Paper Bark Press
Red Dirt
Tim Thorne
1990, 96 pages, hardback, 215x150mm
ISBN 0 9587801 5 3
Cover photograph: 'Portrait of Space' by Lee Miller 1937
'Tim Thorne is not only an original writer; he is an original thinker who has managed to escape the tyranny of the established masters. Suffering, surgery and decay, courage and helplessness in the experience of pain, the black world of physical anguish: these are familiar themes in modren poetry. The poet has sustained great emotional intensity, sometimes coming close to finding a voice for pain that might be beyond the scope of art. The language of poetry and the vigour of common speech are, in Tim Thorne's book, inseparable. His poetry will delight those who see the mastery of traditional forms and enjoy good writing. But I think there are poems in this collection that will fascinate those who never think about technique, poems of the kind that make people feel "Here is language that really has something to do with the world as I know it." Red Dirt is a book ... in which, in spite of the sorrows of our age, "Love and hope lie deep.".'
~ Gwen Harwood