WINNERS Paper Wasp Jack Stamm Haiku Competition 2011

Congratulations to Cynthia Rowe, Jo McInerney and Ron Moss for winning First, Second and Thrid prizes respectively in the 2011 Paper Wasp Jack Stamm Haiku Competition. The successful haiku in order from first to third were:

tree-lined stream
the falcon rowing
through air

holding the warmth
of the afternoon sun
dandelion ridge

simmering rhubarb
mother plays ragtime
on broken keys

While the Jack Stamm Award has over the years become a valued and sought after prize, Paper Wasp has announced that the 2011 competition will be the last in the series honouring, Jack Stamm, the Japan-based American beat generation haiku poet who was part of a Japanese initiative to reinvigorate Australian haiku in the late 1980s.

The 2011 Jack Stamm Anthology therefore reproduces all the prize winning haiku dating back to the first competition in 1999.

Paper Wasp has also announced that it will honour Australia’s greatest haiku poet, the late Janice M Bostok, with a new international haiku award - further details will be available in the coming months.

Try Paper Wasp for more information.

Issa Haiku

swish, swish
writing with my cane...
year's first calligraphy


- Issa, 1819

'Undercover of Lightness' launched at Hobart Bookshop last Thursday

Ralph Wessman of Walleah Press orchestrated a warm-hearted launch for my new book, 'Undercover of Lightness: New & Selected Poems' at the popular (and historic) city venue, The Hobart Book Shop 22 Salamanca Square, owned and operated by Chris Pearce and Janet Grecian. 


The book was launched (delightfully) by Philomena van Rijswijk, poet and scholar.


Some candid photos follow. If you were there on the evening (about thirty people attended) and took some shots, please share them with us - contact me here or at burkeandre(at)gmail(dot)com 

Jeanette Burke and Jess Williams

Susan Austin and Ralph Wessman

Frank Clarke and Chifley (obscured)

Jane Williams and Susan Austin (Chif obsc'd)

More to come. Photos and names. But for now, lunch! 

Perth launch to come - hold on to yr hats!

'My mother was like the bees' poem by Jeanne Wagner

Welcome to American Life in Poetry. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visitwww.americanlifeinpoetry.org.

******************************

American Life in Poetry: Column 366

by TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

I don’t think we’ve ever published a poem about a drinker. Though there are lots of poems on this topic, many of them are too judgmental for my liking. But here’s one I like, by Jeanne Wagner, of Kensington, California, especially for its original central comparison.

My mother was like the bees 

because she needed a lavish taste

on her tongue,

a daily tipple of amber and gold

to waft her into the sky,

a soluble heat trickling down her throat.

Who could blame her

for starting out each morning

with a swig of something furious

in her belly, for days

when she dressed in flashy lamé

leggings like a starlet,

for wriggling and dancing a little madly,

her crazy reels and her rumbas,

for coming home wobbly

with a flicker of clover’s inflorescence

still clinging to her clothes,

enough to light the darkness

of a pitch-black hive.

- Jeanne Wagner

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Jeanne Wagner from her most recent book of poetry, In the Body of Our Lives , Sixteen Rivers Press, 2010. Poem reprinted by permission of Jeanne Wagner and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

'Love Poetry' Review published in The West Australian 24/3/12

Review of the booklet that accompanied that sizzling night of Love Poetry at the South Perth Zoological Gardens on Valentine's Day. Review written by poet Glen Phillips. 

Proud that The West Australian acknowledges local poetry events and publications.

ADRIENNE RICH, 1929-2012 A Poet of Unswerving Vision at the Forefront of Feminism

Back at home now with Internet access - Woo hoo!

 

Adrienne Rich, a poet of towering reputation and towering rage, whose work — distinguished by an unswerving progressive vision and a dazzling, empathic ferocity — brought the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse and kept it there for nearly a half-century, died on Tuesday at her home in Santa Cruz, Calif. She was 82.The cause was complications of rheumatoid arthritis, with which she had lived for most of her adult life, her family said.

Widely read, widely anthologized, widely interviewed and widely taught, Ms. Rich was for decades among the most influential writers of the feminist movement and one of the best-known American public intellectuals. She wrote two dozen volumes of poetry and more than a half-dozen of prose; the poetry alone has sold nearly 800,000 copies, according to W. W. Norton & Company, her publisher since the mid-1960s.

More to be read at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/books/adrienne-rich-feminist-poet-and-author-dies-at-82.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

Adrienne Rich has died at 82

Feminist, mother, and award-winning US poet and essayist, Adrienne Rich has died from complications stemming from rheumatoid arthritis . I am in Hobart so I am well away from my desk and library, so I suggest you Google her name and read on at US news sites. I read it first at the LA Times site. No doubt, Ron Silliman will post a good mention on his blog at http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com

Sad day. Read a Rich poem today in tribute.

