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Image courtesy of publisher's website.
Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Over the past decade, Spoken Word has established itself as a central part of contemporary Australian & New Zealand poetry. For the first-time ever, these voices are transported from the stage to the page, captured in print so that the spoken-word experience can be shared with a new and broader audience.

'Solid Air showcases the work of more than 100 performance poets - combining elements of slam, hip-hop and experimental performance poetry - to deliver an unforgettable reading experience that is both literary and loud. Poems capture themes of modern culture, identity and resistance.

'Contributors include Ali Cobby Eckermann, Hera Lindsay Bird, Claire G. Taika Waititi, Courtney Barnett, Michelle Law, Hannah Gadsby, Luka Lesson and many, many more.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Notes

  • Only literary material by Australian authors individually indexed.  

Contents

* Contents derived from the St Lucia, Indooroopilly - St Lucia area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,:University of Queensland Press , 2019 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Foreword, Alison Whittaker , single work essay (p. xv)
Introduction, David Stavanger , Anne-Marie Te Whiu , single work poetry
'Solid Air attempts to physicalise what spoken word poetry is (and can be) —that which one is compelled to speak / that which one cannot hold silent. Spoken word is more than hard-earned memorisation or performance technique. It is a lived and living thing: within the skin of the text, the song of the line, the architecture of sound. Performance poetry is on one level ephemeral but that doesn't mean the writing can't endure beyond the moment. On these pages sit words chat have often first been performed in a live context to an audience. The pulse of those moments still hangs between the lines.' (Introduction)
 
(p. xvii)
The Beautiful Oceani"This beautiful ocean was once a nightmare to me", Hani Abdile , single work poetry (p. 1-2)
Landmarksi"All day I try to talk out the question", Jessica Alice , single work poetry (p. 3)
(Because I Am a Daughter) of Diasporai"and by default—", Eunice Andrada , single work poetry (p. 4-5)
Fern Your Own Gullyi"Deep in the heart of the forest there’s a magical world", Evelyn Araluen , single work poetry (p. 6-7)
A Brief Guide to Hijab Fashioni"For an elegant look that won't fall apart", Maryam Azam , single work poetry (p. 15-16)
Deprestoni"You said we should look out further, I guess it wouldn't hurt us", Courtney Barnett , single work poetry (p. 18-19)
In My Day (Nan)i"In my day we used to walk to school", The Bedroom Philosopher , single work poetry (p. 20-21)
My Housemate's Girlfriendi"They fuck into the hot, still night", Amy Bodossian , single work poetry (p. 23-24)
Forgive Me My Lovei"Forgive me my bird as I am not able to embrace you", Behrouz Boochani , Moones Mansoubi (translator), single work poetry (p. 25-26)
To the Flight Attendant of QF11 to LAi"To the flight attendant of QF11 to LA:", C. J. Bowerbird , single work poetry (p. 27-28)
Fly in Fly Out Fly in Fly Outi"fly in fly out fly in fly out", Allan Boyd , single work poetry (p. 29-30)
Employment Separation Certificatei"I'd be so sick from staying up drinking", Laundry Man , single work poetry (p. 31-32)
Dear Mrs Milleri"Dear Mrs Miller", Jesse John Brand , single work poetry (p. 33-34)
My Vicesi"I was walking down the street, minding my own (COFFEE) business,", Eddy Burger , single work poetry (p. 36)
What Is Your Ceilingi"please come in (please come in)", Pascalle Burton , single work poetry (p. 37-38)
Maury Wisemani"No wonder the word 'Aboriginal' invisible", Rhyan Clapham , single work poetry (p. 39-40)
The Prime Ministeri"Good morning, good morning, the PM lied,", Sigrid Sassoon , single work poetry (p. 41)
Note: With title Sigrid Sassoon : The Prime Minister
Gil Scott-Heron Is on Parolei"gilscott-heron / is on parole", Maxine Beneba Clarke , single work poetry (p. 42-44)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

