'China takes lead in greens race'

Read it to believe it at http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090811/BUSINESS/708119986/1005

Stylus Journal's evaluation of the state of Australian Poetry

Interesting review of The Best Australian Poems 2008 in Stylus Journal by Simon Patton. And some interesting poetry selected by guest poetry ed, Jill Jones.

Go to http://www.styluspoetryjournal.com/main/master.asp?id=938

Congratulations, Rachel!

Here's the good news from the Australian Poetry Centre:

The Australian Poetry Centre and the LongLines Poetry Selection Committee is pleased to announce that they have selected the following four applicants to attend the Macquarie Group Foundation LongLines Varuna Poetry Workshop (5-11 October) at Varuna, The Writers’ House as part of the APC New Poets Program:

Ann de Hugard (VIC)
Michelle Leber (VIC)
Rachel Petridis (WA)
Chloe Wilson (VIC)

Congratulations to the four selected poets, and thanks to all the great poets who applied.

Blake redefined

in a local UK paper, as reported by David Birkenshaw:

KNOWLEDGE of angels, William Blake, songs of inner sense and of experience, £3

[1] I celebrate myself, and sing myself, (from Song of Myself)

I loaf and invite my soul

Walt Whitman

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,
I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, formed from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back awhile sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.

Paul McCartney & Allen Ginsberg - The Ballad of the Skeletons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZvzdzwPVZU&NR=1

Fun with Words

See if you can figure out what these words have in common.

1 Banana
2 Dresser
3 Grammar
4 Potato
5 Revive
6 Uneven
7 Assess

Give it another try Look at each word carefully.

(You'll kick yourself when you discover the answer.)
This Is Cool.

Answer: No, it is not that they all have at least 2 double letters. I will post the rest of the answer tomorrow.

The Gormley sculptures at Lake Ballard

An eerie sight in the WA Goldfields near Site 20 of the Golden Quest Discovery Trail are the 51 life-sized statues that form the "Inside Australia" exhibition by internationally renowned artist Antony Gormley through an initiative of the Perth International Arts Festival. The Statues are situated on part of the major salt Lake system for the Northern Goldfields - Lake Ballard near the town of Menzies.

The work is an installation of black abstracted steel figures standing in a 7 square kilometre area of Lake Ballard - a salt-lake which is an extreme example of the beauty of the Western Australian outback. Sunrise and sunset are the best time to walk through this extensive installation of sculptures in the landscape.

Locals in the Menzies community contributed by having their naked bodies scanned. The resulting scans were used as the basis for making accurate concentrated forms which allow attitudes and emotions embedded in posture to be revealed. The resulting sculptures cast in a special alloy of elements taken from Western Australia are life-size in height but reduced to one third of their original body volume. They are intense, taut, stick-like body-forms that will stand out against the brilliant white of the salt-lake.

Apology and a Link to 'What Dylan said to the band ...' ha ha ha

I apologise for my silence. I have been busily trying to select poems of place for a publication of a collection by ECU's International Centre for Landscape and Language, as well as reading some titles for an omnibus review, plus trying to pack up my study and two bedrooms before carpet layers appear late this week - and watching Test cricket from England.

But in my screen-gazing moments I have come across a heavy putdown which I'd like to share with you:
Really? Is this an article or has your site been hacked by a keyboard monkey? FFS

It's from an article on what Dylan said to the band at that famous moment when he went 'electric' - read it at http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2009/07/bob-dylan-1.html

Hearing Helen Hagemann read from 'Evangelyne & other poems'

Today I took myself off to Lunchlines at Edith Cowan University (this semester in its new time slot of Monday 12.30 to 1.20pm) to hear my long time friend, poet and novelist, Helen Hagemann, read.

It was a pleasure walking into the stale old classroom in Building 17 to see some friendly faces I knew from when I taught there. I bought a copy of Evangelyne off Helen - a handsome hand-sized red book with stitched binding and fold-over cover (a style I really like myself).

Helen read from a new poetry collection in manuscript before reading from her second novel, a work in progress. The narrative sense and the imaginative similes kept the audience engrossed, both in the poetry and the prose. In fact, she shared with us her love of the prose poem, and illustrated this love with a haibun from her book, Ball Doyen(ne), pg 17. I notice there are a number of prose poems and haibun in Evangelyne, so I am looking forward to investigating that text.

