David Barnes' book launch 2-4pm PERTH TIME (GMT + 8 hrs) will be streamed live online at http://www.facebook.com/l/31494szBj_LlYZfkQDdUiNjMkBQ/www.livestream.com/perthlive. Thanks to Jamie Macqueen.
Mulla Mulla Press and the Perth Poetry Club invite you and your friends to the launch of David Barnes' first book of poetry, PRAYERS WAITING FOR GOD this Saturday, 2 to 4pm at The Moon Cafe, 323 William Street, Northbridge.
Readers include Janet Jackson, Mal MacKimmie and Andrew Burke, in the presence of the author and his son Daniel.
I have to tell you, these are poems covering the gamut of emotions. They'll make you laugh, they'll make you cry - they'll make you think, they'll make you thank your lucky stars. These are not intellectual poems with the vocab of a Times crossword: these are poems written from the body and soul of a man who has been through the wringer - and still is. But a smile and a gracious word for his fellows lifts these song-filled words out of self-pity and into poetry.
Scenes cover early life in a cruel boys' home to a drive along Cottesloe Beach, the 'split sunlight dance' of the Great Barrier Reef to pelicans at South Perth. Love poems, lonesome poems, single-parent poems, physical pain poems... This book packs a wallop.
I'd also like to praise Janet Jackson's editing of this manuscript. I didn't see the first draft of the complete Barnes' text, but I'm guessing David had a lot more poems up his sleeve. Janet has paced this book and shuffled the poems into a kind of narrative order which adds to the craftily synergistic effect of the entire collection.
Coral Carter, as the founder and editor-in-chief of Mulla Mulla Press, should be praised for pulling this work together and publishing it without government support. She has put her heart and wallet into supporting WA poets and for this I thank her mightily.
On the Bill this Saturday at Perth Poetry Club you'll also hear Feature Poets CLAYTON LIN, plus well-known Perth expat MAL McKIMMIE (Melbourne)
Open mic as always, but be early. This will be a busy day!
PRAYERS WAITING FOR GOD will be on sale at the launch, but if you can't get there, go to http://www.mullamullapress.com/
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