“Acclaimed Melbourne poet Ken Smeaton pioneered Performance Poetry long before the term was invented at a city venue called the OutPost Inn. He writes with a distinct character of his own, coloured always with urban Australian images.” – Anita Sinclair. 1976. Author.

“Character and craft. Perhaps there can be a trade off after all. But it takes real character and real craft. Ken Smeaton’s Real Face (Abalone Press) nearly had me in tears. Unusually in this sleight-of-hand-world Smeaton can write love poems like there going out of style. I didn’t know people like this still existed. Smeaton has the ability…to get the poems into life and life into his poems. I liked this book.” – Chris Mansell. Scarp Magazine, 1988.