This Way to the Exit - Softcover

Kenny, Janet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0615615937 ISBN 13: 9780615615936

Publisher: White Violet Press, 2012

Synopsis

Janet Kenny sings—nowhere more so than in this new collection, This Way to the Exit. Music is the underlying trope, symbol and technique of Janet Kenny's outstanding poetic oeuvre, whether as the dedication to this volume ('to music'), or as the explicit (or implicit but vital) topic of so many of her individual poems ('To Franz Schubert', 'Celebrity Recital', 'Antal Szalai's Gypsy Band ...', 'Out Loud', ), or as the incidental figures within poems formally focused elsewhere ('Takeoff' or 'Mangoes'), or (to flip the trope) as Muzak, betokening the god-awful object of the poet's satire ('Butterflies'), or, most quintessentially, as the pervasive word-music that is the emblematic quality of this poet's work. Janet Kenny is a musician, and it really shows in this book. While always remaining true to her individual vision, her work should be placed in the Australian poetic pantheon not very far from Judith Wright's, for its richness, its finely nuanced responsiveness to Australia and its natural and human environment, and for its deep humanity. ~ Paul Stevens Editor, The Chimaera, The Flea, SCR There are only sixty-two pages here, not enough, not enough. Read 'Mangoes' and you will have read a perfect poem. Perfect poems are rare, as poets know all too well. By perfect I mean that the poem does not put a foot wrong, that not a word could be changed without altering the perfect balance. Robert Graves reckons have a dozen such justifies a life given over to his White Goddess. And Janet Kenny has one here. No, I lie, she has two. 'Moonlight as a Woodcut' is another. All the poems are worth your time, her time. For she is a poet, a real one. Buy this book. I shall. ~ John Whitworth

About this title

About the Author

Janet Kenny was a painter and concert singer in New Zealand until she went to the United Kingdom. There she sang in opera professionally until she retired early because of health problems. She moved to Australia, where she was active in the disarmament and anti-nuclear movement in Sydney. She jointly edited, compiled and wrote Beyond Chernobyl, published by Envirobook in 1993. She now lives in Queensland with her husband of many years. Her poems have been published in printed and online journals, including Avatar, The Chimaera, Folly, 14 x 14, Iambs & Trochees, The Literary Review, Mi Poesias, The New Formalist, The Raintown Review, The Shit Creek Review, Snakeskin, Soundzine, The Susquehanna Quarterly and Umbrella. Her work is in the collections The Book of Hope and Filled With Breath: 30 sonnets by 30 poets. She has received three Pushcart nominations.

About this edition

• Publisher: White Violet Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0615615937
• ISBN 13: 9780615615936
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 62