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Nigel Featherstone discovered WW1 poet Wilfred Owen when he was a writer-in-residence at the Australian Defence Force Academy researching his novel, Bodies of Men.
 
Nigel was struck by Wilfred Owen’s story: not knowing whether he would serve, having considered following a religious occupation, Owen did end up serving and devastatingly died only days before the end of the war on November 1918, aged 25.
 
Also devastating, his mother edited out his sexuality in the records of his life, with only five of Owen's poems published in his lifetime.
 
Nigel speaks to and reads two of Owen's poems. The first, ‘Exposure’, with its touching refrain, 'But nothing happens…’, in which Nigel is struck by not only the honesty of his poetry, but also the musicality, rhythm and sensuality.

His second choice, 'Disabled’ is incredibly poignant:

Nigel Featherstone discovered WW1 poet, Wilfred Owen, when he was a writer-in-residence at the Australian Defence Force Academy researching his novel, Bodies of Men.

Now, he is old; his back will never brace; 

He's lost his colour very far from here, 

Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry, 

And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race 

And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

Read the full transcript at the Poetry Foundation website.

Nigel Featherstone is an Australian writer whose most recent novel, Bodies of Men, was published in 2019. His other works include the story collection Joy, his debut novel Remnants, and The Beach Volcano, which is the third in an award-winning series of novellas. His short stories have appeared in numerous Australian literary journals, including MeanjinOverland, and the Review of Australian Fiction. Nigel was commissioned to write the libretto for The Weight of Light, a contemporary song cycle that had its world premiere in 2018. He has held residencies at Varuna (Blue Mountains), Bundanon (Shoalhaven River), and UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. 

Source text: Poets of the Great War: Wilfred Owen, Faber & Faber, 2014

 
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