Such range is also seen in the work of older counterparts
with major international reputations: Les Murray,
Peter Porter and Chris Wallace-Crabbe. New Zealand
poets are similarly marked by diversity, partly
because of interventions such as Ian Wedde’s
The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand
Poetry (1989). Self-consciousness about the
poet’s place in New Zealand is seen in the
(often satirical) work of poets such as James
K. Baxter, C. K. Stead and Vincent O’Sullivan.
A tension over nationalist responses to New Zealand
is seen in comparing the mythopoeic work of Allen
Curnow with the poetry of Louis Johnson and Lauris
Edmond which articulates the importance of ordinary
life.
While clearly a minority art, poetry in Australia
and New Zealand is nevertheless vibrant. Traditional
modes of publishing remain important, but the
internet is of growing importance to readers,
writers, and scholars. Poetry web sites in Australia
and New Zealand are diverse in style and approach,
with many offering a less restrictive output for
poetry than the traditional print media.
Web sites concerned with Australian and New Zealand
poetry are either scholarly, professional, or
associated with on-line journals. Of the latter,
only a representative sample has been listed below.
Some, such as John Tranter’s Jacket,
are clearly central in positioning contemporary
poetry on the internet, but are not clearly marked
by nationalist models of literature. Scholarly
sites, on the other hand, are more likely to be
determined by nationalist models of literature,
but are not usually solely concerned with poetry.
The New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre is an
exception.
The range of interests in the web sites illustrates
the variety of contemporary poetry in Australia
and New Zealand. Some are funded by government
and educational institutions; others are supported
by the enthusiasm of dedicated individuals. A
number show support for a form of poetry (performance
poetry, for instance), others (such as Thylazine)
mix poetics and ethics. It remains that there
is a certain random quality about some of the
work that finds its way onto the net. Nevertheless,
serious scholarly work can be undertaken as much
as reading for pleasure. Much work that is out
of print can be found on the net, as well as material
from vastly different poets who do not readily
fit into the mainstream print media (bush poets,
writing students, regionalists, amateur poets).
Considerable secondary material on the poetry
of Australia and New Zealand can also be found.
David McCooey is a senior lecturer in Literary
Studies at Deakin University, Geelong. He is the
author of the prize-winning Artful Histories:
Modern Australian Autobiography (CUP, 1996).
He is also the author of numerous essays, reviews
and poems and of the ‘Contemporary Poetry’
chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Australian
Literature (CUP, 2000). He is currently part
of a research team studying Australian literature
and the public sphere.
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Australia
Australian Studies Resources—Literary and
Historical Texts (SETIS)
http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/oztexts/ozlitbrowseK_L.html
Poetry Australia Foundation
http://paf.scriptmania.com/index.html
Poets Union
http://www.poetsunion.com/index.htm
Jacket (online journal)
http://jacketmagazine.com/index.html
Stylus Poetry Journal
http://www.styluspoetryjournal.com/main/master.asp?id=75
Thylazine (on line journal)
http://www.thylazine.org/
Poetryetc archives (an international
discussion list with some Australian and New
Zealand content)
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A0=poetryetc
Cordite (on line journal)
http://www.cordite.org.au/
Friendly Street Poets (website
of ‘Australia's longest running community
open-poetry reading venue’)
http://www.friendlystreetpoets.org.au/home.htm
Sydney Mosaic (online
journal)
http://www.ram.net.au/users/paula/
New Zealand
Best New Zealand Poems
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/modernletters/bnzp/index.html
Blackmail Press (‘nzpoetsonline
ezine’)
http://www.homestead.com/nzpoetsonline/index.html
New Zealand Literature File (bibliographic
resource)
http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/nzp/nzlit2/authors.htm
New Zealand Poetry Society
http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/
nzepc: New Zealand Electronic Poetry
Centre
http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/index.ptml
Aucklandpoetry.com
http://www.aucklandpoetry.com/
Poetry New Zealand (website
of the print journal)
http://www.geocities.com/poetrynz/About.html
Trout (online journal
of arts and literature)
http://www2.auckland.ac.nz/lbr/trout/index.html
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