first edition of the poet's final collection

Drug Poems was the third and final poetry collection of Michael Dransfield's work published within his lifetime. As one of the most widely read writers of his generation of young poets in 60s and 70s Australia, Dransfield was enmeshed in counterculture and bohemianism, writing about marginalised people, drug use, and illness to critique the mainstream.

Dransfield died young at 24 years old, a year after this poetry collection was published, likely due to health complications from taking drugs. He left behind close to a thousand poems. The blurb, with unknowing tragedy, tells us, 'If he (or any of us) has the luck to be spared he will still be writing poetry when some of his bright contemporaries are shining less brightly or writing nothing at all.'

First edition; 8vp (21 x 14.5 cm); ownership inscription in pen on front free endpaper; perfect bound with original black wrappers lettered in white, green, and blue (rubbed on extremities and spine) with an image of the author on the front; [x], 70pp.