In this audio book selected from BN Oakman’s latest poetry collections, In Defense of Hawaiian Shirts and Second Thoughts, we have brilliant readings by one of Australia’s best known performers, John Flaus.
Ranging from the philosophical title piece of the anthology, through medical associations in “Neurosurgery”, to wartime reflections in “Ypres on Boxing Day” to the personal family pieces like “A Note for My Daughter”, this selection of the author’s best work is certain to please the ear.
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
Don’t read (his poems) in a coffee bar; you may well embarrass yourself by shedding justified but unseemly tears.
– Geoff Page, The Canberra Times
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
There is a gentle, but occasionally disconcerting, power in all of Oakman’s poetry.
– Peter Cundall
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
Oakman writes poems for those annoyed by poets.
– Geoff Lemon
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
Oakman’s poetry moves deftly, but no less aptly, between the commonplace and the insightful, the particular and the universal. Moments of frolic are shot through with wisdom, as elsewhere a purposeful ruggedness leads on to refinement. So many poems are distinguished by their final line: demonstrations of organic closure – conceptually retroactive, forceful yet elegant.
– John Flaus, actor and critic