'The Whole Canon Is Being Reappraised': How the #MeToo Movement Upended Australian Poetry Stephanie Honor Convery , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 April 2021;
'Poets and publishers say a surge of new writing has followed the movement, profoundly changing Australian letters in sometimes unexpected ways'
The Trouble with Poetry and Literary Awards Clare Millar , 2020 single work essay
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , August 2020;

'Australia has a strong history of poetry, albeit largely white and male. Henry Lawson, Banjo Patterson, Adam Lindsay Gordon, CJ Dennis, AD Hope and Dorothea Mackellar are all notable figures in Australia’s colonial history and literature. Why is it, then, that poetry collections are largely ignored by our major literary prizes?' (Introduction)

The Space Between Mouth and Microphone : Solid Air 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Verity La , June 2020;

— Review of Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word 2019 anthology poetry
Michael Farrell (ed.) : Ashbery Mode; David Stavanger and Anne-Marie Te Whiu (eds.) : Solid Air: Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word Martin Duwell , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Review , no. 15 2020;

— Review of Ashbery Mode 2019 anthology poetry ; Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word 2019 anthology poetry

'Anthologies tend to raise more interesting issues than individual books of poetry. It may be that they just raise different issues but that those they do raise are more obvious and pressing. They also have more structural issues than a book of poems by a single author. And then there is the question of what they assume their purpose is: to present the best, put some texts together for students, to establish a new literary-historical blueprint for the future of poetry, etc. Michael Farrell’s immensely enjoyable Ashbery Mode doesn’t try for any of these conventional aims. It is, essentially, a collection of poems celebrating the influence of John Ashbery in Australian poetry. I don’t think I have ever seen an anthology with such a rationale but that might just be an accident of my reading. At any rate, as a largely celebratory anthology – is it the poet’s equivalent of an academic Festschrift? – it makes no pretensions to creating new interpretations of the history of Australian poetry although, of course, it will select only poets seeing Ashbery as a valuable influence in their own work. And, as with a Festschrift, you have a sense of poets choosing which works to contribute. The book doesn’t anywhere say that this is the case but I’m sure, as a reader, that it is: in other words, the book’s structure isn’t entirely the work of a lone, godlike anthologist. One of its most charming features is its principle of organisation – always something of a bugbear for anthologists. It does this geographically, starting with Nicholas Powell and David Prater, Australian poets living in the reasonably remote Finland and Sweden, before working its way across the Atlantic to the West Coast of Australia, then up the East Coast, into East Asia and finally across the Pacific to the East Coast of the US.' (Publication summary)

Andy Jackson Reviews Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word Andy Jackson , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 February no. 95 2020;

— Review of Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word 2019 anthology poetry

'Is an anthology greater than the sum of its parts? Does it effectively capture its milieu? Who’s been included, who left out? Is it genuinely of the moment? Will it endure? The case of Solid Air is even more complex. This is a collection of spoken word that’s been published as a book, rather than as a downloadable album, a film to be streamed, or a live show on tour (though there have been a string of impressive launches). Voice turned to ink, accent and emphasis turned into font, the unfolding of a poem in time turned into a presence on paper which is there in its entirety at one glance. Is this the stage surrendering to the supposed dominance of the page? Should I consider these poems purely in their physical form here, or as reminders of their performance elsewhere? Of course, editors David Stavanger and Anne-Marie Te Whiu know you’ll ask these questions, and it’s proof of their adept curation of voices that – while such questions persist after reading, transformed into something more productive – the poems themselves overwhelm any theoretical position or argument about what or who this anthology represents.' (Introduction)

Andy Jackson Reviews Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word Andy Jackson , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 February no. 95 2020;

— Review of Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word 2019 anthology poetry

