On the Outskirts

Overview

A stunning new collection by one of Australia's most celebrated poets. Inspired by the natural world, Kinsella's poems consider the protection and valuing of human and animal life, and the environment itself. Reflecting the constant flux of the global and the local, these poems consider the plight of refugees, the degradation of the environment, militarisation and violence. Contemplating the failure of public memory to memorialise, Kinsella reflects on the unresolved issues of history such as Nazism and colonisation. Influenced by William Blake's poetry and art, in particular his uncompleted series of illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy, Kinsella evokes a strong relationship between the visual and textual. On the Outskirts is a work of strangeness and alienation, and one in which a light of redemption is sought - a rehabilitation in the human character and the healing power of nature.

Reviews

"Kinsella is at the frill stretch of his powers … with a moral passion that infuses all that he attempts to depict." —Canberra Times

Author Biography

John Kinsella's many books of poetry include Divine Comedy: Journeys Through a Regional Geography, Jam Tree Gully, Armour, and Drowning in Wheat: Selected Poems 1980-2015. His awards include the Judith Wright Calanthe Awards for Poetry (twice), the Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, the Prime Minister's Award for Poetry, the Christopher Brennan Award for Poetry, and numerous others. He is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, and Professor of Literature and Sustainability at Curtin University. He lives in the Western Australian wheatbelt.