Swimming In Words
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Home > Biographies & Memoire > Poetry > Swimming In Words: New and Selected Poems
Swimming In Words: New and Selected Poems

Swimming In Words: New and Selected Poems


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About the Book

Luke Icarus Simon's graceful and groundbreaking work was first published in the 1980s and he has since become one of the quiet achievers of Australian literature. This collection explores the human condition, how we relate to family and partners and the shaping of our identity through the shifting currents of love, friendship and illness. Simon's aim is to make sense of why we're all here, masterfully navigating and negotiating the realities of our existential aloneness. Luke Icarus Simon's experience as an actor and playwright informs each poem, propelling the reader into a sensual, visceral and passionate world. With settings as diverse as the Great Ocean Road, Santiago, Athens and the Greek Islands, Simon draws readers into the intimacies of his life. SWIMMING IN WORDS SWIMMING IN WORDS brings together seventy of Simon's poems, some previously published, many revised for this collection as well as completely new works such as the 4,000+-word eponymous prose poem.

About the Author :
LUKE ICARUS SIMON was born and raised on the island of Cyprus before immigrating to Australia.He is an Honours graduate in Australian Literature and Drama from Sydney University and holds postgraduate qualifications from two other universities, including a Master's. He currently lives in a small Murray River town.

Review :
Editor's Pick- BookLife Reviews by Publishers Weekly Australian-Cypriot playwright, novelist, and poet Simon (author of Lost in the Last Divided Capital) delivers poignant and urgent mastery in this collection of 70 new and selected poems (some revised). Swimming in Words reaches across oceans, cultures, and languages to illuminate a life totally immersed in the euphoria and despair of being alive. "Desolation unfolds // I was so close to perfection," Simon writes in "Clarity in Herrod Atticus Street," demonstrating a central tension in the collection: the chasm of difference between expectation and reality. "Forgive me father // for what I have not become," he writes in "Last Prayer," addressing, with that "father," a parent and God both over a wish unfulfilled. Simon also depicts the plight of gay men in oppressive societies through landscapes of heartache, futile hope, and betrayal. "You and me?" he writes in "A Stale Kiss From Judas." "There shall be no wedding // album // This is only an affair, no baptisms, no legal status," since gay marriage is illegal in both their countries. Though a shared life of peace and comfort is impossible for the lovers in Simon's poetry, they still try; in "Ravine," Simon tells the story of two men from countries where homosexuality is a crime: "Understanding each other's basic needs // They map out // Their own culture." The eponymous "Swimming in Words," a 4,000-word autobiographical epic, concludes Simon's collection and unifies the mosaic of concepts and themes that the polyglot poet ponders throughout. Like the other entries, it catalogs real suffering, but it also reads like a hero's journey, documenting and exemplifying a powerful human response to the world's cruelties and complexities. Shouldering the burdens of homophobia, racism, and xenophobia in his dealings with the publishing industry, along with a terminal diagnosis, Simon portrays a life of trying and failing, over and over, while suggesting that to be able to try at all-and to create and tell urgent truths-is the triumph of existence. Takeaway: Inspired cross-cultural poems of mortality, migration, and queer love. Comparable Titles: David Lehman Production grades: Cover: A Design & Typography: A Editing: A Marketing copy: A


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9780994518262
  • Publisher: Stirling Publishing Australia
  • Publisher Imprint: Stirling Publishing Australia
  • Height: 229 mm
  • No of Pages: 196
  • Returnable: Y
  • Returnable: Y
  • Sub Title: New and Selected Poems
  • Width: 152 mm
  • ISBN-10: 0994518269
  • Publisher Date: 29 Jul 2024
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: Y
  • Returnable: Y
  • Spine Width: 11 mm
  • Weight: 344 gr


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