Helen laughed at herself as she gave the audience (mainly present day students) 'motherly advice' about getting up at Lunchlines and reading to your first audience. Her confidence and style weren't there when she first stood up at ECU some years ago!

Evangelyne and Other Poems is published by the Australian Poetry Centre as part of the APC New Poets Program (supported by the Sidney Myer Fund), PO Box 284, BALACLAVA 3183. Visit their website at http://www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au

FYI, a haiku magazine

Read haiku, then maybe send them your own: http://www.roadrunnerjournal.net/pages81/haiku81_revealed.htm

Read Write Poem refreshed

A fun & potentially useful site for poets: http://readwritepoem.org/

From Dana Guthrie Martin:

Wouldn't it be great if there was a site that had groups, private messaging, forums, status messages, profile pages and loads of poetry-related content all in one place -- completely ad-free, and all poetry, all the time? What if it were free? Too good to be true, you say?

Check out the new Read Write Poem.

Les Murray says:

I love poetry for the unemployment it causes, for how it constrains one to work always beyond one’s own intelligence, for its not requiring one to rise socially. — Les Murray

I'm proud to be in Southerly's Long Paddock now ...

Check out a new poem at http://www.brandl.com.au/Southerly/southerly%20longpaddock/1-69/burke.html

Now that I'm a pensioner ...

... people are sending me age jokes. If you know how height challenged I am, the accompanying cartoon is even funnier. (Thanks, Patrick.)

'New Tricks' group writes Six Word Stories

In my Wednesday writing group, calleed New Tricks and held at Tom Collins House from 6.30pm each Wednesday, we had a go at Hemingway's famous six word short story project. His was masterful:

For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.

With that as our benchmark, we sat in thoughtful silence and composed our works. In no particular order, here are some of our efforts:

Fate - Not for the feint hearted. (David)

Broken wing. Broken lives. Fragile glue. (Jeanette)

Wanted: Unwanted dog for lonely widow. (Denise)

Stop breathing. Not blue. Black (Jean)

Thin skins. The art of rejections. (Carolyn)

Marriott doors blew open. Last orders (Andrew)

Come join us any Wednesday! More info at FAWWA 9384 4771 or burkeandre(at)gmail(dot)come

There's a Big Lesson to be Learnt in the rendering of this poem by Rachel Loden

For an expansive and illuminating essay on Rachel Loden's poem AFFIDAVIT, go to http://stevenfama.blogspot.com/2009/07/poetry-from-law-part-3.html

I find it quite brilliant and so interesting. Please take the time to read it completely.

choice Poll on Parallel Import of Books

The Productivity Commission’s recent report into the recommendation for unrestricted importation of books has highlighted the debate between, consumers, publishers and authors on the cost of books in Australia.

Make your choice now.

Participate in the Poll on the Parallel Import of Books at http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=106956&catId=100167&tid=100008&p=1&title=Poll%3A%20Parallel%20import%20of%20books

Faber and Faber's Cover Art Gallery - 18 examples

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2009/jul/10/publishing-fiction?picture=350087660

Happy Birthday, Hemingway

To celebrate Ernest Hemingway's birthday, I'd love to publish one of his short stories, my favourite works in his oeuvre. Space is a problem, as you can see, but I will publish a short story which he is reported to have said is one of the best he ever wrote:

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Six words, carrying so much emotional impact. Understatement and subtlety are two of the strongest tools in any writer's box of tricks, so have a go yourself. It is easy to be flippant and cutesy, but those stories don't mean a lot. Try to write a moving short story in just half a dozen words. If you can't post it to me through the comments panel, send it to burkeandre(at)gmail(dot)com

Now, honour the great writer with your words. Good luck!

Frank McCourt RIP

One of my favourite books of modern times is Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, the hard-working Irish author who died this week. His book humbly and gently painted a picture of a hard life growing up in Limerick in Ireland, before taking off for USA as a young man. It took him many decades to come to the right stance toward his material, but when he let the story tell itself, without anger, self-pity or any self-aggrandisement - just the details - it spoke volumes. A warm sense of humanity lifted the book above the pack and made it a modern classic among other Irish classics.

