Reviews:

The range and depth of Tony Abbott’s work are now clear. His is a dramatic poet, a narrative poet, a poet of love and meditations on kinship, mortality, change and memory. But rare among contemporary poetry, there is a vein of relish, human connection and joy coursing through Abbott’s poems. I am happy to say the verve and zest are contagious."
- Robert Morgan; Author, "Gap Creek"

A volume full of variety, redolent with reminiscence, urgent with love, colorful with imagery, and affirmative with statement. There is nothing drab or coy here; Abbott’s world is alive, chirping and talking, singing and thinking."
- Fred Chappell, North Carolina Poet Laureate, 1997-2002

Ah, now, here's a poet, one who knows that life is lived in the past as much as the present; one who, seemingly without creed, is formed by his religious tradition. Most often in faux blank verse paragraphs or unrhymed quatrains, these are poems that revive the soul."
- Ray Olson, Booklist Starred Review

If there is an overarching theme in the collection, it’s this movement toward an expressive silence because words can’t do the job. Yet in Abbott’s hands, the words come close. The results are superb in their own ineffable way."
- Charles Wheeler, Greensboro News & Record

Anthony Abbott’s New & Selected Poems is a fine and welcome overview of a distinguished career in poetry. Readers new to his work will find that the moments of grace are all the more precious for having been earned."
- James Owens, Pedestal Magazine