An International Poetry Studies Institute has been created at Canberra University.
From Sally Pryor’s article in the Canberra Times (11/5/13) …
… the country’s first research institute dedicated to poetry is now right here in the capital. The International Poetry Studies Institute has just been launched at the University of Canberra, as part of the newly established Donald Horne Centre for Creative and Cultural Research in the Faculty of Arts and Design. For an institute with such a grand title, its ambitions are suitably lofty – to conduct research into poetry and poets, and publish its findings internationally, as a way of “furthering the appreciation and understanding of poetry, poetic language and the cultural and social significance of poetry”.
Paul Hetherington, an associate professor and a Canberra poet, is on the institute’s management team, along with Professor Jen Webb, another published poet.
Hetherington comments … “We think that in Australia in particular, there’s this burgeoning interest in research into creativity, and also there’s a kind of resurgence in poetry all round the world” … and …
“It’s interesting that although poetry may not be a meal ticket for most poets, there’s a great proliferation of people who are interested in writing it and who are writing it. And in Australia … the national and international standing of Australian poetry at the moment is very high. We’ve got a great number of very skilled and important poets in this country, and at the moment it’s an area that’s been under-researched.”
The institute also has an online journal, Axon: Creative Explorations, established in 2011 as the faculty was testing the poetic waters. It now produces two themed editions a year containing poetry, interviews and articles from around the world.
Hetherington states …
“So far, people we’ve talked to have been very enthusiastic about this nationally, but also internationally there’s recognition of the importance of research into creativity and the way poetry exemplifies the creative process”
“Poetry presents such interesting and diverse ways of using language, it’s an interesting take and way to just look at language and how we express ourselves, how we understand ourselves.”
Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/entertainment/an-ode-to-verse-20130509-2jabb.html#ixzz2T4HCXgNe
my word in your ear 
I absolutely love the fact that you launched this site and it should just grow and grow and become the internet’s first encyclopedia of international poetry works, while probably you don’t quite have than in mind … but it is an idea to perhaps give thought to? Our world will die without poetry, which is the music of the soul.
I stumbled on your site today through a random search — “international institute of poetry” — and there you were! I came with a small mission though, as I am searching for the composer of the prose below, which I know I have written down somewhere, because I found the content extremely precious. However, I cannot lay my hands on the book in which I had written it down. I am currently doing an album of my most loved poems, prose and verse and I will not give up until I know who composed the following lines, which surely can leave no heart untouched:
“Love has no laws. Its impetuous fire leaps across every boundary and like a living flame, a blazing torch, it shoots upward fearlessly passing through aught that bars its path.
If anyone has this love, he will know what I mean …
A loud cry in the ears of God, is that burning love for Him in the soul which says,
My Lord and My God, you are all mine and I am all Thine.”
I hasten to add that, that what I copied here, I wrote down from memory. I have no idea of the timeline of the poet — or whether it originated in East of West, but I am sure that with the vast knowledge of poetry within your ranks, someone would recognise this beautiful rendition of Love for God. Thus, apart from the poet’s name, I would greatly appreciate if you could kindly let me have the original prose in your response. Thank you.
I provided the link to the University of Canberra International Poetry Site … https://www.canberra.edu.au/research/faculty-research-centres/cccr/ipsi … which is managed by the University. I will reply to you if I find the owner of the text … all the best in your compilation of love work … may your soul delight in the music! … Cheers
I will! I have already bookmarked your page as one of my few favourites!
Those words come from – “The Imitation of Christ” – a passionate celebration of God’s love, mercy and holiness, which has stimulated religious devotion for over five hundred years. by Thomas a Kempis . … Cheers
You have no idea how I appreciated your initial response and as today was washing day in my house, while busy with it, I was going to thank you later for your swift reply… but before I could even do it — I received this notification from you!
Richinaword — Thank you. My mother’s copy of The Imitation of Christ was a very small little black leather bound volume and she often read to me from it when I was growing up, because the book was very old and fragile. Wherever she went, it was her constant companion. When she was hospitalised in 2008 with a broken hip, her little book disappeared and instead of being heartbroken about it, she told me that someone else needed it more than her — it was God’s way of calling His souls to Him… Did I have the quote correctly?
Bless you — what a dear, thoughtful and kind person you are… Thank you again!