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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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What Lies beneath John Kinsella’s Graphology Poems : 1995–2015
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Angelaki , vol. 26 no. 2 2021; (p. 55-68)'John Kinsella’s three-volume Graphology Poems: 1995–2015 (2016) constitutes a major and shifting set of poetic statements. Partly a discontinuous poetic chronicle of life in Western Australia’s Avon Valley, they are also an investigation of ways in which an activist poetry may inscribe aspects of being, self and experience while protesting against environmental challenges and degradation. As these poems sprawl in many directions and express overlapping preoccupations, and as they emphasise the unsettled and unstable while affirming what has a continuing importance, so they constitute a series of ethical positions connected to living sustainably and responsibly. They also explore the porous nature of a poetic activism that steps out into the quotidian world while simultaneously refashioning the poetic, challenging and even subverting the language of the contemporary lyric and the contemporary pastoral. The Graphology poems prize incompleteness and the fragmentary, open out to reveal absences and imply other texts, value multiple meanings and represent many of the most important strands of Kinsella’s work.' (Publication abstract)
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The Kinsella Paradox
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Foam:e , March no. 14 2017;'There is a prevalent myth among academic poets that there is an ‘official verse culture’ in Australia. It could also go by the name of ‘conventional verse culture’ or ‘state verse culture’. The most cited gatekeeper for official verse culture is often Geoff Page (see Bonny Cassidy’s ‘Wild Ecology of Thought’ in Australian Poetry Journal) though one would suggest that others matter as well. And yet, official verse culture is hard to pin down when it comes both to publications and influence. The straw man of official verse culture in Australia is precisely that when we compare it transnationally. The presence of diversity in the Australian Book Review and the importance of Corditewould only seem to support this.' (Introduction)
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Thom Sullivan Reviews Graphology 1995-2015 by John Kinsella
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , February 2017;
— Review of Graphology Poems 1995–2015 2016 selected work poetry -
No Settling down
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 21 no. 1 2017; 'For some poets the act of writing poetry is almost all to do with producing polished and finished works, and such poets often write relatively few poems. For example, almost every one of Kenneth Slessor’s one hundred or so poems are conspicuously ‘made’ things, crafted and polished as individual works that stand alone in their own poetic space, reflecting a particular, disciplined poetic sensibility. Other poets may produce such polished works but are as much, or more, concerned with poetry as an ongoing inquiry into and investigation of the resources of language and the ways language constructs and construes meaning.' (Introduction) -
Dragons and Facts
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 389 2017; (p. 47-48) ‘John Kinsella, who lives mostly in Australia, is a transnational literary powerhouse. Poet, fiction writer, playwright, librettist, critic, academic, collaborator, editor, publisher, activist; his activities and accomplishments are manifold. He is best known as a poet, and the publication of Graphology Poems 1995–2015 – a mammoth (and ongoing) discontinuous series of poems published in three volumes – brings together two decades of work.’ (Introduction)
-
Thom Sullivan Reviews Graphology 1995-2015 by John Kinsella
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , February 2017;
— Review of Graphology Poems 1995–2015 2016 selected work poetry -
Dragons and Facts
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 389 2017; (p. 47-48) ‘John Kinsella, who lives mostly in Australia, is a transnational literary powerhouse. Poet, fiction writer, playwright, librettist, critic, academic, collaborator, editor, publisher, activist; his activities and accomplishments are manifold. He is best known as a poet, and the publication of Graphology Poems 1995–2015 – a mammoth (and ongoing) discontinuous series of poems published in three volumes – brings together two decades of work.’ (Introduction) -
No Settling down
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 21 no. 1 2017; 'For some poets the act of writing poetry is almost all to do with producing polished and finished works, and such poets often write relatively few poems. For example, almost every one of Kenneth Slessor’s one hundred or so poems are conspicuously ‘made’ things, crafted and polished as individual works that stand alone in their own poetic space, reflecting a particular, disciplined poetic sensibility. Other poets may produce such polished works but are as much, or more, concerned with poetry as an ongoing inquiry into and investigation of the resources of language and the ways language constructs and construes meaning.' (Introduction) -
The Kinsella Paradox
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Foam:e , March no. 14 2017;'There is a prevalent myth among academic poets that there is an ‘official verse culture’ in Australia. It could also go by the name of ‘conventional verse culture’ or ‘state verse culture’. The most cited gatekeeper for official verse culture is often Geoff Page (see Bonny Cassidy’s ‘Wild Ecology of Thought’ in Australian Poetry Journal) though one would suggest that others matter as well. And yet, official verse culture is hard to pin down when it comes both to publications and influence. The straw man of official verse culture in Australia is precisely that when we compare it transnationally. The presence of diversity in the Australian Book Review and the importance of Corditewould only seem to support this.' (Introduction)
-
What Lies beneath John Kinsella’s Graphology Poems : 1995–2015
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Angelaki , vol. 26 no. 2 2021; (p. 55-68)'John Kinsella’s three-volume Graphology Poems: 1995–2015 (2016) constitutes a major and shifting set of poetic statements. Partly a discontinuous poetic chronicle of life in Western Australia’s Avon Valley, they are also an investigation of ways in which an activist poetry may inscribe aspects of being, self and experience while protesting against environmental challenges and degradation. As these poems sprawl in many directions and express overlapping preoccupations, and as they emphasise the unsettled and unstable while affirming what has a continuing importance, so they constitute a series of ethical positions connected to living sustainably and responsibly. They also explore the porous nature of a poetic activism that steps out into the quotidian world while simultaneously refashioning the poetic, challenging and even subverting the language of the contemporary lyric and the contemporary pastoral. The Graphology poems prize incompleteness and the fragmentary, open out to reveal absences and imply other texts, value multiple meanings and represent many of the most important strands of Kinsella’s work.' (Publication abstract)
