That Prime Minister John Howard saw the need to involve a poet in the writing of his draft constitutional preamble (purportedly an ‘aspirational document’, but interpretations vary) is, on the face of it, a good thing.This suggests that in moments of perceived national need for meaning, a politician will reach for a poet, the arch maker of new meaning. However the truly disappointing nature of the resulting preamble only points a certain disingenuousness on Howard’s part. He tried to use poetry to invest a debased document with the trappings of a credibility he clearly never meant it to have.
In which case, Howard’s preamble, in short, could be seen as a low point for public poetry. That Les Murray subsequently distanced himself from his client and virtually disowned Howard’s bastardisation comes as no surprise. Those of you troubled by the irregularity of CORDITE’s appearance (thank you for your calls) may be pleased to know that we’ve dropped the pretense of claiming to be quarterly. Journal production is exacting and time-consuming work, and the order simply too tall with our current resources. We publish, like most poetry journals, as often as humanly possible. CORDITE will come out at least twice a year, but probably not four times a year. Subscriptions will still cover four issues.
The light on the hill just got a little brighter. Congratulations to the Poets Union for establishing the Australian Poetry Centre in the precinct of the Balmain Library.
This text first appeared in print in Cordite #05 (1999).
