Acclaimed poet Corey Wakeling’s second
collection continues his inquiry into language and the spatial architectures of
history and culture. Set among 20th century ruins, the poems are
cast as if hallucinations: colonial-style houses are ‘guarded by palm trees’, Royal
Park ‘detains two immoveable statues’ while the ‘Wheel of Fortune dizzies’. The
poems range throughout Melbourne and Western Australia, where the poet has
lived, and further afield too. Strong in its deployment of baroque imagery and
modernist citation, The Alarming Conservatory
uniquely captures the fear and pace of our contemporary condition.
‘Wakeling revels in the high gruesome of
syntax – the Edward Gorey sheen of camp creepiness. I applaud his book’s
energy, social satire, its forays into kitsch and pop.’ – Kevin Killian
‘One of Australia’s most daring and baroque
writers, Corey Wakeling’s ear for the nuances and transformative power of
language is truly remarkable. From the first poem in The Alarming Conservatory, Wakeling’s work unsettles the way we
live and how we dwell in the everyday.’ – Ann Vickery
