Poetry and the Culture of the Horizon

During the past 80 years Australian poetry has developed some distinctive characteristics. In the next 80, however, will it survive our passion for narratives of enlargement?

Since it is so difficult to imagine what Meanjin might look like in 80 years’ time—a hologram menu delivered by an ambience officer, perhaps—I thought I might look at some of the characteristics of Australian verse in the period since the magazine started, as one way of making suggestions about the future there might be some basis to. Beyond that, however, there are some difficult questions about the spaces poetry might inhabit.