Review by David Campbell
I can thoroughly recommend “A Sense of Place”, not only for the quality of the poetry, but also because it provides a wonderful record, including photographs, of a variety of times and places in our history. David has led a fascinating life that has involved a great deal of moving around, and I was particularly interested in the early days following his father (a Stock and Station Agent and Auctioneer) from town to town in Queensland and western NSW. I also took particular note of the New Guinea poems as my father was an army officer there in 1942.
David and I are roughly the same age, so parts of the book, even though I was a city kid, were something of a nostalgia trip, taking me back to my own school days. And then there are poems such as “What more could we have done?”, which reminded me of the final few years of a close family member.
When David first contacted me at the beginning of his poetic journey it was immediately obvious that he already had a good grasp of metre and rhyme, so his many competition successes since then have come as no surprise. To see evidence of his skill and insight have a look at poems such as “I Am Who They Have Been”, “Soul Searching”, and his tribute to a mate in “The Other Side”, something we can all identify with as we get older.
“A Sense of Place” is a valuable addition to the collection of traditional poetry books that ABPA members have produced over the years and I congratulate David on this considerable achievement.