If I Had a Gun (poem)

"If I Had a Gun"
by Gig Ryan
Written1980
First published inThe Division of Anger : Poems by Gig Ryan
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Lines58

"If I Had a Gun" (1980) is a poem by Australian writer Gig Ryan. It was originally published in the author's first collection of poetry, The Division of Anger : Poems,[1] and later included in a number of Australian poetry anthologies.

Critical reception

Reviewing the anthology The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets, where this poem is reprinted, Anne Diamond comments that this poem "measures the idiom of the privileged, middle-class male– blue-tac chic – against the aggressive, fractured telling of women's common-place experience."[2]

Writing about Ryan's poetry in Bridgings : Readings in Australian Women's Poetry, Rose Lucas and Lyn McCredden contend that the "anger and vitriol that bursts through in poems such as 'If I Had a Gun', need not only be interpreted as a simple, and thus unproductive, reversal of a victim/victimiser dichotomy. Such anger may be the only means available, or perceived to be available, to attempt to short that closed circuit or stereotyped gender expectations."[3]

Publishing history

After its initial publication in The Division of Anger : Poems in 1980 the poem was reprinted as follows:

  • Off the Record edited by Pi O, Penguin, 1985[4]
  • The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets edited by Susan Hampton and Kate Llewellyn, Penguin, 1986[5]
  • Contemporary Australian Poetry: An Anthology edited by John Leonard, Houghton Mifflin, 1990[6]
  • The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry edited by John Tranter and Philip Mead, Penguin, 1991[7]
  • The Sting in the Wattle : Australian Satirical Verse edited by Philip Neilsen, University of Queensland Press, 1993[8]
  • The Oxford Book of Australian Women's Verse edited by Susan Lever, Oxford University Press, 1995[9]
  • Bridgings : Readings in Australian Women's Poetry edited by Rose Lucas and Lyn McCredden, Oxford University Press, 1996[10]
  • Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Nicholas Jose, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Anita Heiss, David McCooey, Peter Minter, Nicole Moore, and Elizabeth Webby, Allen and Unwin, 2009[11]
  • Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, University of NSW Press, 2011[12]

Notes

The full text of the poem is available on the Australian Poetry Library archived website.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Austlit — "If I Had a Gun" by Gig Ryan". Austlit. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  2. ↑ ""Burning Vision"". The Age Monthly Review, 1 December 1986. ProQuest 2521053037. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  3. ↑ ""Knife-Edge : The Poetry of Gig Ryan" by Rose Lucas and Lyn McCredden". Internet Archive. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "Off the Record by Pi O". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets edited by Susan Hampton and Kate Llewellyn". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "Contemporary Australian Poetry: An Anthology edited by John Leonard". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  7. ↑ "The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry edited by John Tranter and Philip Mead". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  8. ↑ "The Sting in the Wattle : Australian Satirical Verse edited by Philip Neilsen". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "The Oxford Book of Australian Women's Verse edited by Susan Lever". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "Bridgings : Readings in Australian Women's Poetry edited by Rose Lucas and Lyn McCredden". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  11. ↑ "Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Nicholas Jose, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Anita Heiss, David McCooey, Peter Minter, Nicole Moore, and Elizabeth Webby". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  12. ↑ "Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  13. ↑ ""If I Had a Gun" by Gig Ryan". Australian Poetry Library. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
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