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'Unpredictable and boisterously entertaining, Cassandra Atherton’s Exhumed is a collection of interconnected prose poems exploring the reanimation of canonical texts against a backdrop of popular culture references: William Carlos Williams, Nabokov, Stevie Smith and Emily Dickinson are paired with ‘Happy Meals’, Hill’s Hoists, Bonds t-shirts and the Moonee Valley Bistro. Divided into two parts – ‘Inter’ with its play on intertexts and ‘Disinter’ where the references are unearthed, these prose poems are fractured moments centred on love, betrayal, abandonment and death. Atherton’s appeals to l’humour noir and the politicisation of the poet’s private spaces make for an exhilarating and intoxicating read.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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A collection of interconnected prose poems.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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An Intertextual Poiesis : The Luminous Image and a ‘Round Loaf of Indian and Rye’
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: New Writing , vol. 17 no. 3 2020; (p. 259-271)'Making poetry and the act of reading are intimately connected. Such reading, along with poetry research and scholarship, has the capacity to open new avenues for creative thought and fresh pathways to creative work, particularly through intertextual strategies. In this way, literary scholarship may provide a lens for seeing more deeply into one’s own creative writing practice; and reading and writing may be viewed as having intimate linking tendrils. The nineteenth-century American poet Emily Dickinson produced a large body of work characterised by numerous intertextual strategies and references, much of which speaks to the present day. Further, her poetic preoccupations focus on issues connected to the self and personal identity – and an associated critique of conventional mores – providing an exemplar for contemporary poets with related interests and preoccupations. For instance, Cassandra Atherton’s book, Exhumed, uses the metaphor of interring and disinterring to discuss a range of intertexts buried or unearthed in her prose poetry, and these works humorously interpret and self-reflexively explore the experience of women writing; and Paul Hetherington’s prose poetry sequence, Palace of Memory, makes use of significant intertexts – including from Dickinson – to assist him in ‘reading’ his own experience and making new work.' (Publication abstract)
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'Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant' : Poetic Truth and Indirectness
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Axon : Creative Explorations , May vol. 10 no. 1 2020;'In poetry, there is probably no such thing as simple or unslanted truth. This is because, as John Gibson remarks, ‘[p]oetry does not earn its claim to truth by mirroring an external world or by stating discrete, correct, “facts” about it’ (2015: 14). Yet, notwithstanding poetry’s aversion to discrete ‘facts’, poets fairly often mention truth in their work and a well-known example is Emily Dickinson’s teasing and ambiguous statement, ‘Tell all the truth but tell it slant —’ (1998: 1089).' (Introduction)
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Review Short : Cassandra Atherton’s Exhumed
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 August no. 55.0 2016;
— Review of Exhumed 2015 selected work poetry -
Sticky Ink
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 20 no. 1 2016;
— Review of Exhumed 2015 selected work poetry ; Trace 2015 selected work poetry -
Payoffs in Distinct Prose Style
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7-8 May 2016; (p. 22)
— Review of Exhumed 2015 selected work poetry ; Bunratty 2016 selected work poetry ; Happy Avatar 2015 selected work poetry ; The Non-Sequitur of Snow 2015 selected work poetry
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Collusion : Three New Poetry Collections
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 380 2016; (p. 50-51)
— Review of The Fox Petition 2015 selected work poetry ; Breaking the Days 2015 selected work poetry ; Exhumed 2015 selected work poetry -
Payoffs in Distinct Prose Style
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7-8 May 2016; (p. 22)
— Review of Exhumed 2015 selected work poetry ; Bunratty 2016 selected work poetry ; Happy Avatar 2015 selected work poetry ; The Non-Sequitur of Snow 2015 selected work poetry -
Sticky Ink
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 20 no. 1 2016;
— Review of Exhumed 2015 selected work poetry ; Trace 2015 selected work poetry -
Review Short : Cassandra Atherton’s Exhumed
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 August no. 55.0 2016;
— Review of Exhumed 2015 selected work poetry -
Undernotes of Desire
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 30 no. 1 2016; (p. 236-237)
— Review of Exhumed 2015 selected work poetry'Cassandra Atherton's Exhumed is a book of intertextual echoes in which, as Lisa Gorton asserts in the cover blurb, "the speaker [can be] characterized by desire-alike for love, glamour, sex, food, consumer goods and a life as real as it seems in fiction." In another collection of prose poems (Trace, Findlay Lloyd, 2015), Atherton is described as "a poet, critic, and balletomane" (n.p.); what seems clearest is that in her dance with language and canon, identity and affect, Exhumed harnesses and displays canny powers of both precision and grace.' (Publication abstract)
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'Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant' : Poetic Truth and Indirectness
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Axon : Creative Explorations , May vol. 10 no. 1 2020;'In poetry, there is probably no such thing as simple or unslanted truth. This is because, as John Gibson remarks, ‘[p]oetry does not earn its claim to truth by mirroring an external world or by stating discrete, correct, “facts” about it’ (2015: 14). Yet, notwithstanding poetry’s aversion to discrete ‘facts’, poets fairly often mention truth in their work and a well-known example is Emily Dickinson’s teasing and ambiguous statement, ‘Tell all the truth but tell it slant —’ (1998: 1089).' (Introduction)
-
An Intertextual Poiesis : The Luminous Image and a ‘Round Loaf of Indian and Rye’
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: New Writing , vol. 17 no. 3 2020; (p. 259-271)'Making poetry and the act of reading are intimately connected. Such reading, along with poetry research and scholarship, has the capacity to open new avenues for creative thought and fresh pathways to creative work, particularly through intertextual strategies. In this way, literary scholarship may provide a lens for seeing more deeply into one’s own creative writing practice; and reading and writing may be viewed as having intimate linking tendrils. The nineteenth-century American poet Emily Dickinson produced a large body of work characterised by numerous intertextual strategies and references, much of which speaks to the present day. Further, her poetic preoccupations focus on issues connected to the self and personal identity – and an associated critique of conventional mores – providing an exemplar for contemporary poets with related interests and preoccupations. For instance, Cassandra Atherton’s book, Exhumed, uses the metaphor of interring and disinterring to discuss a range of intertexts buried or unearthed in her prose poetry, and these works humorously interpret and self-reflexively explore the experience of women writing; and Paul Hetherington’s prose poetry sequence, Palace of Memory, makes use of significant intertexts – including from Dickinson – to assist him in ‘reading’ his own experience and making new work.' (Publication abstract)