The Office of Literary Eneavours by Mark Roberts, 5 Islands Press 2025, was launched by Les Wicks at Benledi House, Glebe, NSW on 25 May 2025.
I have known Mark Roberts since the early 80s when he was actively involved in the Poets Union while running Rochford Street Press/P 76 – both defiantly Gestetnered! He and I were joint winners of the 1984 Sydney University poetry prize. Along the way there was a bit of a break for career and family as so many of us have had to take. But the years since have seen him making energetic, sustained contributions to the Australian literary community. He is someone who contributes.
I am grateful I have had the opportunity to read The Office of Literary Endeavours.
Before I get into the writing lets all take a moment to revel in the cover. Judith Nangala Crispin is one of those frightening human beings who excels across multiple artforms. Take another look and your eyes will be enriched.
The poetry is carefully crafted and elegant. The subject matter is wide ranging… richly brought to life within the forms Roberts has chosen. Reading through this collection has been a privilege and a delight.
I won’t babble on too much, I hold to the theory that the poems themselves are what one should be listening to and you’ll be getting plenty of that once I shut up. But a few comments…
For me, I was struck by the constant violence explored in this collection. What is remarkable is the way Mark with a deft and gentle voice recreates that violence on the page. The way he presents it makes that violence even more tangible. Impossible to disregard. It is physical in the poems shadow birds, how many more are coming and the conscription vote 1916. Economic violence is explored throughout alongside extensively the violence of erasure.
All these moments — historical, contemporary and imagined — whirl about the head of the poet as we join him embracing the lands he travels always cognizant of the fact they are not his to own.
Social justice (sediment), a quiet rage (Armistice Day 2023) alongside an easy humour (dinner poem) plus a careful beauty (cutting the grass) permeate this title. And it’s all presented to the reader with an extraordinary dexterity and empathy. This book is the ticket for a journey of a lifetime.
We all have one or two poems that stand out for us above all the others in our decades of writing. It is my suspicion that ‘the office of literary endeavours I’ will be one of Mark’s. It’s one of those poems that you read and then think I wish like hell I could have written that!
I also want to mention the imprint. Some of you may not be aware that Five Islands Press has a great history. After starting as a cooperative venture Ron Pretty built it to a point that it became one of the major publishing houses in the country with over 230 titles. When Ron moved to Melbourne the baton was taken up by a diverse band of those in the community there and continued to 2018. Gareth Jenkins was keen to see the legacy preserved & established an archive. Later Steve Meyrick. joined forces with Mark Tredinnick to resume publishing under this fabulous imprint. There’s a certain craziness, even martyrdom about those who embark on the publication of Oz poetry. Too often we take them for granted. RESPECT.
So, buy the book, this glorious new title is hereby launched – it’s a cracker!
– Les Wicks
Over 45 years Les Wicks has performed widely across the globe. Published in over 450 different magazines, anthologies & newspapers across 36 countries in 15 languages. Les conducts workshops & runs Meuse Press which focuses on poetry outreach projects like poetry on buses & poetry published on the surface of a river. His 15th book of poetry is Time Taken – New & Selected (Puncher & Wattmann, 2022).
The Office of Literary Eneavours by Mark Roberts is available from:
Rochford Street Review 