Saturday, February 28, 2015

Mark Weiss 'as luck would have it' Available Now

Mark Weiss - As Luck Would Have It
    Mark Weiss - As Luck Would Have It


    Paperback, 116pp, 9x6ins, £9.95 / $18
    978184861413-0 [Download a sample PDF from this book here.]
     
    "This is a barefoot poetry, almost in the very oldest Asian sense of that phrase, a poetry of voice & body that recognizes that even body-language has accents, which surely it does. The eye is keen, the humor self-deprecating. Mark Weiss has reached that point on life’s mesa where forgiveness (to oneself as well as others) may well be the most important of gestures. A book to make you glad to be in the world." —Ron Silliman

    ABC JAZZ 'THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE: CLARK TERRY RIP

    On this episode of TNL [Thursday Night Live on ABC Jazz], we celebrate the life and music of the great Clark Terry, who passed away at the age of 94 on February 21, 2015.

    Broadcast

    Thursday, March 5, 2015. 9:00pm - 10:00pm
    "Imitate, assimilate, innovate..." These three words were Clark Terry's way of summing up how to be yourself as an artist. Copy your idols, integrate their ideas and then make them your own by building upon them. CT was renowned not only for his work as a trumpeter, composer and sideman (for the likes of Duke Ellington, Count Baise and Oscar Peterson), but also as an educator and mentor to many younger jazz musicians.
    Even in his 90s, he was eager to encourage young jazz musicians in their own musical journeys. The Australian drummer and film director Al Hicks captured Terry's passion for the music in his documentary titled 'Keep On Keepin' On.' The film highlights CT's relationship with Justin Kauflin - a young, blind pianist breaking into the scene in America. It's definitely worth the watch, and you can check out the trailer here.
    So as the tributes flow for the late jazzman, we're airing a live concert, recorded 25 years ago at the Village Gate in 1990. Joining him in his quintet is Don Friedman on piano, Marcus McLauren on bass, Kenny Washington on drums and Jimmy Heath on saxophones. Paquito D'Rivera is also on the bill, sitting in as a guest on Terry's tune 'Silly Samba.'

    Tracks in this feature

    1. 'Top & Bottom'
    2. 'Keep, Keep, Keep on Keepin' On'
    3. 'Silly Samba'
    4. 'Pint of Bitters'
    5. 'Sheba'
    6. 'Brushes & Brass'
    7. 'Simple Waltz'
    8. 'Hey Mr. Mumbles'
    All compositions by Clark Terry

    In the band

    Clark Terry; trumpet, flugelhorn
    Jimmy Heath; tenor & soprano saxophone
    Don Friedman; piano
    Marcus McLauren; bass
    Kenny Washington; drums
    Paquito D'Rivera; alto saxopone (track 5)
    CD: Live at the Village Gate by Clark Terry (Chesky JD49)
    Image: Clark Terry's Website

    Thursday, February 26, 2015

    Poets Hub from writingWA

    2015 Ekphrasis Poetry Award
    This Award is open to poets residing anywhere in Australia. 
    Poems must be up to twelve lines and respond to one of twelve selected art works from the Nillumbik Shire Art Collection. 
    Open Section: $500 first prize; $300 second and $200 third; 
    Young Poets Section, for poets aged between 12 and 18 years: $150 prize. 
    Enter up to three poems; $11 entry fee per poem in Open Section; no fee for Young Poets Section. 
    Online entries close 5pm 30 March; hardcopy entries must be postmarked 30 March. For details and to view artworks, click here.

    Wednesday, February 25, 2015

    Meanjin Papers No.1


    MEANJIN quarterly's first issue in 1940. with a great motto on the back:

    Combine Pleasure and Patriotism
    READ AUSTRALIAN BOOKS


    Thanks to Writers Victoria for this info.

