Brian Henry

Brian Henry is the author of eleven books of poetry, most recently Permanent State. He co-edited Verse from 1995 to 2017. He has translated several books by Aleš Debeljak, Tomaž Šalamun, and Aleš Šteger. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Melbourne in 1997–98 and was poetry editor of Meanjin then.

Brian Henry reviews ‘The Best Australian Poetry 2004’ edited by Anthony Lawrence and ‘The Best Australian Poems 2004’ edited by Les Murray

December 2004–January 2005, no. 267 • 01 December 2004

Publishers and the publics they serve seem enthralled by the idea of ‘the best’. The best of what is ultimately less important than the superlative itself, which implies a rigorous screening process to isolate the most worthy material. Never mind that magazine and book publishers have already put writing through a brutal screening process with acceptance rates from .01 to 1 per cent. For reade ... (read more)

Brian Henry reviews 'The Ghost Names Sing' by Dennis Haskell and 'Album of Domestic Exiles' by Andrew Sant

February–March 1998, no. 198 • 01 February 1998

Both Dennis Haskell and Andrew Sant are primarily domestic poets. Family and friends comprise the milieu of many of their poems, which attempt to transform quotidiana into something of enduring interest. The chief danger of this type of poetry is that the prevalence of so many poems about family members and friends results in a poetic environment that can resemble a vast, monotonous suburb. If mos ... (read more)

'Same Mind', a new poem by Brian Henry

October 2020, no. 425 • 24 September 2020

Just before I left sleep behindI borrowed a series of chordsso I could swerve my way throughthe days I saw yawning in frontof me like graves freshly dugand I declined to ask permissionand I declined to apologiseand refused to offer recompensebecause I was convinced the chordswere mine or, if not mine, common,as in communal, as in common law,the commons and so on, a caseof breathing the air we brea ... (read more)