Almanac Poetry: Postmodernism
Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup I (1968) [Wikimedia Commons.]
Postmodernism
is an expression
of the neurotic nature
of contemporary Western culture,
on its way to being a basket case
if it doesn’t have therapy soon.
(Acknowledgements: first published in micropress oz, 2002; then in my second book-length collection, Lionheart Summer, Picaro Press, 2011 – reprinted by Ginninderra Press, 2018.)
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Love it, a dry, pithy, insouciant, Left Bank take on postmodernism.
A long time ago I was taken with the French sociologist, Lyotard and his take on the postmodern condition. This Lyotard quote is a fave: Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives
Enjoyed your intellectually stimulating response, Rick. Merci!
Now there’s a topic to stir the mind (and hopefully the heart).
Yes, JTH. I agree – even if any kind of certainty and the postmodern are strange bedfellows.
Thanks for your comment.
Here’s a challenge to the contemporary sensibility: deconstruct death. Call me crazy, but it seems like a tad more than a text.
Mmm… you’re making me reach for my packet of Gauloises there, JTH… interesting….I can see a discussion related to the representation of death / how death is constructed by language in that context…
Yes, an interesting discussion on the textual representation. French or otherwise.
Death is.
And it’s also interesting that postmodernism is often discussed in contexts beyond written language, including in fields such as architecture, visual art and dance … text can be defined beyond written language to include image…
And other key aspects of postmodernism / postmodern work are, typically, a sense of play, pastiche, self-reflexiveness (e.g. when a text draws attention to itself as something constructed) … It could also be stated that we are in a time beyond postmodernism now. The term is a slippery one and all sorts of things are said/written about it.
A good example of a postmodern short story is John Barth’s ‘Lost in the Funhouse ‘.
A good example of a postmodern biography is Brian Matthews’ Louisa, about Henry Lawson’s famous mother.