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John Kinsella

Displaced: A rural life by John Kinsella

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September 2020, no. 424
Tony Hughes-d’Aeth reviews 'Displaced: A rural life' by John Kinsella

John Kinsella tends to be a polarising figure, but his work has won many admirers both in Australia and across the world, and I find myself among these. The main knocks on Kinsella are that he writes too much, that what he does write is sprawling and ungainly, and that he tends to editorialise and evangelise. One might concede all of these criticisms, but then still be faced with what by any estimation is a remarkable body of work, one that is dazzling both in its extent and its amplitude, in the boldness of its conceptions and in the lyrical complexity of its moments. An element that tends to be overlooked in Kinsella, both as a writer and as a public figure, is his compassion. What it means to be compassionate, rather than simply passionate, is a question that underpins Kinsella’s memoir Displaced: A rural life.

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'Hailstone Villanelle'

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October 2019, no. 415
'Hailstone Villanelle', a new poem by John Kinsella

Hailstones in misshapen formation pound on roof corrugations,
distorted in scrying before reaching their target,
feathers and leaves stripped, birds and trees in transition.

To taste the ...

Hollow Earth by John Kinsella

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October 2019, no. 415
Chris Flynn reviews 'Hollow Earth' by John Kinsella

Astronomer Edmond Halley (also known as Edmund, debate still rages over which spelling he preferred) may be best known for the comet that passes through our solar system once every seventy-five to seventy-six years (next sighting due in 2061, set a reminder in your iCal), but in 1692 he proposed an intriguing theory: that the Earth was hollow.

Halley suggest ...

‘We’ll be going this earth’: an environmental survey

by Lynette Russell, et al. •
October 2019, no. 415
‘We’ll be going this earth’, an environmental survey

To complement the reviews and commentaries in our Environment issue, we invited a number of writers and scholars to nominate a book that will give readers a better appreciation of the environment.

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2021 Porter Prize Judges

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Competitions and programs
2021 Porter Prize Judges

Lachlan Brown 800x500 monoLachlan Brown is a senior lecturer in English at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. He is the author of&nbs ...

Lucida Intervalla by John Kinsella

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March 2019, no. 409
Francesca Sasnaitis reviews 'Lucida Intervalla' by John Kinsella

According to the online resource Climate Action Tracker, Australia’s emissions from fossil fuels and industry continue to rise and are heading for an increase of nine per cent above 2005 levels by 2030, rather than the fifteen to seventeen per cent decrease in ...

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'Inverting Hölderlin’s "Geh unter, schöne Sonne"' by John Kinsella

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April 2018, no. 400

I’d ask you to reappear from behind the wet blanket, Sun,
But the ozone has been eaten by refrigerants
And we can’t take your glare. We are people
Of the skin cancers, tuned by solar flares ...

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Renga: 100 poems by John Kinsella and Paul Kane

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March 2018, no. 399
David McCooey reviews 'Renga: 100 poems' by John Kinsella and Paul Kane

Poets aren’t generally known for being great collaborators. Wordsworth and Coleridge’s 'Lyrical Ballads' (1798) is a rare example of a co-authored canonical work of poetry. 'Renga: 100 poems', by John Kinsella and Paul Kane, has some similarities to 'Lyrical Ballads'. Like those of its ...

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States of Poetry WA Podcast | Two poems by John Kinsella

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States of Poetry Podcast - Series Two

John Kinsella reads his poems 'Swimming Pool' and 'Graphology Endgame 100: I am a dickhead' which feature in series two of the Western Australian States of Poetry anthology.