Abstract
Background: Poetry in English has, since Beowulf, explored the idea of the hero as a signifier whose particular aspects are invested with (and inferred to have) both ironic and iconic significance as cultural commentary.Contribution: This particular poem had a long gestation; I began it several years ago as part of a series of "confessional" poems about growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney. Tinkering with it at workshops over the years, I added international perspectives, and when one of my colleagues from H&SS told me about his journey, with an iron, to Alice Springs and Darwin, I could see a way of including other constructs to complete the poem.Significance: "Iron Men" links Wagga's contemporary cultural capital and practice with ideas of the heroic and the domestic in English and Australian poetry, providing a tangible link between current regional and international/historical imaginings.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Type | Poem |
| Media of output | text |
| Publisher | FourW Press |
| Place of Publication | Wagga Wagga |
| Volume | Twenty Four |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780958675901 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |