Review Short: Luke Davies' 'four plots for magnets'

Abstract

The original book with this title, containing 13 poems, was first published in 1982 in an edition of 300 copies. This version contains the original 13, plus another 53 previously unpublished poems from the same era, a foreword from the poet and an afterword from the original publisher, S.K. Kelen. This is more than a reissue or a new edition. It is a comprehensive collection of Davies' works from the early 1980s and it is to be valued for the light it sheds on the development of one of Australia's best regarded poets. Poets, more than any other creative writers, have had to embrace technological change in the presentation of their works. From oral tradition, to ink on vellum, then paper, technology has had an influence on the forms of poetry. In the most recent past, small print runs forced economical solutions, and Davies writes about these in his foreword in regard to the first 'version' of this book. In the afterword, Kelen writes about the ''guerrilla' publishing unit' Glandular Press, the imprint under which the book was first published as well as other experimental poetry publishers in Sydney in the early 1980s. The new edition, now with a spine and perfect bound in a white wrap-around cover, is grand, traditional even, but it should not be overlooked that print-on-demand and digital production methods lie behind the flattering look and feel of the new book. The original poems were hand-written in a notebook. So much can happen in 30 years.