    The Story of Australia's People Volume 1: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia

    AUTHOR: GEOFFREY BLAINEY

    Price: $49.99
    The vast continent of Australia was settled in two main streams, far apart in time and origin. 
    The first came ashore some 50,000 years ago when the islands of Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea were one.  The second began to arrive from Europe at the end of the eighteenth century.  Each had to come to terms with the land they found, and each had to make sense of the other. 
    The long Aboriginal occupation of Australia witnessed spectacular changes.  The rising of the seas isolated the continent and preserved a nomadic way of life, while agriculture was revolutionising other parts of the world.  Over millennia, the Aboriginal people mastered the land's climates, seasons and resources. 
    Traditional Aboriginal life came under threat the moment Europeans crossed the world to plant a new society in an unknown land.  That land in turn rewarded, tricked, tantalised and often defeated the new arrivals.  The meeting of the two cultures is one of the most difficult and complex meetings in recorded history. 
    In this book Professor Geoffrey Blainey returns first to the subject of his celebrated works on Australian history, Triumph of the Nomads (1975) and A Land Half Won(1980), retelling the story of our history up until 1850 in light of the latest research.  He has changed his view about vital aspects of the Indigenous and early British history of this land, and looked at other aspects for the first time. 
    Compelling, groundbreaking and brilliantly readable, The Story of Australia's People: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia is the first instalment of an ambitious two-part work, and the culmination of the lifework of Australia's most prolific and wide-ranging historian.

    Buy at your indie bookstore or at http://www.penguin.com.au/

    Tuesday, February 24, 2015

    Jeri Kroll and Geoffrey Lehmann reading in Canberra

    Hello Poetry at The Gods in Canberra supporters 
    A reminder that the first reading this year will be on Tuesday March 10. It will feature Geoffrey Lehmann (Sydney) and Jeri Kroll (Adelaide). See details below. 
    Please come along and make it a great start to the year. Please note new start times i.e. dinner at 6 and readings at 7.30. If you'd like to join my tables up the front let me know or you may prefer to start your own table and book directly with The Gods on 6248 5538 or thegodscafe@gmail.com.
    All the best 
    Geoff Page
    Geoffrey Lehmann's poetry was first published in The London Magazine when he was 18. His Poems 1957—2013 was published by UWAP last year.  He has also co-edited with Robert Gray three anthologies of Australian Poetry, including the massive Australian Poetry Since 1788.

    Jeri Kroll’s Workshopping the Heart: New and Selected Poems came out from Wakefield Press last year.. Her verse novel, Vanishing Point (Puncher & Wattmann), was staged at the George Washington University in 2014.  She is also a Professor of English and Creative Writing. 
      1. Map of The Gods Cafe And Bar
    1. The Gods Cafe And Bar
    2. Address: Anu Arts Centre, Anu, Acton ACT 0200

    PETER KENEALLY REVIEW OF 'SCAVENGERS SEASON' by KIT KELEN in THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN, 21/22 February



    Kit Kelen’s new collection, Scavenger’s Season (Puncher & Wattman, 131pp, $25), has its own bush ethereality, but it’s mainly tonal. The book describes his relationship, over 25 years or so, with his 2ha property on the NSW north coast and the surrounding landscape. There is a lightness to it all that reproduces the feeling of sun through trees, either experienced or seen in art.
    Kelen moves through the countryside like a relaxed urban flaneur embarked on a drive rather than someone determined to drink in meaning and significance from it all.
    He pays attention, and the sketching is sharp, but always under the watchful eye of an intellect that makes constructs of experience.
    The tone is set early on with the long poem Shed, (which won the Newcastle Poetry Prize local award in 2013).
    The shed is the ultimate rural assemblage — made up of all sorts of scraps, it is a place to work and ponder, and the bush is all around, and in and out of it all the time. There is almost no concept that can’t be worked into a shed metaphor, and Kelen gets to most of them:
    Why bother with the grid? / A blowfly drone’s annoying / but one day it will power the place. The thing just needs / some nutting out. So leave it on the bench. / The peasant / is the king here. Where monarchs tinker with old crowns / no need for revolution.
    Later in the book, with in my tin kingdom the shed seems to have diffused out into the landscape: “and a stretch / spring is such / with gums of their own volition / my kingdom / ‘tis of tin I sing”. In between these galvanised ruminations, Kelen’s experience of the land, the wildlife, of himself, is conveyed in short, rhythmic, rhetorical phrases, bucolic and ode-like, and Horace makes an appearance, in case we were in any doubt as to what is going on.
    Kelen’s engagement with the country is a wry one: he is amused by the fact that within his boundaries nothing much happens of any utility, and he engages with the land in an almost Berkeleyan fashion: it seems to exist only if he writes about it. He is self-consciously a bricoleur, making his life and art out of what he finds lying around, and makes the Australian bush appear far more charming than it has any right to.