An interview with and article about Frank McCourt can be read at Newsweek's website http://www.newsweek.com/id/207589/page/1

'Renga is the prototype of the New Sentence!' Kent Johnson

'Samizdat' poetry mag is no more, but the Samizdat Blog is alive and vibrant, run by poet Robert Archambeau at http://samizdatblog.blogspot.com/ Recently there was a posting about Poetry/Not Poetry which elicited a response from the witty and the prolific Kent Johnson. In part, Kent said a very interesting and pertinent (to my poetic) thing. I quote:

"The other thing I was thinking you could qualify/clarify is that you are speaking about the *Western tradition*. It's very interesting that Chinese poets in the late Tang, for instance, or Japanese renga poets for centuries--and long before the Romantics--were practicing a very elliptical, even "postmodern," "discontinuous language" kind of poetry (Renga is the prototype of the New Sentence!). Of course, some of this classical work has helped make our own modern and "post" period in English-language poetics what it is, starting with Pound, and so on, so it's not like it's new. But in other ways, we're just beginning to appreciate how ahead of "us" (by something like 1000 years!) the Chinese, for example, were."

The Renga's similarity with the 'New Sentence' and the disjunctive/conjunctive style in some contemporary poetic styles has been of interest to me for sometime. However, in my experience, it is difficult to teach the various schemes and rules of linking in renga without smothering the creativity of the writer. The further you look into the Japanese forms, the more rules and set traditions you seem to discover! Renga and Renku are from another culture and another time, virtually, but to approximate the general feeling of the creation and completion of a 36 link kasen renga is a great satisfaction and a great education to Western writers.

When I first read LangPo, I was not impressed. It seemed like scribbled notes in a first draft toward a poem, unedited and confused. But I am not adverse to wading into new work to see how it is writ, so - with the help of Ron Silliman's blog at http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/ - I read more and looked back at the history and philosophy of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E School. The wit and style of Charles Bernstein helped me enormously as it opened a door into one area of the work. Ron Silliman's discourse in various places, on the web and in books, on The New Sentence, opened my eyes to the linking character of the style. Lyn Heijinian's My Life was a grand example of a sustained work which stayed together and grew into a synergistic whole through Language poetics. It didn't take me long, either, to realise the connection to Gertrude Stein's theories and writing practice, in Tender Buttons for one.

But here I have been open-minded rambling without examples or references. I will expand on these thoughts and write a more expansive essay for days to come.

Daily Issa

over one thicket
a custom-made shroud...
evening mist


-Issa, 1805

http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

What is a Poet? and its companion question, What is Poetry?

A lively symposium on 'What is a Poet?' with Helen Vindler, Louis Simpson, Charles Bernstein, Hank Lazer and others, now yours to enjoy at http://www.writing.upenn.edu/library/What-Is-a-Poet/

Photo of the final panel shows - Hank Lazer, Denise Levertov, Charles Altrieri, David Ignatow, Marjorie Perloff, Gerald Stern, Louis Simpson.(hidden), Helen Vendler, Charles Bernstein, Gregory Jay

From Eureka Street today, the eletronic newspaper of the Jesuit in Australia - :

The meddling priest and the Redfern prophet
by FRANK BRENNAN

Last week, Pope Benedict gave Kevin Rudd a copy of his new encyclical Caritas in Veritate. Rudd gave the Pope a copy of the National Apology. I wonder what the radical Redfern priest Ted Kennedy would have made of this exchange of literary gifts.

Now, read on at http://www.eurekastreet.com.au

Elvis Costello 'My Life'

Haiku

any grass serves
as the dog's toilet...
red leaves falling


-Issa, 1814

http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

Woolf's lighthouse up for sale

One of Cornwall's best loved beaches is set to go under the hammer later.

Upton Towans beach in Gwithian and the lighthouse on nearby Godrevy Island are widely thought to have inspired the Virginia Woolf novel To the Lighthouse.

As a child, the author spent many holidays in a St Ives guest house from which she could see the lighthouse.

Read more at http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=122313651194&h=DQcWR&u=EzB-E&ref=nf

'New Tricks' Classes growing steadily at Tom Collins House

Last night we concentrated on Dialogue, and next Wednesday on Description. Each week we will look at one aspect of either poetry or prose, or a subject that fits both (like Description does). I sent everyone home this week with a copy of Collectors, a short story by Peter Cowan, fabulous West Australian writer.
So, no matter what stage of your writing career you're at, 'New Tricks' can expand your knowledge and interest in the craft and joy of writing.

