Innovative poetry: a common language

Literary Review, Wntr, 2005 by John Kinsella

We are grateful to the poet John Kinsella for choosing the work that appears in this special selection of experimental poetry. Kinsella has made it one of his missions to break down divisions in poetry between countries. As a vegan anarchist pacifist, he works against the very idea of nation, and more towards the idea of region, locality, and community--literally and poetically. Though it seems important to mention that the poets represented here are from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, what is more important is their linguistically innovative poetics and dynamic attitude towards the possibilities of language. In a recent essay, Kinsella writes, "I've often been asked how many 'religious' poems are experimental. My answer is that most experimental poems are at least concerned with the question of existence and/or are ontological in nature. First and foremost, the primacy of language is questioned; second, the space in which language ix being presented comes up for scrutiny. The relationship between words and people, between language as thought, and language as written, is highlighted. A binary is developed. These are issues of spiritual presence, for me at least."

Kinsella's most recent books of poetry include The Hunt, The Silo, Visitants, The Heirarchy of Sheep, Poems 1980-1994, and Peripheral Light: New and Selected Poems (selected and introduced by Harold Bloom). He has been awarded many prizes including, The Grace Leven Poetry Prize, the John Bray Award for Poetry from the Adelaide Festival, The Age Poetry Book of the Year Award, and senior Fellowships from the Literature Board of the Australia Council. In addition, he was awarded The Western Australian Premier's Book Award for Poetry three times, and he was given the Young Australian Creative Fellowship.