'The whole reflected world shuddering' : active aesthetics and contemporary Australian poetry

Relation and change are fundamental to an active aesthetics. Where relation signals vital continuity and connection, change suggests a break" or a series of thresholds and swerves, borders that must be crossed or redrawn to enable renewal. The poems in this anthology are about movement, not a movement. In early 21st century Australia, poetry in all its forms continues as a primary art of transformation in language. Poetry's work is ontological. It fathoms how to be and how to relate" to people, ecologies, concepts, and creatures. Poetry's work is also epistemological: it navigates prolific terrains of what is known, what remains unknowable, and how we actively undertake knowing.