    Thursday, February 19, 2015


    Australian Dreams 2 by Southerly - Now Avaialable



    After a decade of ragged, terror-driven politics many people's dreams of and for Australia are looking battered, but the dreaming continues. Essays and other contributions here reflect the wide range and complexity of a nation's dreaming. Calls for a fairer economy, a more direct democracy, animal rights, a more subtle and respectful understanding of the rights and rites of place; reflections upon the dreams of migrant communities; examinations of the dream factories of our poetry and cinema. Lost dreams, shattered dreams, strangled dreams, stranded dreams, even a few that might be coming true. Some of the best new work from some of the finest writers of the region, new and established, and our customary contingent of reviews of poetry and fiction.

    Wednesday, February 18, 2015

    'The Kiss' by Kurt Brown


    Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2004 to 2006, writes: "Kurt Brown was a talented poet who died in 2013, and his posthumous selected and new poems opens with this touching late poem to his wife, Laure-Anne.
    The Kiss
    That kiss I failed to give you.
    How can you forgive me?
    The kiss I would have spent on you is still
    There, within me. It will probably die there.
    But it will be the last of me to die.

    - Kurt Brown

    Monday, February 16, 2015

    Philip Levine, RIP

    From the NEW YORKER, a fine little remembrance of great US poet, Phillip Levine who died Saturday at the age of 87 years.


    Mr. Levine’s death is a serious blow for American poetry, in part because 
    he so vividly evoked the drudgery and hardships of working-class life in America, and in part because this didn’t pull his poetry down into brackishness.
    He was a shrewd and very funny man. I’m not sure another major American poet could give advice quite like the following, from a poem called “Facts,” collected in Mr. Levine’s classic 1991 book “What Work Is”:
    If you take a ’37 Packard grill and split it down
    the center and reduce the angle by 18° and reweld it,
    you’ll have a perfect grill for a Rolls Royce
    just in case you ever need a new grill for yours.
    Mr. Levine was among those poets, and there are not enough of these, whose words you followed even outside their poetry. His interviews, for example, were feasts for the mind. To get back to Della and Tatum, Sweet Pea and Packy, and Ida and Cal for a moment, here is what he told The Paris Review in 
    1988 about the unpeopling of American poetry:
    “Except for the speaker, no one is there. There’s a lot of snow, a moose walks across the field, the trees darken, the sun begins to set, and a window opens. Maybe from a great distance you can see an old woman in a dark shawl carrying an unrecognizable bundle into the gathering gloom.”
    When people do appear in poems, Mr. Levine added: “Their greatest terror is that they’ll become like their parents and maybe do something dreadful, like furnish the house in knotty pine.” This man was a thoroughbred moral comedian.
    Continue reading at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/books/an-appraisal-the-poet-philip-levine-an-outsider-archiving-the-forgotten.html

    Sunday, February 15, 2015

    Katoomba Poet's Lunch 2015

    Just a teaser pic from the wonderful Poet's Lunch 
    at David Brooks and Teja's Katoomba studio, February 14th, 2015

    Wednesday, February 11, 2015

    THURSDAY JAZZ @ SMITH’S GIG GUIDE (Canberra)



    THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY

    Brendan Clarke + Wayne Kelly Trio + Andrew Dickeson

    Brendan Clarke: Since relocating to Sydney in 1999 he has become one of the

    busiest double bassists on the jazz scene and is known for his sublime sense of

    swing, commanding sound, groove and musicality on the bass.

    Wayne Kelly Trio: Canberra's own virtuosic jazz pianist, Wayne Kelly, will be

    featured along with Phill Jenkins and Col Hoorweg. Performing originals, standards

    and with rumours of some surprise guest appearances.

