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Robert Adamson Robert Adamson i(A29014 works by) (a.k.a. Robert Harry Adamson)
Born: Established: 17 May 1943 Sydney, New South Wales, ; Died: Ceased: 16 Dec 2022
Gender: Male
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Works By

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Imitator Robert Adamson , sequence poetry
1 2 y separately published work icon Birds and Fish : Life on the Hawkesbury Kindle Edition Robert Adamson , Perth : Upswell Publishing , 2024 27044918 2024 selected work poetry prose

The final collection from the award-winning 'poet of the Hawkesbury River'

In the old days I used to think art

That was purely imagined could fly higher

Than anything real. Now I feel a small fluttering

Bird in my own pulse, a connection to the sky.

--from 'The Kingfisher's Soul'

'In the last year of his life, with the help of friend and poet Devin Johnston, Robert Adamson put together a selection of his writings on the natural world. Birds and Fish defines the presences in his life on the Hawkesbury River and includes excerpts from his autobiography, Inside Out, as well as essays written over the years for Fishing World; some prose poems; and journal excerpts related to his bowerbird Spinoza. Adamson's prose is vivid, precise, and draws on his life on the river and his poetic sensibility. The final book will include selected black and white photographs by Adamson's partner Juno Gemes. (Publication summary)


 
1 Days on the Hawkesbury : Two Fishing Essays Robert Adamson , 2023 single work essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , February 2023; (p. 54-56)
1 Something Absolutely Splendid – Robert Adamson on Francis Webb Robert Adamson , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , 2 no. 35 2022;
1 The Grace of Accuracy – Imagination and the Details Necessary : Robert Adamson on Poetry Robert Adamson , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , 2 no. 35 2022;

'The American poet Wallace Stevens wrote the following intriguing sentence:  “The nobility of poetry is a violence from within that protects us from a violence without”. Seamus Heaney responded to this line of Stevens in one of his Oxford lectures: “It is the imagination pressing back against the pressure of reality.’’' (Introduction)

1 Grace and Fury – Robert Adamson on Dorothy Hewett, Gwen Harwood & Fay Zwicky Robert Adamson , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , 2 no. 35 2022;
1 First Sighting i "When we set out the nets, my father would say ‘Every second counts.’", Robert Adamson , 2022 single work poetry
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 81 no. 1 2022; Meanjin Online 2022;
1 Working the Tides i "A flying fish alongside my head. We can’t", Robert Adamson , 2021 single work poetry
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 80 no. 4 2021;
1 Introduction to Teena McCarthy’s Bush Mary Robert Adamson , Teena McCarthy , Zoe Sadokierski , 2021 single work essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , August no. 102 2021;

'When Teena McCarthy told me she had constructed this book from poems, lines, phrases and images that she had written on odd-sized pieces of paper and had gathered them until they formed a manuscript, I immediately thought of Emily Dickinson, who also wrote many of her poems on the backs of envelopes and scraps that had been used as shopping lists. The connection is not far-fetched: McCarthy connects startling images to form intense visions that vibrate with arresting music.' (Introduction)

1 3 y separately published work icon Reaching Light : Selected Poems Robert Adamson , Chicago : Flood Editions , 2020 20582969 2020 selected work poetry

'Poetry. Edited and introduced by Devin Johnston, REACHING LIGHT selects from five decades of work by one of Australia's finest poets.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Winter, Hospital Bed i "Memory was the room I entered down a long corridor", Robert Adamson , 2017 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Best Australian Poems 2017 2017; (p. 3)
1 Black Winged Stilts i "Two long, plaited, clouds of cotton-wool fog", Robert Adamson , 2016 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Best Australian Poems 2016 2016; (p. 2-3) The Weekend Australian , 20-21 August 2016; (p. 25)
1 The Words We Loved Charlotte Wood , Geraldine Brooks , Graeme Simsion , Michael Robotham , Chris Wallace-Crabbe , Helen Garner , Favel Parrett , Gregory Day , Fiona Wright , Alexis Wright , Robert Adamson , Debra Adelaide , Lisa Gorton , Abigail Ulman , Christos Tsiolkas , Maxine Beneba Clarke , Susan Johnson , Kristina Olsson , Peter Goldsworthy , Tim Flannery , Malcolm Knox , Shane Maloney , Thomas Keneally , Don Watson , Anita Heiss , Omar Musa , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 12-13 December 2015; (p. 24-26) The Saturday Age , 12-13 December 2015; (p. 30)
Famous Australian writers pick their favourite reads of 2015
1 My Grandfather's Ice Penguins i "My grandfather would walk into the house,", Robert Adamson , 2015 single work poetry
— Appears in: Guide to Sydney Rivers 2015; (p. 16)
1 Poem Beginning with a Line from William Blake i "I was in a Printing house in Hell & saw the method in which", Robert Adamson , 2015 single work poetry
— Appears in: Net Needle 2015; The Weekend Australian , 21-22 February 2015; (p. 16)
1 11 y separately published work icon Net Needle Robert Adamson , Chicago : Flood Editions , 2015 7975145 2015 selected work poetry

' In The Times Literary Supplement, David Wheatley calls Robert Adamson "one of the finest Australian poets at work today." NET NEEDLE brings together the presiding influences of his life, early and late. He casts an affectionate eye on the Hawkesbury fishermen who "stitched their lives into my days," childhood escapades, lost literary comrades, the light and tides of the river, and the ambiance of his youth. Throughout, he is characteristically attuned to the natural world, sketching encounters both intimate and strange. These are poems of clear-eyed vision and mastery, borne of long experience, alert and at ease. As Michael Palmer observes, "Eye and ear, none better." ' (Publication summary)

1 Spinoza i "Omy soul's friend just once take some advice", Robert Adamson , 2015 single work poetry
— Appears in: Net Needle 2015;
1 The Art of War i "Children cross section sidestreets", Robert Adamson , 2015 single work poetry
— Appears in: Net Needle 2015;
1 Death of a Goshawk i "White goshawk", Robert Adamson , 2015 single work poetry
— Appears in: Net Needle 2015;
1 1 Harsh Song i "Afternoon's pulse, a feathery susurration", Robert Adamson , 2015 single work poetry
— Appears in: Net Needle 2015; The Weekend Australian , 10 October 2020; (p. 18)
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