Gregory Heath has followed his successful first novel…with a short volume of poems entitled The boy and his animals. The animals are mainly human but creatures of fairy tales (dark ones), recycled species, a human wishing he was a dog and a horse conceived in Plato’s mind also creep in. The poems are short (the best poems often are). Some are easily understood or so it appears at first glance…but what to make of A harsh land  ‘where birds become planes’ and where ‘women give birth to stones’? Is it imagined past or horrific future?  What of the boy who creates new animals from old bones? Is it a myth with a deep hidden meaning or a wish to control the natural world? We have to make up our own minds and each conclusion will be different. This volume is modest in size but big in compassion for and understanding of human beings. Gregory Heath demonstrates that he is a competent poet as well as an accomplished novelist.

Elizabeth Brownhill, Melbourne Village Voice, December 2007