A Constellation of Abnormalities

Paul Cliff’s sixth collection, consolidates and extends the range of his previous work, with diverse themes touching on popular culture, the political versus private worlds, rural and urban locations; artistic, literary and historical figures; the craft of writing and editing; rites of passage (illness, ageing, death); animals, and travel. And on the sometimes surprising interconnection of these. Poems assume an array of forms including dramatic monologues, lyrics, elegies, sonnets, haiku, epigrams, ekphrastic pieces and prose poems — all underpinned by the observant eye, verbal inventiveness, infectious sense of play, swinging rhythms and striking imagery which critics have noted in his earlier collections.

• 2018 ACT Publishing Award for Poetry

‘A Constellation of Abnormalities’ reviewed in Sydney Review of Books

About the Author

Paul Cliff is a Canberra-based poet, playwright and editor. He has worked as Senior Editor in the publications sections of the National Library of Australia and the National Gallery of Australia. His collection, A Constellation of Abnormalities, won the ACT Publishing Award for Poetry in 2018. Among other awards and prizes, he has won the David Campbell Poetry Award, while his experimental play, Deadline: A Manual for Hostage-Taking, won the Canberra Playwright’s Award 2000 and was produced by Canberra Repertory at Canberra’s Theatre 3.