Les Murray nominates five of his ten favourite Australian poets. He provides a brief background to the inclusion of a Billy Marshall Stoneking poem, but otherwise offers no commentary. 'I have become gun-shy of ever seeing poetry on the same pages as critical commentary. Or even in the same magazines. For this reason,' says Murray, 'I offer no more apparatus with this mini-anthology.'

The five poems are:'Bones in a Pot' by Mary Gilmore, Poems XIV by Lesbia Harford, 'Legend' by Judith Wright, 'The Seasons of Fire' by Billy Marshall Stoneking and 'Among the Mountains of Guang-xi-Province in Southern China' by Robert Gray. The poems are published on pp.21-28 following Murray's brief introduction.