The Reading Warehouse

A William Maidment Garland is a collection of poems and prose pieces which celebrate and memorialize the life of Bill Maidment (1924-2005), a former teacher in the English Department at the University of Sydney who influenced a couple of generations of writers, thinkers and intellectuals. Here is a birthday poem in which a curious incident at the university library doors accompanies accolades from notables and praise from admirers; a Golden Wedding; a celebratory lament; two discursions designed to beguile the fever room; a chapter by chapter synopsis (with limericks) of Thomas Love Peacock's late, late, last and most lyrical novel. In each instance the presence of Bill Maidment as mentor is orchestrated in Watson's allusive manner which has been described by Geoff Page as "ranging considerably, from beautifully poised meditations in the manner of Wallace Stevens through to light-hearted satire."

John Watson has established himself as one of Australia's most interesting and innovative poets. He is the winner of the Blake, Newcastle, Josephine Ulrick and Bruce Dawe Poetry Prizes, and his work has been widely anthologised and celebrated. He is the author of A First Reader, Montale: A Biographical Anthology, which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's and Adelaide Festival Poetry Prizes, Erasure Traces, Views from Mt Brogden & A Dictionary of Minor Poets, Occam's Aftershave and Four Refrains.