Starts at 6.30pm each Wednesday (closes 9pm) at Tom Collins House, in the Historic Precinct to the side of Allen Park in Kirkwood Street, Swanbourne.

Mesostomatics For Free!

http://www.euph0r1a.net/mesostomatic/

'New Tricks' classes Tomorrow night at Tom Collins House

A series of informal classes by one of Western Australia's most experienced Creative Writing teachers, Dr ANDREW BURKE, continues at Tom Collins House from 6.30 to 9pm on Wednesday 8 July 2009, and continues each Wednesday evening thereafter.

All are welcome.

Subjects covered will include short fiction, formal prose writing, poetry, and 'aspects of the novel' - The pace and character of the classes will be dictated by the people participating. The main joy of these sessions is sharing with others and creating under the guidance of an experienced writer and workshop leader. Andrew's notes are also highly valued and are only available at these sessions. (Refreshments provided.)

Cost: $20 per session, $15 unwaged/pension/disadvantaged.
Time: 6.30 - 9pm Wednesdays
Venue: TOM COLLINS HOUSE, cnr Wood and Kirkwood Streets, Swanbourne - set in the trees next to Allen Park.

For more information contact Fellowship of Australian Writers WA
Email: admin@fawwa.org.au Telophone: +61 8 9384 4771
or Andrew Burke at burkeandre(at)gmail(dot)com

Kangaroo at Serpentine Dam picnic

Photos taken yesterday at Serpentine Dam just outside of Perth by intrepid photographer and poet, Glen Phillips. I hasten to add, we don't often have kangaroos this docile that they will come and eat out of your hand. The ones in the wild are precisely that: wild, and dangerous at times. This is Glen's wife Rita generously feeding the little creature.

Here's the first stanza of a poem by Glen, written before, as the sub title tells you:

KANGAROOS AT SERPENTINE FALLS
(during the struggle for independence in East Timor)

They came down from the hills
tentatively at first,
ears twitching noble noses
raised to the wind
as if deciding that the offence
of our human odours—
the richness of benzines
from cooling car exhausts,
charred chops on the barbecues,
whiffs of aftershave or underarm—
was one worthy
to be endured these two centuries
of ethnic wild-life cleansing.

POETICA 3pm TODAY: 'Birds' by Judith Wright

Birds by Judith Wright
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/poetica/stories/2009/2574970.htm
The poems originally collected in Birds were written in the 1950s, when Judith Wright was living by the lush rainforest of Tamborine Mountain in South East Queensland. This fourth edition, dedicated to her daughter and published by the National Library of Australia in 2003, commemorates 25 years since the poems were last published as a single collection.

One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Jack Kerouac's Big Sur

Here's the full synopsis of this film, showing soon at Revelation Film Frestival, Astor Cinema, Perth.

He was called the vibrant new voice of his generation -- the avatar of the Beat movement. In 1957, on the heels of the triumphant debut of his groundbreaking novel, On The Road, Jack Kerouac was a literary rock star, lionized by his fans and devotees. But along with sudden fame and media hype came his unraveling, and, by 1960, Kerouac was a jaded cynic, disaffected from the Beat culture he helped create and tortured by self-doubt, addiction and depression.

Desperate for spiritual salvation and solitude, as well as a place to dry out, he secretly retreats to Lawrence Ferlinghetti's rustic cabin in the Big Sur woods. But his plan is foiled by his own inner demons, and what ensues that summer becomes the basis for Kerouac's gritty, yet lyrically told, semi-autobiographical novel, Big Sur.

One Fast Move or Im Gone: Kerouacs Big Sur, takes the viewer back to Ferlinghetti's cabin and to the Beat haunts of San Francisco and New York City for an unflinching, cinematic look at the compelling events the book is based on. The story unfolds in several synchronous ways: through the narrative arc of Kerouac's prose, told in voice-over by actor and Kerouac interpreter, John Ventimiglia (of HBOs The Sopranos); through first-hand accounts and recollections of Kerouacs contemporaries, whom many of the characters in the book are based on such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Carolyn Cassady, Joyce Johnson and Michael McClure; by the interpretations and reflections of writers, poets, actors and musicians who have been deeply influenced by Kerouacs unique gifts like Tom Waits, Sam Shepard, Robert Hunter, Patti Smith, Aram Saroyan, Donal Logue and S.E. Hinton; and by stunning, High Definition visual imagery set to original music composed and performed by recording artist, Jay Farrar of Son Volt, with additional performance by Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie.

