New books of poetry have arrived in Glebe (my Sydney home): Steve Kelen’s The Cult of What Comes Next, and Thirty Poems: 2022-2025, by Alan Jefferies. These are poets of a generation (my generation) that came to notice in the early to mid ‘80s. I first met Steve Kelen when he lived in Darlinghurst, with a very young poet and future author and screenwriter of Candy Luke Davies. Alan and I kicked around Newtown and Balmain, and we had a very good time. I can say both books are terrific reads - with Steve’s work demonstrating a remarkable range of form and content, from haiku to sonnets. It contains a dizzying (but healthy) arsenal of poetic affect: ‘Martian, humour’, Byronic mock heroics, and an acute sense of the digitised realm of our mediascape. There’s also a committed eco-poetic concern with nature. A strong sense of surrealism - e.g a poem entitled ‘Flying Toasters’ is typical of Steve’s ability to create a memorable meme - was already there in the 80s and this sensibility persists throughout his career. Alan’s book is witty, poignant, and rhetorically assured, though never didactic, and I would say dignified in its rebelliousness (if that makes sense). One quality he shares with my work are varying shares of irony, sometime irony-lite. I quote a poem that contains the essential Jefferies attitude:
Plans
I live around friendly people
why, even I will occasionally be asked
at the check-out
“Any plans for the rest of your day?”
& my answer’s always the same
“Stay outta jail…”
just to see their reaction.
Like I said,
I live around friendly people.
Steve’s book is published by Puncher & Wattmann https://puncherandwattmann.com/product/the-cult-of-what-comes-next/, and Alan’s is available from the author and comes in a limited edition of 150 copies.