    Doors open: 730pm

    Show time: 8pm

    Tickets: $15 (general) $10 (concession) from http://bit.ly/1EWmqIv


    THURSDAY 19 FEBRUARY

    Cleon’s Three + Cuban Jazz Trio

    Cleon’s Three: Composer and pianist Cleon Barraclough joins with Osmar ‘Chiky’

    Salazar on electric bass and Sacha K on drums to present their debut album

    ‘Techni-colour Rain’. Inspired by salsa, timba, funk and contemporary jazz, the

    album features the group’s original compositions.



    Doors open: 730pm

    Show time: 8pm

    Tickets: $15 (general) $10 (concession) from http://bit.ly/1DC76PA


    THURSDAY 26 FEBRUARY

    Lachlan Coventry + Rachel Thorne

    Doors open: 730pm

    Show time: 8pm

    Tickets: $15 (general) $10 (concession) from www.smithsalternative.com


    THURSDAY 5 MARCH

    Casey Golden Trio

    Since 2010, the Casey Golden Trio has consistently played around Australia and

    steadily built a reputation as a force to be reckoned with on the Australian scene.

    They regularly perform at venues such as 505 and Bennetts Lane and they have

    recorded feature sets for ABC Classic FM, ABC Jazz and several other radio

    stations across the country. Based on the achievements of the trio, Golden was a

    finalist in the jazz category of the APRA Professional Development Awards in 2013



    Doors open: 730pm

    Show time: 8pm

    Tickets: $15 (general $10 (concession) from www.smithsalternative.com

    Les Wicks' El Asombrado FREE

    Rochford Street Press is excited to announce the publication of Les Wicks’ 12th title. 
    El Asombrado is available as a free e-book from Rochford Street Press. 

    Noel Rowe Poetry Award 2015-6

    The Noel Rowe Poetry Award

    An award in memory of Australian poet and academic Noel Rowe in celebration of his commitment to and support of Australian poetry. This biennial award is for the publication of a first manuscript by an emerging poet of any age. In the spirit of Noel Rowe's support and mentoring of emerging writers, the winning entrant will be given the opportunity to work on their manuscript with one of the judges.
    Noel Rowe (1951-2007) was an inspirational teacher of Australian Literature in the Department of English at the University of Sydney from 1986 to 2007. He was one of the first to teach creative writing courses in poetry at the University of Sydney, through which he encouraged and mentored new poets with humour, wisdom and insight.
    Award guidelines
    • This award is for an unpublished manuscript of between 60-90 A4 pages.
    • The manuscript must not be under consideration for other manuscript awards. The manuscript must not be under consideration with any publisher.
    • Entrants must have previously published at least three poems in print or online literary journals or newspapers.
    • This award is for a first collection of poetry. As such, entrants should not have previously published a collection of poetry more than 40 pages in length.
    • Entrants should be either Australian citizens or have been residing in Australia for at least three years.
    • Entrants can be of any age.
    • The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
    • Judges reserve the right not to make the award if no manuscript received is of a high enough standard.
    • Before publication, the winning entrant must be willing to work on their manuscript with the judges.
    • Except for the winning and shortlisted manuscripts, we are unable to give advice on manuscripts submitted nor enter into correspondence.
    Submission guidelines
    • Manuscripts must be submitted as a PDF or a Word document to: nrpa@vagabondpress.net
    • Entrants should use their full name and manuscript title for the file name. (example: 'YourName_ManuscriptTitle.pdf')
    • Manuscripts must include a title page, contents page and pages must be numbered.
    • In the body of the email include the following information
      • Name, address, DOB, phone number
      • Manuscript title
      • Short bio note (max. 150 words)
      • Publication details of three previously published poems
    Submissions open February 10, 2015 and close July 1, 2015.
    Shortlist announced October 1 and winner announced October 10.
    Judges: Vivian Smith, Jane Gibian & Elizabeth Allen.
    To read more about Noel Rowe, visit Poetry International Web

    Tuesday, February 10, 2015

    Tom Collins Poetry Prize 2014 Short List

    The long wait is over! Judge Nathan Hondros of Regime Books has made his final selections and produced a tantalising Short List. Congratulations to everyone given here. Please find the short listed poems below with authors in alphabetical order.
     
