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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'With poems ranging from the confessional to the mock-autobiographical, from imagism to a strange storytelling, from the comic and satirical to the plangent and disturbing, Star Struck startles us with the many faces of lyric poetry.
'This book of poems by the award-winning poet David McCooey is made up of four sections. The first documents an alienating encounter with a life-threatening illness. The second plays out an unforgettable obsession with darkness and light. The third brings together popular music and the ancient literary mode of the pastoral. In this highly original sequence we find, among other things, Bob Dylan singing Virgil, Joni Mitchell reflecting on life in Laurel Canyon, a lab monkey pondering the sound of music, and a bitter, surreal rewriting of ‘Down Under’ for our times. In the final section, narrative poetry is cast in an intensely new and uncanny light.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: To the memory of my father, Wyndham McCooey (1928-2013)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Chloe Wilson Reviews David McCooey
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 May vol. 80 no. 2017;'At first, David McCooey’s Star Struck appears to be a collection comprising four sections, each self-contained and corralled from the others. These sections range from a series of lyric poems meditating on a ‘cardiac event’, to poems investigating light and dark, a sequence of eighteen ‘pastorals’ on pop stardom (and fandom) and, finally, two longer narrative poems. A quotation at the beginning of the pastoral sequence seems to hint at the collection’s attitude. From William Empson’s Some Versions of Pastoral, it reads: ‘Probably the cases I take are the surprising rather than the normal ones, and once started on an example I follow it without regard to the unity of the book.’ (Introduction)
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Small Miracle and Other Visions
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24 June 2017; (p. 22) 'In the field of Australian poetry publishing, hope is never lost. However small the print run, limited the critical response, minimal the financial return, presses have always started up and battled on, fuelled by idealism. The latest player has made an ambitious beginning. The poetry series from Perth-based UWA Publishing was “established in 2016 in response to the decline in poetry publishing nationally and to the high volume of quality submissions we receive”.' (Introduction) -
Worlds and Fragments : Four Collections from UWA Publishing
2017
single work
essay
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January-February no. 388 2017; (p. 59-60)'A book called Our Lady of the Fence Post (UWA Publishing, $22.99 pb, 105 pp, 9781742589121) by a poet called J.H. Crone is an irresistible proposition, simply as a notion. Luckily for readers, neither is at all fanciful. This verse narrative explores the events around the appearance in 2003 of a likeness of the Virgin Mary on a fence post at Coogee, near the site of a memorial for five local rugby players killed in the Bali bombings. Crowds of fervent worshippers flocked to the scene.'
(Introduction)
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David McCooey : Star Struck
2016
single work
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Review , vol. 11 no. 2016;
— Review of Star Struck 2016 selected work poetry
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David McCooey : Star Struck
2016
single work
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Review , vol. 11 no. 2016;
— Review of Star Struck 2016 selected work poetry -
Worlds and Fragments : Four Collections from UWA Publishing
2017
single work
essay
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January-February no. 388 2017; (p. 59-60)'A book called Our Lady of the Fence Post (UWA Publishing, $22.99 pb, 105 pp, 9781742589121) by a poet called J.H. Crone is an irresistible proposition, simply as a notion. Luckily for readers, neither is at all fanciful. This verse narrative explores the events around the appearance in 2003 of a likeness of the Virgin Mary on a fence post at Coogee, near the site of a memorial for five local rugby players killed in the Bali bombings. Crowds of fervent worshippers flocked to the scene.'
(Introduction)
-
Small Miracle and Other Visions
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24 June 2017; (p. 22) 'In the field of Australian poetry publishing, hope is never lost. However small the print run, limited the critical response, minimal the financial return, presses have always started up and battled on, fuelled by idealism. The latest player has made an ambitious beginning. The poetry series from Perth-based UWA Publishing was “established in 2016 in response to the decline in poetry publishing nationally and to the high volume of quality submissions we receive”.' (Introduction) -
Chloe Wilson Reviews David McCooey
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 May vol. 80 no. 2017;'At first, David McCooey’s Star Struck appears to be a collection comprising four sections, each self-contained and corralled from the others. These sections range from a series of lyric poems meditating on a ‘cardiac event’, to poems investigating light and dark, a sequence of eighteen ‘pastorals’ on pop stardom (and fandom) and, finally, two longer narrative poems. A quotation at the beginning of the pastoral sequence seems to hint at the collection’s attitude. From William Empson’s Some Versions of Pastoral, it reads: ‘Probably the cases I take are the surprising rather than the normal ones, and once started on an example I follow it without regard to the unity of the book.’ (Introduction)
