Bruce Dawe has received wide recognition as Australia's most popular poet, his books often being set for study at secondary and tertiary levels. Slo-Mo Tsunami offers a typically wide range of poems covering personal, social, political, and religious issues.

Some critical opinions:
'It is because no single Dawe poem strains to grasp the totality of life that Dawe can summon a kaleidoscope of public and private feelings with poems that continually delight and surprise. He is an eligible popular poet because he is accessible in both language and attitude.' - Nicholas Birns, Australian Book Review

'Like William Blake, he demonstrates the ability 'To see a world in a grain of sand'. Dawe bestows on the minutiae of life a mythic significance, both gently mocking and affectionately admiring.' - Margaret Saltau, The Age

'Much of his poetry is in the public domain; his concerns shared by many working men and women... He is modern without being avant garde, contemporary without being radical. In this respect he could be likened to W.H. Auden.' - Kilian McNamara, Wizard Study Guide

'More than any other poet in Australia, Bruce Dawe has assimilated the influences of his generation of poets and combined them in a set of interests and a style that spread across from popular poetry into literature.' - K.L. Goodwin, York Notes