Isi Unikowski
Puncher & Wattmann, 2025
What would make the name of a road in Canberra or a Melbourne street as evocative as their more famous counterparts overseas? asks Isi Unikowski in this new collection. The answer lies in his singular perception of what takes place there: whether on the larger canvas of war, racism and decline, to the intimate dramas of childhood, parenthood and ageing. Including many prize-winning poems and poems published in leading magazines in Australia and overseas, Re:Vision will take you from Canberra’s spectacular countryside to old industrial sites in Melbourne; from King’s Cross as a modern-day Troy to Galileo atop his tower, and to the cities and suburbs of our imagination, our past and our dreams, conveying them all with his trademark allusiveness, humour and craft.
“Unikowski’s poetry captivates the reader with its masterful imagery and emotional clarity. Many of these poems launch from a recognisable, safe, suburban world, but few finish there. Some swerve away into near-surrealism or the landscape of strange dreams. Others gently draw the reader beyond the workaday surface, into a deeper or sidelong contemplation. In its evocation of the Australia that was, and is, this book is pitch-perfect.”
Kintsugi
Puncher & Wattman, 2022
The Japanese art of ‘Kintsugi’, the use of gold or other materials to repair and decorate broken pottery, provides the underlying theme of this collection. Time, memory, place and love become the agents that break, bind and repair throughout. The first section explores the connotations and impact of ‘place’ . As if to emphasise the ‘kin’ in ‘Kintsugi’, poems in the second section describe the perspectives, stresses and occasional breakages of being a parent and a child but remind us, too that such relationships offer ‘new coastlines of experience’. The third section meditates on objects and their protean meanings.
“Isi Unikowski’s restless poems never allow the reader to become complacent. When we get on board, we rarely know where these poems are heading, yet when they arrive there, the destination seems right, almost inevitable. Simultaneously sober and compassionate, these poems are constantly surprising, moving swiftly between narrative, association and the vernacular with almost casual control. Walking a tightrope between what the poet sees and the way these observations settle in the mind, Kinstugi is a unique and welcome addition to literature in this country.”
About the Author
Isi Unikowski is a Canberran poet. He has worked as a public servant and academic. He has a PhD in public policy from the Australian National University.
