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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In I Love Poetry, Michael Farrell continues his affirmation of poetry as a mode for thinking: about Australia, land, and settlement, about planetary life, and about poetry’s relation to other art forms and to other kinds of writing. His poems show an aptitude for both fiction and (auto)biography. Playful and subtle in tone, they get under the skin of your mind more than in its face. ‘AC/DC as First Emu Prime Minister’ and ‘Into a Bar’ remobilise familiar Australian icons, while ‘Cate Blanchett and the Difficult Poem’ creates a scenario with the actor and Waleed Aly where reading and composition become a single act. ‘Great Poet Snowdome’ is a pervy story of kitsch involving Sydney and the pope, a recurring figure in the book who re-emerges as Pope Pinocchio. There’s a Tame Impala acrostic, a Mad Max riff (‘Put Your Helmet On’), a One Direction revision (‘Drag Me Down’), and forays into poeticising lyrebirds, kangaroos, Robert Menzies and Elizabeth Bishop. There is Sid Vicious and there are lamingtons. There is everything that loves poetry: Weet-Bix, Iron Maiden t-shirts, motorbikes, and you.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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A Deaf Rough Trade : Defending Poetry to ‘Regular People’
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , May no. 91 2019;'I snap a picture of a poem and send it to a friend. I send it because this friend says he is newly interested in poetry. I send it because this is a poem that intrigues me.' (Introduction)
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January in Poetry
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , January 2019;
— Review of Blakwork 2018 selected work poetry ; Calenture 2018 selected work poetry ; I Love Poetry 2017 selected work poetry ; Angel Frankenstein 2018 selected work poetry -
Talking Ordinary: From Simic to Farrell
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 15 November 2017;'Where Robert Frost might write a few lines soundly cut from the solid old tree of language and delivered in his mellifluous White Mountain voice...' (Introduction)
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January in Poetry
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , January 2019;
— Review of Blakwork 2018 selected work poetry ; Calenture 2018 selected work poetry ; I Love Poetry 2017 selected work poetry ; Angel Frankenstein 2018 selected work poetry -
Talking Ordinary: From Simic to Farrell
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 15 November 2017;'Where Robert Frost might write a few lines soundly cut from the solid old tree of language and delivered in his mellifluous White Mountain voice...' (Introduction)
-
A Deaf Rough Trade : Defending Poetry to ‘Regular People’
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , May no. 91 2019;'I snap a picture of a poem and send it to a friend. I send it because this friend says he is newly interested in poetry. I send it because this is a poem that intrigues me.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2019 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
- 2018 highly commended Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Poetry
- 2018 commended Australian Centre Literary Awards — Wesley Michel Wright Prize in Poetry
- 2018 winner Queensland Literary Awards — Judith Wright Calanthe Award