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Notes
-
Launched 11 August, 2007 at Gleebooks, Sydney.
-
Epigraph: spring is still spring. the atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it. George Orwell, 'Some Thoughts on the Common Toad', 1946.
Contents
* Contents derived from the
Carlton,
Parkville - Carlton area,
Melbourne - North,
Melbourne,
Victoria,:Five Islands Press
, 2007 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- Very Like a Whalei"I seem to wake", single work poetry (p. 11-13)
- Springi"Sun is our measure. The warmth of light between", single work poetry (p. 14)
- Morning : Thinking of Youi"Outside the wind is at its work.", single work poetry (p. 15)
- Finches Perhapsi"Birds strip the hanging air, cut through it", single work poetry (p. 16)
- Monsteri"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you", single work poetry (p. 17-18)
- Mooni"When did it happen, that moon floating", single work poetry (p. 19)
- Sunday : '(Everything Can Be) Transformed,i"Now light won't be still but glissades down the sky,", single work poetry (p. 20-22)
- That Beat Against the Cagei"All our stories are commonplace. Seven master plots,", single work poetry (p. 23-26)
- This Confusioni"Daylight saving has begun. It is the soft dark", single work poetry (p. 27)
- The Mystery of Iti"The man is sipping coffee in Victoria Street. He is alone", single work poetry (p. 27-28)
- 'Am I Really the Person Who Bears My Name?', sequence poetry (p. 27-29)
- That Much a Parti"He trains himself to attend the incidental,", single work poetry (p. 28)
- Wanting Morei"The man can't help making day trips to the future", single work poetry (p. 28-29)
- Just Where He Isi"The neon sign below the awning says 'Heart Queen", single work poetry (p. 29)
- Winter Raini"Rain is hurried up the hill", single work poetry (p. 30)
- Nevertheless Also Therei"The ordinary, it seems, is something more:", single work poetry (p. 31)
-
Making a Presencei"It stays with us all night into the morning",
single work
poetry
(p. 32)
Note: First line: It stays with us all night into morning,
- Monsteri"It's possible I misconstrued you,", single work poetry (p. 33-34)
- Tourism : What the I Seesi"Geckos stake-out restaurant walls. Swelter", single work poetry (p. 35-38)
- This Disenchanted Worldi"If the lake is an eye, misshapen,", single work poetry (p. 39-40)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Another Year, Another Engrossing Crop
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 71 no. 4 2012; (p. 70-79) Many of the poems in Brook Emery's Collusion are about the sea, but the sea does more than supply him with material: it shapes his interaction with the world. Compared to the sea, the land is a much easier medium on which to project plans and migrations. Those close to the sea, however, tend to be less sanguine about such things. It is, after all, the element that, proverbially, we must never take for granted. Something of this respect enters Emery's work as a reluctance to draw conclusions: as if they were a step too far, or smacked of hubris. In his previous book, Uncommon Light (2007), the rhythms and thought patterns were those of the swimmer, for whom there was at least a sense of progression - even if only illusory, besides the sea's scale, and its gridlessness. In Collusion, however, there is little expectation of forward movement - with the caveat that though the poems do not arrive at understandings, they do converge towards an assertion of happiness. Many of the poems display a static antiphony between the self - most commonly represented as a question - and the universe of things that don't answer. Sometimes Emery addresses Ka a's K, the patron saint of fruitless questions. More often there is no addressee. Whatever the question, there will be no answer. Answers are claims, and by being so wary of them, Emery aligns himself with that broad spectrum of poets, across an increasingly wide range of poetics, who do not trust them.' (Author's abstract)
-
Uncommon Thought
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 60)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
I'm Beginning To See the Light: Poems of Darkness and Enlightenment
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 22 no. 1 2008; (p. 81-82)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
Poetry Survey
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Island , Winter no. 113 2008; (p. 46-51)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems 2007 selected work poetry ; Parts of Speech 2007 selected work poetry ; Awake Despite the Hour 2007 selected work poetry ; It Feels Like Disbelief 2007 selected work poetry ; Transit 2007 selected work poetry ; Work Life 2007 selected work poetry -
Recent Writing
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Famous Reporter , February no. 36 2008; (p. 170-177)
— Review of A Letter to Egon Kisch 2007 sequence poetry ; The Invention of Everyday Life 2007 single work novel ; What Men and Women Do 2006 selected work short story ; Uncommon Light : Poems 2007 selected work poetry
-
Recent Writing
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Famous Reporter , February no. 36 2008; (p. 170-177)
— Review of A Letter to Egon Kisch 2007 sequence poetry ; The Invention of Everyday Life 2007 single work novel ; What Men and Women Do 2006 selected work short story ; Uncommon Light : Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
[Review] Uncommon Light
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Five Bells , Spring vol. 14 no. 4 2007; (p. 60-61)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
Poetry Survey
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Island , Winter no. 113 2008; (p. 46-51)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems 2007 selected work poetry ; Parts of Speech 2007 selected work poetry ; Awake Despite the Hour 2007 selected work poetry ; It Feels Like Disbelief 2007 selected work poetry ; Transit 2007 selected work poetry ; Work Life 2007 selected work poetry -
I'm Beginning To See the Light: Poems of Darkness and Enlightenment
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 22 no. 1 2008; (p. 81-82)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
Uncommon Thought
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 60)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
Another Year, Another Engrossing Crop
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 71 no. 4 2012; (p. 70-79) Many of the poems in Brook Emery's Collusion are about the sea, but the sea does more than supply him with material: it shapes his interaction with the world. Compared to the sea, the land is a much easier medium on which to project plans and migrations. Those close to the sea, however, tend to be less sanguine about such things. It is, after all, the element that, proverbially, we must never take for granted. Something of this respect enters Emery's work as a reluctance to draw conclusions: as if they were a step too far, or smacked of hubris. In his previous book, Uncommon Light (2007), the rhythms and thought patterns were those of the swimmer, for whom there was at least a sense of progression - even if only illusory, besides the sea's scale, and its gridlessness. In Collusion, however, there is little expectation of forward movement - with the caveat that though the poems do not arrive at understandings, they do converge towards an assertion of happiness. Many of the poems display a static antiphony between the self - most commonly represented as a question - and the universe of things that don't answer. Sometimes Emery addresses Ka a's K, the patron saint of fruitless questions. More often there is no addressee. Whatever the question, there will be no answer. Answers are claims, and by being so wary of them, Emery aligns himself with that broad spectrum of poets, across an increasingly wide range of poetics, who do not trust them.' (Author's abstract)
Awards
Last amended 29 Mar 2010 09:43:16
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