McBeath (July)

Peter Porter has one eye on you and one eye in thought. By accident or design, this photographer has captured the bifocal nature of the poet. The first time I ever met Porter was in the English Department of the University of Melbourne, was it July? I used ‘realised’ in a poem. He took exception to ‘realised’, feeling this word should be used of sculptors who ‘realised’ the form within the matter at their disposal. Not, he felt, in the way I had used ‘realised’, in the sense of a cerebral process. He was keeping an eye on my wherewithal.