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'The old hill near where I grew up was outwardly ruined: its pines were dead, its vines gone to seed and its sheds, which once held some purpose, sunk and rusted. With my immature logic I considered this place open and powerful, even though the land was enclosed by a wire fence and fallow from overcultivation and neglect. Like other places in the world, the traces of colonial settlement here held dull, sour feelings. The entire place seemed displaced from itself; maybe nothing could belong there.
'Writing these poems has something to do with being in lands like this. As a child that hill gave me my first feeling of personal privacy, even though it was open, even though it was fenced for someone else, and perhaps because the fence was there. The poems here express indignation at the eventual consequences of privacy. Yet, equally, privacy fascinates me. Equally, fences fascinate me – their lines, their tensions, their bending. I am not the first to say that poetry is a form of enclosure, but I want to say it here again, anyway. I love how permeable this form of enclosure can be. In the same way, I loved how the fence around that private hill would bend as I moved through it.
'–Lucy Van'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Open Relations
2022
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 December no. 107 2022;'‘What's open about an open relationship?’ Justin Clemens asked during his reading at the launch of The Open in 2021. This reminds me of an idea Slavoj Žižek touches on in The Metastases of Enjoyment (1994). The point was not about open relationships but about BDSM partnerships, where he writes: ‘What is of crucial importance here is the total self-externalisation of the masochist's most intimate passion: the most intimate desires become objects of contract and composed negotiation.’ Agreements that accompany erotic power games—as well as open relationships and relationships that broadly fall into the ‘consensual non-monogamy’ category—are often worked out with a microscopic scrutiny reserved for the pre-nuptial. What appears open is not always so. The low Australian skylines, the way earth and sky appear to embrace and melt into each other—the appearance of innocent and natural co-existence belies the ongoing reality of settler-colonial violence. Clemens’s provocation is a suitable apéritif for the poetic-philosophical experience that is Lucy Van's The Open.' (Introduction)
-
Boredom-core Gore in Neo-colonial Australia
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin , June vol. 81 no. 2 2022; (p. 211-213) Meanjin Online 2022;
— Review of The Open 2021 selected work poetry -
Shitheads : Well, Are We Doing This
2022
single work
essay
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 245 2022; (p. 43-50) 'Lucy Van's book of poetry The Open, published by Cordite and recently long-listed for the Stella Prize, is made up of mostly prose poems. The sentences that make up Van's prose are very fun and full of life. Merlinda Bobis in her Introduction puts it well: 'We've just touched what's here, or are about to touch it, when apprehension is quickly unsettled, halted or reconfigured.' This is true from sentence to sentence, the way they are stacked. This is also true for the life of an individual sentence. There is always the possibility of things being reconfigured, unsettled, or pulled to a halt. The sentences are the best thing about The Open which is to say everything is the best thing.' (Introduction) -
Small-press Gems
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 18 December - 7 January 2021;
— Review of Homework 2021 selected work essay ; Second City : Essays from Western Sydney 2021 anthology essay ; Still Alive : Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System 2021 single work graphic novel ; The Open 2021 selected work poetry ; Theory of Colours 2021 selected work poetry art work ; Dropbear 2021 selected work poetry essay -
Ling Toong Interviews Lucy Van
Ling Toong
(interviewer),
2021
single work
interview
— Appears in: Rabbit , no. 33 2021; (p. 111-118)
-
No Time Limits : Three New Poetry Collections
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 437 2021; (p. 58-59)
— Review of How to Make a Basket 2021 selected work poetry ; Bees Do Bother 2021 selected work poetry ; The Open 2021 selected work poetry'Good poetry uncovers the secret in the manifest, and the manifest in the secret. Three new collections throw this paradox into vibrant, unsettling relief. Each book deserves a broad readership. Each beats back the lethargic thinking that has invaded society under the cover of the pandemic.' (Introduction)
-
Small-press Gems
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 18 December - 7 January 2021;
— Review of Homework 2021 selected work essay ; Second City : Essays from Western Sydney 2021 anthology essay ; Still Alive : Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System 2021 single work graphic novel ; The Open 2021 selected work poetry ; Theory of Colours 2021 selected work poetry art work ; Dropbear 2021 selected work poetry essay -
Boredom-core Gore in Neo-colonial Australia
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin , June vol. 81 no. 2 2022; (p. 211-213) Meanjin Online 2022;
— Review of The Open 2021 selected work poetry -
Ling Toong Interviews Lucy Van
Ling Toong
(interviewer),
2021
single work
interview
— Appears in: Rabbit , no. 33 2021; (p. 111-118) -
Shitheads : Well, Are We Doing This
2022
single work
essay
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 245 2022; (p. 43-50) 'Lucy Van's book of poetry The Open, published by Cordite and recently long-listed for the Stella Prize, is made up of mostly prose poems. The sentences that make up Van's prose are very fun and full of life. Merlinda Bobis in her Introduction puts it well: 'We've just touched what's here, or are about to touch it, when apprehension is quickly unsettled, halted or reconfigured.' This is true from sentence to sentence, the way they are stacked. This is also true for the life of an individual sentence. There is always the possibility of things being reconfigured, unsettled, or pulled to a halt. The sentences are the best thing about The Open which is to say everything is the best thing.' (Introduction) -
Open Relations
2022
single work
essay
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 December no. 107 2022;'‘What's open about an open relationship?’ Justin Clemens asked during his reading at the launch of The Open in 2021. This reminds me of an idea Slavoj Žižek touches on in The Metastases of Enjoyment (1994). The point was not about open relationships but about BDSM partnerships, where he writes: ‘What is of crucial importance here is the total self-externalisation of the masochist's most intimate passion: the most intimate desires become objects of contract and composed negotiation.’ Agreements that accompany erotic power games—as well as open relationships and relationships that broadly fall into the ‘consensual non-monogamy’ category—are often worked out with a microscopic scrutiny reserved for the pre-nuptial. What appears open is not always so. The low Australian skylines, the way earth and sky appear to embrace and melt into each other—the appearance of innocent and natural co-existence belies the ongoing reality of settler-colonial violence. Clemens’s provocation is a suitable apéritif for the poetic-philosophical experience that is Lucy Van's The Open.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2022 shortlisted ASAL Awards — Mary Gilmore Award for a First Book of Poetry
- 2022 longlisted The Stella Prize
- 2021 highly commended Anne Elder Award