FAUNE et JEUX

BACKGROUND: In an essay on documentary poetry, American poet and scholar Cole Swensen (2011) poses the question of 'how to reconcile the language of information with the language of art'. Whilst poets, such as Susan Howe, Dennis Cooley and Jordie Albiston, have been actively engaged in writing documentary-style poetry, little work has been done to explore what poetic form itself can do in the field of biographical writing, in particular how it can represent aspects of character. How, for example, might a poem represent aspects of the life of a dancer? CONTRIBUTION: 'FAUNE et JEUX' is an experiment in biographical poetry writing, playing with line, rhythm, and ballet terminology, and an original contribution to the specialist field of nonfiction poetics. This long poem draws on historical facts relating chiefly to the tragic life and short career of dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, and in particular refers to his two works 'L'Apres midi d'une Faune' and 'Jeux', both choreographed in the early 20th century for the Ballet Russes, under the management of impresario Serge Diaghilev. The poem interweaves the literary, theoretical and philosophical ideas attributed to Nijinsky to draw forward a multi-faceted meditation on his choreographical method and his memorialisation. SIGNIFICANCE: This long poem was commissioned by Professor David McCooey, who guest-edited the Victoria issue of Australian Book Review's 'States of Poetry' series. I was one of six Victorian poets selected to be represented in this national series. In addition to the long poem, I was also asked to perform the work, a recording of which is included on the ABR website, with an introduction by ABR's editor Peter Rose. This creative work was subsequently included in 'The Best Australian Poems 2016', published by Black Inc.