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''This is an outstanding volume of poetry. It is wonderfully original and deliciously complex. Its intellectual pirouettes and cutbacks are a pleasure to follow, always offering an incredibly agile and aesthetically stimulating journey. With brio and wit, Coleman's poems jag through various allusions, from computer games to Shakespeare, from reality TV to Blue Light Discos. In lesser hands such a dizzying array of references could lead to a kind of vertigo or even a sense of self-indulgent over-referencing. Yet Coleman's omnivorous poems handle disparate elements superbly, holding an openness in tension with their erudite clarity.' - Lachlan Brown
''These poems of great architectural skill and precision are small houses (nothing in excess) of scrutiny - what is watched on the television, what is read in print and on the screen, is analysed in the context of "responsibility". Wry, aphoristic, compiled brick by brick, expression by expression, each poem accords with and flouts the regulations at once - that is, this immaculate crafter of the poem also questions the propaganda of prosody and poetics. Smart, learned, and ironic, the work leads us through the artifice of art and aesthetics, confronting our cultural certainties and pre-judgements. Satire with compassion, wit with deep insight. His is a unique voice.' - John Kinsella' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Poetry to Penetrate Even the Cynical Heart
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 25 no. 1 2021;
— Review of Mount Sumptuous 2020 selected work poetry ; Turbulence 2020 selected work poetry -
Omnivorous and Fractal : Three New Poetry Collections
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 423 2020; (p. 61-62)
— Review of Mount Sumptuous 2020 selected work poetry ; Navigable Ink 2020 selected work poetry ; A Happening in Hades 2020 selected work poetry -
Aidan Coleman : Mount Sumptuous
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Review , no. 15 2020;
— Review of Mount Sumptuous 2020 selected work poetry'Aidan Coleman’s first book, Avenues & Runways, is an example of a comparatively rare thing in Australian poetry: something in the minimalist tradition. To risk a gross generalisation, Australian poetry, viewed from a very distant perspective, does seem word- and assertion- heavy as though, in a country with a very small audience and a fairly low professional standing, poetry and poets have to be seen to be working hard and producing nice thick texts. What subtle suggestivenesses there are are likely to be framed by dense text. Avenues & Runways belonged, I think, to a sub-branch of this minimalist mode which is usually called Imagism. The word (and, probably, the mode) was invented by Ezra Pound in 1915 and he is responsible for one of the examples that all poetry readers know: “In a Station of the Metro”.' (Introduction)
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Launching Aidan Coleman - Aidan Coleman, His Launch
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , no. 28 2020;
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Aidan Coleman : Mount Sumptuous
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Review , no. 15 2020;
— Review of Mount Sumptuous 2020 selected work poetry'Aidan Coleman’s first book, Avenues & Runways, is an example of a comparatively rare thing in Australian poetry: something in the minimalist tradition. To risk a gross generalisation, Australian poetry, viewed from a very distant perspective, does seem word- and assertion- heavy as though, in a country with a very small audience and a fairly low professional standing, poetry and poets have to be seen to be working hard and producing nice thick texts. What subtle suggestivenesses there are are likely to be framed by dense text. Avenues & Runways belonged, I think, to a sub-branch of this minimalist mode which is usually called Imagism. The word (and, probably, the mode) was invented by Ezra Pound in 1915 and he is responsible for one of the examples that all poetry readers know: “In a Station of the Metro”.' (Introduction)
-
Omnivorous and Fractal : Three New Poetry Collections
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 423 2020; (p. 61-62)
— Review of Mount Sumptuous 2020 selected work poetry ; Navigable Ink 2020 selected work poetry ; A Happening in Hades 2020 selected work poetry -
Poetry to Penetrate Even the Cynical Heart
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 25 no. 1 2021;
— Review of Mount Sumptuous 2020 selected work poetry ; Turbulence 2020 selected work poetry -
Launching Aidan Coleman - Aidan Coleman, His Launch
2020
single work
column
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , no. 28 2020;