Robbie Coburn

Robbie Coburn (born 25 June 1994) is a contemporary Australian poet and writer.

Life and work[]

Coburn was born in Melbourne and grew up on his family's farm in Woodstock, Victoria. His father was a horse trainer and later a greyhound trainer, which is a large focus of his poetry. He was educated at Whittlesea Primary School and Assumption College, Kilmore and briefly studied at La Trobe University before dropping out of his degree. He began suffering from depression as a teenager and has struggled with addictions to alcohol and various drugs, as well as with self-harm. He began writing poetry at the age of 14, influenced by the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Coburn's first published poem appeared in anarchist poet Pi O's literary journal Unusual Work when he was 17 years old^[1] and he has since been published in many journals and magazines, including Poetry, Meanjin, Island and Westerly. Some of his poems have also been included in major anthologies.

His first full-length collection of poems Rain Season was published in 2013 when he was 18 years old. A second collection The Other Flesh was published by UWA Publishing in 2019.

In 2021, Coburn published "Home for the Rodeo", an essay detailing his struggles with alcoholism and his love of the sport of rodeo, on his website.^[2]

Works[]

Bibliography[]

Poetry[]

• Rain Season (2013)
• The Other Flesh (2019)

Anthologies[]

• Writing to the Wire. Dan Disney (ed.), Kit Kelen (ed.) (UWA Publishing, 2016)
• To End All Wars. Dael Allison (ed.), Anna Couani (ed.), Kit Kelen (ed.), Les Wicks (ed.) (Puncher & Wattmann, 2018)

Short Fiction Collections[]

• Theatre of Nightmares (2010)

See also[]

• List of Australian poets

References[]

External links[]

• Poetry Foundation profile
• Official website
• Poem in Meanjin
• Profile in Overland by
• 2 poems in Mascara Literary Review
• Robbie Coburn's 'Suicide Country'
• 3 poems in foam:e