Duck Soup and Swansongs

‘Witty finely crafted genuinely funny Carey’s poems surprise with their clever double takes on society’s faults and foibles. At once erudite and bitingly topical Carey has a keen eye for the humorous detail and the deeper resonances of global stupidity. Carey shows himself adept at both the brief political quip like the Tony Abbot-inspired “Captain’s Pick Haiku” or the longer reflective analysis of presidential egomania in “Another Day at the Office”. I can think of very few poets with such a capacity for sustained humour and inventiveness. Underlying Carey’s poems is a clear-sighted voice that registers the follies pretensions and violence of humanity.’ – Peter Boyle