BOOK LAUNCH: UNDERCOVER OF LIGHTNESS: NEW & SELECTED POEMS - Andrew Burke

WALLEAH PRESS

invites you and your family and friends

to the Launch of

UNDERCOVER OF LIGHTNESS:

NEW & SELECTED POEMS

by ANDREW BURKE

to be launched by

Philomena van Rijswijk

at Hobart Bookshop

6pm on Thursday 29th March

' Here is a poet to hail and to treasure.' Thomas Shapcott

$2000 for ONE Poem

A Fine Partnership by Daniel Hutchings NSW

Cricket Poetry Entry 2012

CRICKET POETRY AWARD – value $2000

Entries will be accepted in 2012 from any poet, writer or author who completes their poem in the 12 months leading up to the closing date – 31st August 2012.

The organisers invite poets to write and submit a poem that depicts life in and around the game and sport of cricket, in settings of backyard, street, beach, park, village green or social-cricket.  The genre may be narrative, epic, dramatic, satirical, lyrical,elegy or verse fable.

The Cricket Poetry Award will be run in conjunction with the Cricket Art Prize, and the winner will be announced at the Cricket Art Prize opening event – Members Pavilion -  Sydney Cricket Ground, 4th Oct 2012.

Please check the particulars supplied on the entry form and ensure that your entry is in accordance with the conditions below.

CONDITIONS

(1) Each competitor may enter ONE work only. The entry must be the original work of the competitor;

(2) Entries should be posted and e-mailed together with a completed entry form and a non-refundable $20.00 (including GST) handling fee to the Publishers’ Cup Inc by 2012.

Any work not accompanied by payment of $20.00 will not be eligible for the competition. Payment may be made by cheque, money order, postal note to the Publishers’ Cup Inc or Electronic Funds Transfer details: ANZ Bank BSB 012235 A/C 1105 99931 or can be paid using PayPal to the email address: derekz [at] cricketartprize [dot] org

(3) The statutory declaration on the entry form must be completed by the competitor;

(4) The size of the poem must NOT EXCEED 150 words;

(5) Entries must be clearly marked with the artist’s name and address and the title of the work;

(6) Entries will not be accepted unless free of charges. No payment will be made by the organisers for couriers, bank transfer fees or other charges incurred in the delivery of any entry;

(7) Competitors hereby consent to their work being reproduced by the Exhibition Venues and the media in all advertising and publicity inclusive of all electronic / digital or print media for the future promotion of the Cricket Poetry Award;

(8) Sponsors and charities associated with the Publishers’ Cup Inc reserve the right to reproduce the winning entry and all finalists in all Publishers’ Cup Inc publications and publicity inclusive of all electronic/digital or print media;

(9) The Judges’ decision is final and no correspondence shall be entered into.

A $20.00 (incl. GST) fee is payable for the poem entered.

POST YOUR ENTRY TO:

Cricket Poetry Award
Suite 23/53 O’Brien Street
Bondi Beach NSW 2026
Australia

To contact:

E-mail:  derekz [at] cricketartprize [dot] org

Phone inside Australia:  0411 572 100

Overseas callers dial:  +61 411 572 100

Info from: http://www.cricketartprize.org/

SIX WORD MEMOIRS

Inspired by the book Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs from Writers Famous and Obscure, edited by Penn alumni Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, the Hub decided to write their own six-word stories.

Have your own six-word contribution? Email us! wh@writing.upenn.edu

Anticipation is not just about ketchup.

Amy Hostetter

Looking ahead. Looking back. No middle.

Gabe Oppenheim

I love being indoctrinated by you

Violette Carb

So many spaces, so few words.

Greg Djanikian

chocolate chip cookie endowment coming soon

Sarah Arkebauer

moved every year then came home.

Allison Harris

So, um, what's up with you?

Sam Donsky

Sometimes I have a good notion.

Al Filreis

I still dance to "Octopus's Garden."

Kristen Martin

I am looking for the (g)riot.

Greg Romero

Sounded much better in my head.

Chris Milione

ask me again in a month

Jessica Lowenthal

Striving to remain childLIKE not -ish

Mingo Reynolds

riverrun, Finnegans Wake unread too long the

Ryan Godfrey

Google knows me, therefore I am.

Chris Mustazza

What I didn't expect changed me.

Kathy Lou Schultz

The French: "1987--a bad vintage."

Max McKenna

Music tastes just as good as

Ben Epstein

It took longer than I thought.

Kerry Sherin Wright

These years writing about those ones.

Jamie-Lee Josselyn

Bastard child of (moon)light laughter. Ha!

Jerry Rudasill

Slightly awkward, clumsy, asks many questions

Tahneer Oksman

Sometimes "awkward" is a good thing.

Lindsey Rosin

possible. Wishing I could go back. Im

Lee Huttner

The experience was worth the risk.

Arielle Brousse

I can do it in five.

John Carroll

Some talent, big chip on shoulder

Sam Allingham

On second blush, it reads more

Kaegan Sparks

prone to confessions (of a variety)

Trisha Low

no rhyming. loose ends are more

Rivka Fogel

poetic attempts to win your favor

Michelle Newman

I made a choice about business.

Michelle Taransky

it was not right with you

Dorothea Lasky

love go up down stop forget

Seth Laracy

How to fit/function/be okay.

Emma Morgenstern

frequently "awkward" is a good thing

Lindsey Rosin

live and die by your words

Talia Stinson

I should have brought a GPS.

