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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Parang is the second collection of poetry from former Australian Poetry Slam winner Omar Musa. Written over four years, the collection explores Malaysian jungles, dark Australian streets, and dreams. Dealing with the issues of loss, migration and belonging, Parang is an incisive and sometimes raw look at the here and now of a changing world.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: Dedicated to my mother Helen Musa
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Hyphenational Poetics in Omar Musa’s Parang and Millefiori
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Postcolonial Writing , vol. 57 no. 5 2021; (p. 650-664)'This article examines two poetry collections by Omar Musa (b. 1984) and his hyphenated identity as a Malaysian Australian. Extending Jahan Ramazani’s concept of transnational poetics, it draws on Omar’s comments about the importance of the hyphen in his personal and artistic self-fashioning to argue for the presence of a “hyphenational poetics” in his work. This poetics functions as both hyphen and parang (machete), enabling transnational connections and sociopolitical critique. It is evident in the mixture of Malay language and Malaysian cultural details, African American hip-hop rhythms and aesthetics of spoken-word or slam poetry in Musa’s anglophone poems. His poetry performs a simultaneous critique of the sociopolitical status quo of both his ancestral homeland of Malaysia and his country of birth and citizenship, Australia. His hyphenational poetics offers one way of thinking beyond the national–sectional division in Malaysian literature, focusing instead on in-betweenness and cross-cultural borrowings and exchanges.' (Publication abstract)
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Review Short : Omar Musa’s Parang
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 October no. 52.0 2015;
— Review of Parang 2013 selected work poetry -
Panache and Bravado and Extraordinary Luminosity : Omar Musa’s Parang and Judy Johnson’s Stone, Scar, Air, Water
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Verity La , July 2014;
— Review of Parang 2013 selected work poetry ; Stone Scar Air Water 2013 selected work poetry -
Parang Cuts Through the Tension
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 May 2014; (p. 19)
— Review of Parang 2013 selected work poetry -
Provoking Unease : An Interview with Omar Musa
Nigel Featherstone
(interviewer),
2013
single work
interview
— Appears in: Verity La , July 2013;
-
Angela Stretch Reviews Parang by Omar Musa
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , December no. 14 2013;
— Review of Parang 2013 selected work poetry -
Parang Cuts Through the Tension
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 May 2014; (p. 19)
— Review of Parang 2013 selected work poetry -
Review Short : Omar Musa’s Parang
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 October no. 52.0 2015;
— Review of Parang 2013 selected work poetry -
Panache and Bravado and Extraordinary Luminosity : Omar Musa’s Parang and Judy Johnson’s Stone, Scar, Air, Water
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Verity La , July 2014;
— Review of Parang 2013 selected work poetry ; Stone Scar Air Water 2013 selected work poetry -
A Slamming Celebration Book Launch for Parang by Omar Musa
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 25 March 2013; (p. 13) -
Provoking Unease : An Interview with Omar Musa
Nigel Featherstone
(interviewer),
2013
single work
interview
— Appears in: Verity La , July 2013; -
Hyphenational Poetics in Omar Musa’s Parang and Millefiori
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Postcolonial Writing , vol. 57 no. 5 2021; (p. 650-664)'This article examines two poetry collections by Omar Musa (b. 1984) and his hyphenated identity as a Malaysian Australian. Extending Jahan Ramazani’s concept of transnational poetics, it draws on Omar’s comments about the importance of the hyphen in his personal and artistic self-fashioning to argue for the presence of a “hyphenational poetics” in his work. This poetics functions as both hyphen and parang (machete), enabling transnational connections and sociopolitical critique. It is evident in the mixture of Malay language and Malaysian cultural details, African American hip-hop rhythms and aesthetics of spoken-word or slam poetry in Musa’s anglophone poems. His poetry performs a simultaneous critique of the sociopolitical status quo of both his ancestral homeland of Malaysia and his country of birth and citizenship, Australia. His hyphenational poetics offers one way of thinking beyond the national–sectional division in Malaysian literature, focusing instead on in-betweenness and cross-cultural borrowings and exchanges.' (Publication abstract)