Cirrus@Austlit

'Poetry. A collection of work by innovative Australian poets whose work shares an interest in "a primary art of transformation in language" (from the introduction). All contributors traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area in April 2016 to participate in a four-day meeting with similarly-committed U.S.-based poets. The title of the event is also that of the anthology, which its editors intend as an extension and prolongation of the April gathering. ACTIVE AESTHETICS brings news across the Pacific and across the equator of Australia's current radical poetry and poetics. As is true of new poetry in the US, much of the work here reflects the complexity and urgency of political thinking within the aesthetic sphere.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The quality of Australian poetry has never been higher, nor the number of distinctive voices greater. A landmark publication, this collection presents the astonishing achievements of Australian poetry during the last quarter of a century. Over ten years in preparation, gathering over 200 poets and 500 poems, it makes the case for this country's poetry as a broadening of the universal set for all English-speakers. 'Somewhat astonishingly,' the introduction notes, 'and while no-one was looking, Australian poetry has developed a momentum and a critical mass such that it has become one more luminous field in the English-speaking imagination. Increasingly, anyone who seeks to explore the perspectives or music available in English will also have to consider the perspectives and music which have originated here - Australia having turned itself, too, into a place in the mind.' Both survey and critical review, this anthology offers a rare opportunity to explore the major national achievement of contemporary Australian poetry. (Publication summary)'