y separately published work icon Uncommon Light : Poems selected work   poetry  
Issue Details: First known date: 2007... 2007 Uncommon Light : Poems
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Notes

  • Launched 11 August, 2007 at Gleebooks, Sydney.
  • Epigraph: spring is still spring. the atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it. George Orwell, 'Some Thoughts on the Common Toad', 1946.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Carlton, Parkville - Carlton area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,:Five Islands Press , 2007 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Very Like a Whalei"I seem to wake", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 11-13)
Springi"Sun is our measure. The warmth of light between", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 14)
Morning : Thinking of Youi"Outside the wind is at its work.", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 15)
Finches Perhapsi"Birds strip the hanging air, cut through it", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 16)
Monsteri"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 17-18)
Mooni"When did it happen, that moon floating", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 19)
Sunday : '(Everything Can Be) Transformed,i"Now light won't be still but glissades down the sky,", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 20-22)
That Beat Against the Cagei"All our stories are commonplace. Seven master plots,", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 23-26)
This Confusioni"Daylight saving has begun. It is the soft dark", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 27)
The Mystery of Iti"The man is sipping coffee in Victoria Street. He is alone", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 27-28)
'Am I Really the Person Who Bears My Name?', Brook Emery , sequence poetry (p. 27-29)
That Much a Parti"He trains himself to attend the incidental,", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 28)
Wanting Morei"The man can't help making day trips to the future", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 28-29)
Just Where He Isi"The neon sign below the awning says 'Heart Queen", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 29)
Winter Raini"Rain is hurried up the hill", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 30)
Nevertheless Also Therei"The ordinary, it seems, is something more:", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 31)
Making a Presencei"It stays with us all night into the morning", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 32)
Note: First line: It stays with us all night into morning,
Monsteri"It's possible I misconstrued you,", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 33-34)
Tourism : What the I Seesi"Geckos stake-out restaurant walls. Swelter", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 35-38)
This Disenchanted Worldi"If the lake is an eye, misshapen,", Brook Emery , single work poetry (p. 39-40)
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

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Works about this Work

Another Year, Another Engrossing Crop Martin Langford , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 71 no. 4 2012; (p. 70-79) Many of the poems in Brook Emery's Collusion are about the sea, but the sea does more than supply him with material: it shapes his interaction with the world. Compared to the sea, the land is a much easier medium on which to project plans and migrations. Those close to the sea, however, tend to be less sanguine about such things. It is, after all, the element that, proverbially, we must never take for granted. Something of this respect enters Emery's work as a reluctance to draw conclusions: as if they were a step too far, or smacked of hubris. In his previous book, Uncommon Light (2007), the rhythms and thought patterns were those of the swimmer, for whom there was at least a sense of progression - even if only illusory, besides the sea's scale, and its gridlessness. In Collusion, however, there is little expectation of forward movement - with the caveat that though the poems do not arrive at understandings, they do converge towards an assertion of happiness. Many of the poems display a static antiphony between the self - most commonly represented as a question - and the universe of things that don't answer. Sometimes Emery addresses Ka a's K, the patron saint of fruitless questions. More often there is no addressee. Whatever the question, there will be no answer. Answers are claims, and by being so wary of them, Emery aligns himself with that broad spectrum of poets, across an increasingly wide range of poetics, who do not trust them.' (Author's abstract)
Uncommon Thought Elizabeth Campbell , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 60)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems Brook Emery , 2007 selected work poetry
I'm Beginning To See the Light: Poems of Darkness and Enlightenment Stephanie Rohrbaugh , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 22 no. 1 2008; (p. 81-82)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems Brook Emery , 2007 selected work poetry
Poetry Survey Merle Goldsmith , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Island , Winter no. 113 2008; (p. 46-51)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems Brook Emery , 2007 selected work poetry ; Parts of Speech Angela Gardner , 2007 selected work poetry ; Awake Despite the Hour Paul Mitchell , 2007 selected work poetry ; It Feels Like Disbelief Paul Hetherington , 2007 selected work poetry ; Transit Mike Ladd , 2007 selected work poetry ; Work Life Paul Kane , 2007 selected work poetry
Recent Writing Ralph Wessman , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Famous Reporter , February no. 36 2008; (p. 170-177)
— Review of A Letter to Egon Kisch Tim Thorne , 2007 sequence poetry ; The Invention of Everyday Life Nicolette Stasko , 2007 single work novel ; What Men and Women Do Kevin Brophy , 2006 selected work short story ; Uncommon Light : Poems Brook Emery , 2007 selected work poetry
Recent Writing Ralph Wessman , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Famous Reporter , February no. 36 2008; (p. 170-177)
— Review of A Letter to Egon Kisch Tim Thorne , 2007 sequence poetry ; The Invention of Everyday Life Nicolette Stasko , 2007 single work novel ; What Men and Women Do Kevin Brophy , 2006 selected work short story ; Uncommon Light : Poems Brook Emery , 2007 selected work poetry
[Review] Uncommon Light Martin Langford , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: Five Bells , Spring vol. 14 no. 4 2007; (p. 60-61)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems Brook Emery , 2007 selected work poetry
Poetry Survey Merle Goldsmith , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Island , Winter no. 113 2008; (p. 46-51)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems Brook Emery , 2007 selected work poetry ; Parts of Speech Angela Gardner , 2007 selected work poetry ; Awake Despite the Hour Paul Mitchell , 2007 selected work poetry ; It Feels Like Disbelief Paul Hetherington , 2007 selected work poetry ; Transit Mike Ladd , 2007 selected work poetry ; Work Life Paul Kane , 2007 selected work poetry
I'm Beginning To See the Light: Poems of Darkness and Enlightenment Stephanie Rohrbaugh , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 22 no. 1 2008; (p. 81-82)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems Brook Emery , 2007 selected work poetry
Uncommon Thought Elizabeth Campbell , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 307 2008; (p. 60)
— Review of Uncommon Light : Poems Brook Emery , 2007 selected work poetry
Another Year, Another Engrossing Crop Martin Langford , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 71 no. 4 2012; (p. 70-79) Many of the poems in Brook Emery's Collusion are about the sea, but the sea does more than supply him with material: it shapes his interaction with the world. Compared to the sea, the land is a much easier medium on which to project plans and migrations. Those close to the sea, however, tend to be less sanguine about such things. It is, after all, the element that, proverbially, we must never take for granted. Something of this respect enters Emery's work as a reluctance to draw conclusions: as if they were a step too far, or smacked of hubris. In his previous book, Uncommon Light (2007), the rhythms and thought patterns were those of the swimmer, for whom there was at least a sense of progression - even if only illusory, besides the sea's scale, and its gridlessness. In Collusion, however, there is little expectation of forward movement - with the caveat that though the poems do not arrive at understandings, they do converge towards an assertion of happiness. Many of the poems display a static antiphony between the self - most commonly represented as a question - and the universe of things that don't answer. Sometimes Emery addresses Ka a's K, the patron saint of fruitless questions. More often there is no addressee. Whatever the question, there will be no answer. Answers are claims, and by being so wary of them, Emery aligns himself with that broad spectrum of poets, across an increasingly wide range of poetics, who do not trust them.' (Author's abstract)
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Last amended 29 Mar 2010 09:43:16
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