Rainforest Australia'. These latter outlets were totally appropriate for much of his work, since many of the often botanically focused poems had been illustrated most appropriately by the facing delicate, evocative and lyrical pencil drawings of Elizabeth McAlpine. The first of these important collections was 'Banyan', a selection of poems (1982).¹