AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'From long narrative lines to fine-boned, lyrical loops and ties that bind these poems into place, Richard James Allen has taken risks with language that mark this as his most adventurous and significant book to date. --Anthony Lawrence
'Allen's subject is being itself, and the way our biological and mental dimensions interact, with human intelligence and love being the unifying forces for this interaction. --Adam Aitken' (Publication summary)
Contents
- Delicate Awakeningi"Getting me out of sleep", single work poetry (p. 10)
- Schlafwagen und Wunderkammeri"you are on the night train to Vienna", single work poetry (p. 11-14)
- Under the Suni"Perhaps there is nothing", single work poetry (p. 15)
- The Rebirth of Doubti"You once wrote,", single work poetry (p. 16)
- A Party in Small Momentsi"The morning tinkle of spoon in bowl,", single work poetry (p. 17-20)
- Spending a Pound in the Metro for Joycei"blah blah blah and then", single work poetry (p. 21)
- Closing Time for Melancholyi"Bring your adult ears", single work poetry (p. 22)
- How Life Turned Out, or Details of the Nowi"I think maybe you thought your life was going to be a wall size", single work poetry (p. 23-24)
- Melancholyi"It must be that I return to this word for a reason.", single work poetry (p. 25)
- The Resurrection and the Lifei"It seems unlikely that a few more words", single work poetry (p. 26)
- The Man in the Quantum Maski"Sometimes when I look into the fabric of space-time,", single work poetry (p. 27)
- Metaphysical Meterology and the Causes of Sufferingi"If metereology is the study of things in the air,", single work poetry (p. 28)
- Perspicacious and Precariousi"/precariousness is our secret middle name\", single work poetry (p. 29-30)
- Sprint Track Poemi"if only a train were a church", single work poetry (p. 31)
- Misadventures in Paradisei"You were waiting for a sign. You got a bus. Maybe it's the same thing.", single work poetry (p. 32)
- Central Dreamingi"It is beautiful", single work poetry (p. 33-34)
- It's Saturday Night in Almost Any City around the World andi"mostly I find myself", single work poetry (p. 35)
- Winter's Gifti"To her Alaska-pale locks", single work poetry (p. 36)
- Quantum Esplanadei"When we meet and why we meet and what business we have together", single work poetry (p. 37)
- Espressoi"There is no such thing as an innocent cup of coffee.", single work poetry (p. 38)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Invasions of Insight
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Quadrant , June vol. 66 no. 6 2022; (p. 88-92)
— Review of The Short Story of You and I 2019 selected work poetry ; Cold Mountain and the Sea 2021 selected work poetry ; Whispers of My Heart 2021 selected work poetry -
[Review] The Short Story of You and I
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Empty Mirror , January 2020;
— Review of The Short Story of You and I 2019 selected work poetry -
The Silence Between One Person and the Next : Richard James Allen’s The Short Story of You and I
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Verity La , February 2020;
— Review of The Short Story of You and I 2019 selected work poetry -
Richard James Allen
Samuel Elliott
(interviewer),
2019
single work
interview
— Appears in: Backstory , no. 7 2019; -
[Review] The Short Story of You and I
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Backstory , no. 7 2019;
— Review of The Short Story of You and I 2019 selected work poetry
-
Kyra Thomsen Reviews The Short Story of You and I by Richard James Allen
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , March no. 23 2019;
— Review of The Short Story of You and I 2019 selected work poetry'At first, The short story of you and I by Richard James Allen seems to exist in the liminal space between awake and asleep; the space where your psyche turns the familiar sound and scene around you into something altogether unfamiliar; the space where love and death coexist in the same ghostly breath.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] The Short Story of You and I
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: StylusLit , September no. 6 2019;
— Review of The Short Story of You and I 2019 selected work poetry'Richard James Allen has always been a generous poet, never miserly with his words and wisdom, so it is fitting that The Short Story of You and I is dedicated, quite simply, “for you.” Most of the poems are written in the first or second person. An abiding sense of inclusivity is achieved and so the poetry is a delight to read in a time that seems so divisive: an era of insta-hate and antisocial media, refugees banished to remote islands, and walls erected. An antidote is offered in Allen’s work – although the reader should be warned that this draught may really be a sleeping potion.' (Introduction)
-
Inventive Interplay : Mark Seton Reviews ‘The Short Story of You and I’ by Richard James Allen
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , September no. 27 2019;
— Review of The Short Story of You and I 2019 selected work poetry'I always get the sense after reading his poetry that Richard James Allen must thrive on human connection. In this latest anthology, a poem could be short as the line of a single sentence (excluding the title for it) or long and potentially unwieldy, filling 17 pages with concepts and riffs far more complex, yet entreating the listener/reader to persist with the seemingly one-sided conversation. I last reviewed Allen’s Fixing the Broken Nightingale (2014) and, upon embarking the reading of this new collection, I was reminded repeatedly about what I enjoy and value in his writing – an ever-deepening gift and capacity to bring together words, phrases, pauses, gaps, alignments, mal-alignments and punctuations that trigger our senses, our memories, our consciences and our consciousness with things we know (which we had forgotten) and things we didn’t know that could be known.' (Introduction)
-
The Silence Between One Person and the Next : Richard James Allen’s The Short Story of You and I
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Verity La , February 2020;
— Review of The Short Story of You and I 2019 selected work poetry -
Invasions of Insight
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Quadrant , June vol. 66 no. 6 2022; (p. 88-92)
— Review of The Short Story of You and I 2019 selected work poetry ; Cold Mountain and the Sea 2021 selected work poetry ; Whispers of My Heart 2021 selected work poetry -
A Meditation on Time : Melinda Smith Launches ‘The Short Story of You and I’ by Richard James Allen
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , September no. 27 2019; -
Richard James Allen
Samuel Elliott
(interviewer),
2019
single work
interview
— Appears in: Backstory , no. 7 2019;