When Peter Porter died in 2010 his reputation as one of the greatest Australian poets had long been settled. Chorale at the Crossing gathers together the work Porter completed after the publication of his widely-praised final collection Better than God, and shows a remarkable and capacious mind - apparently furnished with half the contents of Western culture - still working at full tilt, despite the imminence of his own passing. Chorale at the Crossing contains love poems, comic excursions, and meditations on art, death, music and nature, all written with Porter's phenomenal technical facility and immense good humour. Chorale at the Crossing is the last word from one of our wisest and most compassionate poets - and is, quite simply, necessary reading.

Peter Porter was born in Australia and, though he emigrated to Britain in 1951, he visited his native country often and considered himself part of the poetical worlds of both nations. He published sixteen books of poems, plus four further volumes with the Australian painter, Arthur Boyd. Peter Porter died in 2010 at the age of 81.