Poetry for these times and all times
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Poetry can be edgy, important and helpful in times of crisis. It offers new images to displace cliches, tools to break up old ideas that loop around in the same old ways. Poetry can take us to another place and offer oblique insights into the extraordinariness of ordinary moments. It connects us emotionally, take us beyond ourselves. It might bring solace but it will also bring surprises, shake us up, call us to account. The fragmented forms of poetry seem to be just the right size and space for these times. Approach a book of poetry like a divining rod – let it fall open anywhere and trust that something will speak back to you. Try this sampler of new Australian poetry, in any particular order. Read the poems out aloud.