Isi Unikowski

Isi Unikowski’s poetry has been widely published in Australia and overseas. He was shortlisted for the inaugural University of Canberra Vice Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University.

States of Poetry 2017 - ACT | 'In Place of a Bio' by Isi Unikowski

States of Poetry ACT - Series Two • 22 February 2016

In Place of a Bio Can we not take all these prizes as given?The awards, fellowships and accoladesthat greeted an awaited first book, the drivenmilestones of a talent in spades?Must everyone describe the same lookoutsfrom Parnassus’ slopes, Calliope’s redoubts? When all are gods, let the lame smith stand forth:just for once, couldn’t the editor decreethat in, let’s say, 200 words (because ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2017 - ACT | 'Still life' by Isi Unikowski

States of Poetry ACT - Series Two • 22 February 2016

Still Life As if all the world’s ravel, its bright courseof device were to stream through a pinhole in the sideof a box and emerge into a corridor of Delft tileson which tiny figures from childhood or a dream semaphoreat my self-portrait, ghostly pentimento in its dunvestments, and the servant drying linen in the dunes;the images unclear, inverted. Detailssuch as these meant something to us onc ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2017 - ACT | 'You Never Said It’s A Race, Dad!' by Isi Unikowski

States of Poetry ACT - Series Two • 22 February 2016

‘You Never Said It’s A Race, Dad!’ Oh, but it’s a race all right, trust me, kid, thathill he almost managed to beat you to thetop of (‘Rubbish!’) challenged him more than you, de-spite all the picnic stuff he made you carry in your Batman rucksack.It’s a race to find all the spare parts, becomingantiques, puzzling kids in the bike shop while you’vemultiplied years like gear rati ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2017 - ACT | 'The Jugglers' by Isi Unikowski

States of Poetry ACT - Series Two • 22 February 2016

The Jugglers In the warm dusk, pink and purple arcsappear above the old town’s lanesas jugglers toss their clubs outsidea gallery’s bright, acrylic interior.Petunias lean from baskets like cheerful spectatorscarriage horses wait in plumed rowsfor tourists from the ship that dominates the wharfsbelow. A couple and their son pausewith the laughing crowd.He allows himself to be photographedagain ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2017 - ACT | 'Grammar Lesson' by Isi Unikowski

States of Poetry ACT - Series Two • 22 February 2016

Grammar Lesson There should be a name for the special casein which we say ‘the crowd marvelled’,if the roar that roseover the back of the stadium wallsover the rain-shingled streetsconveys the sense that what matteredon the pitch, or the court, happenedin the eyes that watched it; that indicates a place has changedfor our having stood there &nbs ... (read more)