Villain / Justin Clemens
Villain unleashes a war of forms, perfect sonnets clash with mock haiku, heroic couplets and free verse — all directed towards capturing the contemporary world. But Villain also ranges over time and place, people and events, encompassing science-fiction creatures as well as medieval criminals.
Justin Clemens revives traditional poetic forms to create a shocking and beautiful vision of modern-day life. Invoking the spirit of celebrated French poet, vagabond and thief Francois Villon – some of whose ballads are translated here – these poems range from the violent and obscene to the lyrical and sublime, sometimes within a single verse.
Justin Clemens is the author of The Mundiad, the novella Black River and Psychoanalysis is an Antiphilosophy. He writes extensively on contemporary Australian art and poetry, as well as on contemporary European philosophy. He has two daughters, of whom he is inordinately proud, and teaches at the University of Melbourne.
“The meeting of Villon and Clemens is one of true minds. These are snaky, savage poems, charged with an electric intelligence.”
