Harwood had written poetry for many years, and her first poem was published in Meanjin in 1944, but her work did not start appearing regularly in journals and books until the 1960s.[4] Her first book of poems, titled Poems, was published in 1963, followed in 1968 by Poems Volume II. Other books include The Lion's Bride (1981), Bone Scan (1988), and The Present Tense (1995). There are also several versions of a Selected Poems, including one from Penguin in 2001.
Harwood used a range of pseudonyms in her early work, such as Walter Lehmann, W. W. Hagendoor (an anagram of her name), Francis Geyer, Timothy (TF) Kline, Miriam Stone, and Alan Carvosso.[5] Most of her poems submitted for publication under her own name were initially rejected. The editor of Meanjin, C. B. Christesen, once rejected a poem from Harwood but used an expression in it ("the freckled shade") as the title of one of his own poems. In 1961 The Bulletin accepted a sonnet from her alter ego Walter Lehmann, but only after it was published was it brought to the attention of the editor, Donald Horne, that the initial letters of each line formed the phrase "FUCK ALL EDITORS".[6] After this, she found much greater acceptance.[7]
She also wrote libretti for composers such as Larry Sitsky, James Penberthy, Don Kay and Ian Cugley.[4]
She corresponded over the years with several poet friends, including Vincent Buckley, A. D. Hope, Vivian Smith, and Norman Talbot, as well as family and other friends such as Tony Riddell, and two volumes of her letters have been published. She served as president of the Tasmanian Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers.[8]
Her poetry has been used by many students who are completing the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in New South Wales, Australia, by Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) students in Victoria, Australia, by the International Baccalaureate (IB) in Australia, and by Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) students in Western Australia, Australia.