    'Losing Kilter' by Susan Adams NSW
    'the race around     musings creep over' by Geraldine Burrowes VIC
    'Triduum' by Anne Elvey VIC
    'Sharks' by Paul Gardner WA
    ''dust' by Rose Hunt QLD
    'Sazanami' by Ross Jackson WA
    'Islands' by Caitlin Maling WA
    'The Copper Beech' by Claire Potter WA
    'Beneath Parliament Hill' by Claire Potter WA
    'Design' by Catherine Wright WA

    Join FAWWA and Voice Box at The Fly Trap in Fremantle for the Prize Giving on February 23rd at 7pm.

    larf


    CALL FOR SHORT POEMS

    Submissions are invited for the Spring issue of NOON: journal of the short poem. The provisional deadline is 31st March. Please see noonpoetry.com for guidelines, etc.

    Philip Rowland, editor
    NOON: journal of the short poem
    Tokyo, Japan

    Sunday, February 08, 2015

    Writ Poetry Review presents ...


    Hmmm ... Friday 13th. Don't walk under a ladder :-)

    Geelong Writers eNews

    Geelong Writers First Event for 2015
     
    Polygots 2015
     

    Venue: Geelong West Library, 153A Pakington Street

    Date: Wednesday 25th February 2015
    Time: 6 for 6:30 pm to 8:00 Sharp


    Programme outline:

    6:00         Doors open / Book sales set up / collect gold coin donations
    6:30 - 6:35  Welcome: Sophia Shen, PresidentGW [5 mins.]
    6:35 - 6:50  Earl Livings [1st reading 15 mins.]
    6:50 - 7:05  Marie Goldsworthy [1st bracket 15mins.]
    7:00 - 7:25  Julie Maclean [25 mins.with intro]
    7:25 - 7:35  Marie Goldsworthy [2nd bracket 10 mins.]
    7:35 - 7:45  Earl Livings [2nd bracket 10 mins.]

    7:50 - 7:55  Sophia Shen: Farewell [5 mins.]

     Everybody Welcome to this event as prelude to Saturday's Pako Fest.
    As a multicultural event you are encouraged to invite friends and wear national dress!

    Friday, February 06, 2015

    Joseph Tawadros - ABC FM tomorrow at Midday




    MUSIC MAKERS

    Joseph Tawadros - restless traveller and oud ambassador
    Sat 07 Feb
    "This instrument is just awesome, and rocks!" Joe Tawadros's thoughts about the oud when he was only 10 years old.









    FREQUENCY GUIDE

    The world's most beautiful music, whatever you're doing, wherever you are. To find out how to listen ABC Classic FM where you live, click on the map.
    Tell us about your reception of ABC Classic FM. It will help us to improve our service.
    The ABC's Reception Advice Website has extensive information on all broadcast frequencies for television, radio and digital services, as well as practical advice on improving your reception.

    Find your frequency

    Interview by Ralph Wessman at 'Communion' magazine


    What poetry is in the News?

    Take advantage of the big price reduction


    Sean M. Whelan Workshop
    Sunday 15th Feb. 2015.  1 - 3pm
    Mattie Furphy House cnr Wood & Kirkwood St., Swanbourne



    Cut into the past and the future leaks out.

    Creating poetry from the news. Sean will show you examples of his own poetry where he has used true life events to create an alternative narrative to the real world. He will then provide newspapers and magazine articles as prompts to take your own poetry on a different direction.


    WAPI/Conc    $30
    Standard Price            $45.


    To book click on the following link: http://www.trybooking.com/112752

    Wednesday, February 04, 2015

    Ron Pretty Poetry Prize Longlist


    To tell it like it is ...


    Fiona KatauskasFiona Katauskas' work has also appeared in ABC's The DrumNew Matilda, The Sydney Morning HeraldThe AgeThe AustralianThe Financial Review and Scribe's Best Australian political cartoon anthologies.