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In the following article, Finepoets.com discusses the work of John Thompson, poet and broadcaster and step father of Jack Thompson, the famous Australian actor who has recently set himself the gargantuan task of recording all of Australa's most famous poets like Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson and CJ Dennis and thus far has produced eleven CDs of their prior to making them available as audio downloads for the digital age. John Thompson's book "I hate and I love" covers the poems written between 1925 and 1963. He was a cultured man, had lived abroad and returned to Sydney with his young wife and there championed a literary life of the mind through his work as a producer at ABC Radio and his social circle which included many of the great writers of the day. Some of his poems concern observations of his marriage to Pat Thompson and observations of his children growing up. This one, which might be described as a mature love poem, is one of my favourites: When, Unobserved- When, unobserved, I watch your quiet face, Fire-flicker-warmed, intent upon some book; And when I think what beauties in your look, What loving courage Death could soon eclipse; When I esteem this room an empty place Before you were or when you will not be; Then thanks to what your heart-beat means to me, Tears fill my eyes but smiles light up my lips. If you should turn your head, chancing to view Me thus, you would not misconstrue my mood As dense interrogating women would; You’d not create enigmas blind or strange As proud precarious young-love likes to do Being an adult woman you’d comprehend Joy that begets deep grief, grief without end, And love, though constant, not exempt from change. His adopted son Jack Thompson, went on to record this poem on the CD Jack Thompson, Live at The Lighthouse and also on the DVD Jack Thompson, Live at the Gearin. This is the only contemporary poem on these audio books, all the others are famous colonial Australian poems like The man From Snowy River, The Man From Ironbark and Clancy of the Overflow. Jack Thompson Henry Lawson Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry
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Jack Thompson, Banjo Paterson, Australian Poetry, Henry Lawson,
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