John Kinsella: Wheatbelt Poet (Part 1)

Rare Air with Meri Fatin

“When I was 18 and roused up and passionate I probably wanted to pull the pillars of the world down. I certainly have learned over a lifetime that the most effective way of bringing change is to show that there are other ways of doing things better and more humanely.”

Trawling the internet doesn’t reveal as much as you’d expect about poet John Kinsella. As a Neo Luddite - a term he coined – he’s probably quite happy about that.

Not finding much on the internet doesn’t mean there’s not much to be said – quite the contrary, but the bulk of the speaking is done prolifically through his writing (more than 30 volumes so far) and in the blog he shares with his wife of 22 years, Tracy Ryan, called Mutually Said: Poets Vegan Anarchist Pacifist.

A conversation with John Kinsella, will naturally turn to the ethics of a range of big picture issues: identity, indigenous rights, farming, capitalism, our food and transportation. But also, in this conversation , which is divided into two parts, Kinsella speaks about his earlier life, grappling with drug and alcohol addiction, the turning point and the quest for secular virtue he pursues daily. Sincere thanks to John Kinsella for agreeing to this interview.

Recorded at the studios of RTRFM, Beaufort St, Mt Lawley, Western Australia Mixed by Adrian Sardi - The Vault audio post production

Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût Production Music Ambient M by Antony Raijekov ( Free Music Archive)