'Acclaimed poet Corey Wakeling’s second collection continues his inquiry into language and the spatial architectures of history and culture. Set among 20th century ruins, the poems are cast as if hallucinations: colonial-style houses are ‘guarded by palm trees’, Royal Park ‘detains two immoveable statues’ while the ‘Wheel of Fortune dizzies’. The poems range throughout Melbourne and Western Australia, where the poet has lived, and further afield too. Strong in its deployment of baroque imagery and modernist citation, The Alarming Conservatory uniquely captures the fear and pace of our contemporary condition.' (Publication abstract)
Dedication: To George Wakeling, autodidact of camera, aircraft, and conservatory 1930-2017.
Epigraph: He took you for a bubble gum American, but now finds that you speak kangaroo English. - Barista at the Hamburger Banhof in Berlin.
'The Sydney launch of Corey Wakeling’s second collection of poetry The Alarming Consevatory at Frontyard Projects in Marrickville upended the traditional build up of acts that most expect from a poetry launch, with poets reading in an order drawn from a hat. The environment is amicable and warm, with young children running and playing and affectionately stealing attention from the readers by unwittingly performing alongside of them.' (Introduction)
'The Sydney launch of Corey Wakeling’s second collection of poetry The Alarming Consevatory at Frontyard Projects in Marrickville upended the traditional build up of acts that most expect from a poetry launch, with poets reading in an order drawn from a hat. The environment is amicable and warm, with young children running and playing and affectionately stealing attention from the readers by unwittingly performing alongside of them.' (Introduction)