'Is an anthology greater than the sum of its parts? Does it effectively capture its milieu? Who’s been included, who left out? Is it genuinely of the moment? Will it endure? The case of Solid Air is even more complex. This is a collection of spoken word that’s been published as a book, rather than as a downloadable album, a film to be streamed, or a live show on tour (though there have been a string of impressive launches). Voice turned to ink, accent and emphasis turned into font, the unfolding of a poem in time turned into a presence on paper which is there in its entirety at one glance. Is this the stage surrendering to the supposed dominance of the page? Should I consider these poems purely in their physical form here, or as reminders of their performance elsewhere? Of course, editors David Stavanger and Anne-Marie Te Whiu know you’ll ask these questions, and it’s proof of their adept curation of voices that – while such questions persist after reading, transformed into something more productive – the poems themselves overwhelm any theoretical position or argument about what or who this anthology represents.' (Introduction)

Michael Farrell (ed.) : Ashbery Mode; David Stavanger and Anne-Marie Te Whiu (eds.) : Solid Air: Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word Martin Duwell , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Review , no. 15 2020;

— Review of Ashbery Mode 2019 anthology poetry ; Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word 2019 anthology poetry

'Anthologies tend to raise more interesting issues than individual books of poetry. It may be that they just raise different issues but that those they do raise are more obvious and pressing. They also have more structural issues than a book of poems by a single author. And then there is the question of what they assume their purpose is: to present the best, put some texts together for students, to establish a new literary-historical blueprint for the future of poetry, etc. Michael Farrell’s immensely enjoyable Ashbery Mode doesn’t try for any of these conventional aims. It is, essentially, a collection of poems celebrating the influence of John Ashbery in Australian poetry. I don’t think I have ever seen an anthology with such a rationale but that might just be an accident of my reading. At any rate, as a largely celebratory anthology – is it the poet’s equivalent of an academic Festschrift? – it makes no pretensions to creating new interpretations of the history of Australian poetry although, of course, it will select only poets seeing Ashbery as a valuable influence in their own work. And, as with a Festschrift, you have a sense of poets choosing which works to contribute. The book doesn’t anywhere say that this is the case but I’m sure, as a reader, that it is: in other words, the book’s structure isn’t entirely the work of a lone, godlike anthologist. One of its most charming features is its principle of organisation – always something of a bugbear for anthologists. It does this geographically, starting with Nicholas Powell and David Prater, Australian poets living in the reasonably remote Finland and Sweden, before working its way across the Atlantic to the West Coast of Australia, then up the East Coast, into East Asia and finally across the Pacific to the East Coast of the US.' (Publication summary)

The Space Between Mouth and Microphone : Solid Air 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Verity La , June 2020;

— Review of Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word 2019 anthology poetry
Foreword Alison Whittaker , 2019 single work essay
— Appears in: Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word 2019; (p. xv)
Introduction David Stavanger , Anne-Marie Te Whiu , 2019 single work poetry
— Appears in: Solid Air : Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word 2019; (p. xvii)
'Solid Air attempts to physicalise what spoken word poetry is (and can be) —that which one is compelled to speak / that which one cannot hold silent. Spoken word is more than hard-earned memorisation or performance technique. It is a lived and living thing: within the skin of the text, the song of the line, the architecture of sound. Performance poetry is on one level ephemeral but that doesn't mean the writing can't endure beyond the moment. On these pages sit words chat have often first been performed in a live context to an audience. The pulse of those moments still hangs between the lines.' (Introduction)
 
The Trouble with Poetry and Literary Awards Clare Millar , 2020 single work essay
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , August 2020;

'Australia has a strong history of poetry, albeit largely white and male. Henry Lawson, Banjo Patterson, Adam Lindsay Gordon, CJ Dennis, AD Hope and Dorothea Mackellar are all notable figures in Australia’s colonial history and literature. Why is it, then, that poetry collections are largely ignored by our major literary prizes?' (Introduction)

'The Whole Canon Is Being Reappraised': How the #MeToo Movement Upended Australian Poetry Stephanie Honor Convery , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 April 2021;
'Poets and publishers say a surge of new writing has followed the movement, profoundly changing Australian letters in sometimes unexpected ways'
Last amended 9 Aug 2019 12:04:13
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