Karen Rile

Felled by dreams, saved by friends

Sylvie Beauvais

Eat. Shit. Fuck. Laugh. Cry. Die.

Peter Nichols

It's simpler than they tell you.

Josh Kruger

I came. I saw. I sat.

Eric Karlan

there's always something to laugh about.

Kirsten Thorpe

So many discards before sending this.

Moira Moody

This is my life right here.

Kristen Gallagher

Please do not sit on me.

Richard Lawrence

rarely lives up to her name.

Grace Ambrose

finding a way without being sorry.

Blair Borish

I stole codes reversed, ocelots. I!

Nick Montfort

At least friendships don't require visas

Janine Catalano

the hits just keep on coming

Erin Gautsche

i'm not so good at following rules

Adrian Khacthu

life's an itch I can't scratch

Caitlin Hennessy

Call for Submissions from CORDITE poetry magazine

Kent MacCarter
Submissions Now Open for Cordite 39: Jackpot!

1 March 2012

Photo (C) Annette Willis 2010. Samuel Wagan Watson in the Adelaide Hilton with ACDC recuperating on the same floor.

As with all themed issues of Cordite, we will accept up to five poems per submission. What’s the bigwig in the photograph telling you?

Maybe, at some point and in some way, you have hit the jackpot. Perhaps you’ve only lightly tapped it. Or not at all. Doesn’t matter, all poems relative to Jackpot! will be considered. Did the cassowary hit the genetic jackpot? Or is it the many genus of cephalopods that lucked out?

Jackpot: There are innumerable ways to become dressed up in the luck of its sartorial pizzazz. Drilling for meaning in applied Gestalt theory or geothermal vents in New Zealand, getting bumped into first class on a flight – striking a gusher of champers – instead of off it entirely, discovering a green grocer that has a cache of peaches otherworldly in taste … sometimes you just never know where a jackpot lurks. So forget about dinero and gamble with words. Or dress up as a springbok and gambol your way in a completely different direction. Take a chance.

Cordite 39: Jackpot! will be guest-edited by Samuel Wagan Watson and feature artwork from manga maestro Queenie Chan.

It’s a fitting honour that Mr Watson is the guest editor for my first issue at Cordite as it was his book, Smoke Encrypted Whispers, which marked the advent of reading my first collection of an Australian poetry in Australia in 2004.

Samuel Wagan Watson is a Brisbane-based writer whose first collection of poetry won the 1999 David Unaipon Award for Emerging Indigenous writing. He has since picked up a list of other prizes, including the NSW Premier’s Book of the Year in 2005 and the Kenneth Slessor Poetry prize. His books Of Muse, Meandering and Midnight along with Smoke Encrypted Whispers are published by UQP.

Currently, Wagan Watson is the Senior Communications Officer for 98.9FM Brisbane Indigenous Media Association. His poetry made its debut at the 2011 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, adapted by the award-winning and multi-talented Indigenous songstress, Leah Flanagan.

Queenie Chan was born in Hong Kong in 1980, and migrated to Australia when she was six years old. In 2004, she began drawing a 3-volume mystery-horror series called The Dreaming for LA-based manga publisher TOKYOPOP. She has since collaborated on several single-volume graphic novels with best-selling author Dean Koontz. As prequels to his Odd Thomas series of novels, they are called In Odd We Trust and Odd Is On Our Side, the latter becoming #1 on the New York Times best-seller list the week it came out. The third book House of Odd is coming in 20th March, 2012. She currently lives in Sydney, Australia. Check it out.

Please read Cordite‘s full submissions guidelines before you submit.

Arrebato Ensemble at the Camelot Lounge

Dear friends of the Arrebato Ensemble.

We are returning to the fabulous Camelot Lounge for an intimate performance on Saturday 24 March with our very special guest, Eva Pinero, the extraordinary flamenco singer direct from the south of Spain. This is a show not to be missed – up close and personal with an exceptional and authentic flamenco vocal talent collaborating in our musical work. Eva may not be here for long, and you should not miss the opportunity to see and hear her live. We will also have our favourite flamenco dancer, Ana Interiano, as a guest artist. Go to the following link to the Camelot Lounge for more information and bookings: http://www.camelotlounge.com/.

Hope to see you at the gig. Un abrazo, and as always, many thanks for your support of our work – 

Greg Alfonzetti

19 Marrickville Rd,

 (Cnr Railway Pde)

 Marrickville, 2204

 Sydney, NSW Australia

 ph. 61 - 2 9550 3777 

 2 minutes from Sydenham

 Train Station!

A Little Treasure Trove for (and of) Poets on Poets

Lyn Hejinian on Stein

Ron Silliman on Williams

Joan Retallack on Stein, Wittgenstein and Cage 

Charles Bernstein on Benjamin

Rachel Blau DuPlessis on Woolf 

Erica Hunt on Beckett and Baldwin

Jena Osman on Reznikoff

Bob Perelman on Zukofsky

Rae Armantrout on Dickinson

The newly designed “Nine Poets Read Themselves through Modernism” page is here