Cirrus@Austlit

'A book that has been long awaited, Anthology of Australian Prose Poetry, provides an overview of how prose poetry has come into the Australian poetic landscape while presenting a variety of prose poems written by Australian poets who are breaking away from conservative, traditional poetic forms. These poets stand next to one another here—as a sort of resistance—unified by a shared belief that prose can and should be an acceptable entry for poetics. The featured poems are varied in content while also providing examples of how a prose poem might approach taking up space on the page. Each block of text uncovers a unique truth: "Until now, and despite the excellence of prose poetry in Australia, there has never been such an anthology, although poets since 2002 … have called for one to be published, … the result of relative neglect of prose poetry by critics and editors in Australia" (1). The anthology opens with a fourteen-page essay of exposition from the editors that seeks to explain the why of the book and bring readers to a level ground of understanding before experiencing the delight to come.' (Introduction)

'While traversing the longtime friendship shared between the poets as well as the land they both inhabit, the experience I had while reading the coauthored book Renga: 100 Poems, by John Kinsella and Paul Kane is a truly unique one because of their willingness to try an innovative project with the traditional Japanese form of renga as the driving force. To continue a call-and-response between two people in the form of renga over the span of ten years is quite bold and also a challenge, considering that traditionally the poems are written in one sitting, usually during a gathering, by more than two people—essentially renga was a party game. Here, however, solitude seems to be at the center of most of these poems, in which the observation turns inward.' (Introduction)