Congratulations, Scott, for Winning the 2009 PressPress Chapbook Award

The judging of the 2009 PressPress Chapbook Award has been finalised.

The full shortlist is (in alphabetical order):
Mandy Beaumont Breaking Open The Night With Fire
Anne Elvey Claimed by Country
Kit Kelen The Whole Forest Dancing
Jeanina Leane Dark Secrets: After Dreaming (AD 1887 – 1961)
Scott-Patrick Mitchell songs for the ordinary mass
Barbara Orlowska-Westwood Firing Neurones

The entries for the 2009 PressPress Chapbook were of a very high standard with significant experimentation and originality. Entries came from Canada, China, New Zealand, the USA and all Australian states - with a significant contingent from Western Australia this year. There was one bi-lingual entry.

After some tough decision-making the judges chose Scott-Patrick Mitchell's songs for the ordinary mass as the winner of the 2009 Award.

With best wishes


Chris Mansell
PressPress
http://www.presspress.com.au

*COMING UP AT PERTH POETRY CLUB:* 4 JULY: GEOFF LEMON (Melbourne)*

On 4 July 2009 Perth Poetry Club is thrilled to present, indirect from Melbourne, the word-twisting, page-seducing, slam-winning, grant-attracting GEOFF LEMON. Geoff is the Poetry Editor of *harvest *magazine and formerly of *Voiceworks*, he convenes Melbourne’s monthly Wordplay readings, and helped found Wordplay Collective. *A six-time poetry slam winner*, he's played shows and festivals across Australia and supported musicians like TZU, True Live, Paris Wells and The Church's lead singer Steve Kilbey. On the page, his poems, stories, and articles have been published in *Best Australian Stories*, *Blue* *Dog*, *HEAT*, *Island*, and *Going Down Swinging*, and he also writes music journalism for *MTV *and *Beat*. His first book of poems, *Sunblind*, was published by Picaro Press late last year. For more, visit www.wordplay.org.au

*11 JULY: Helen Hagemann*
Helen Hagemann has poetry and prose published in major Australian literary journals. In 2004, she won an ASA poetry mentorship studying with NSW poet, Jean Kent. In 2008, she won a Varuna Longlines/ Poetry workshop in Katoomba, NSW. In association with the Australian Poetry Centre's New Poets Program her collection, *Evangelyne & Other Poems,* was published this year. Helen has an MA in Creative Writing, teaches prose at the Fremantle Arts Centre, writes prose poetry, and is currently working on a second novel.


18 JULY: Mike Williams
25 JULY: Mar Bucknell + Sue Clennell. MC Mark Hutchins.

Plus open stage. MC Janet Jackson (Helen Child is away). EVERY SATURDAY
2-4pm in the Red Bar at The Court hotel & restaurant, 50 Beaufort Street,
Perth. Free entry. More info at www.perthpoetryclub.com. Enquiries:
perthpoetryclub@gmail.com or Janet 0406 624 578

Thought for the Day (among many for you, I hope)

"Those who cast the ballots decide nothing.
Those who count the ballots decide everything."
--Joseph Stalin

'New Tricks' Creative Writing Lessons start @ TCH this Wednesday 6.30pm

A series of informal classes by one of Western Australia's most experienced Creative Writing teachers, Dr ANDREW BURKE, begins at Tom Collins House from 6.30 to 9pm on Wednesday 1 July 2009, and continues each Wednesday evening thereafter.

All are welcome, FAWWA members and non-members alike.

Subjects covered will include short fiction, formal prose writing, poetry, and 'aspects of the novel' - The pace and character of the classes will be dictated by the people participating. The main joy of these sessions is sharing with others and creating under the guidance of an experienced writer and workshop leader. Andrew's notes are also highly valued and are only available at these sessions. (Refreshments provided.)

Cost: $20 per session, $15 unwaged/pension/disadvantaged.
Time: 6.30 - 9pm Wednesdays
Venue: TOM COLLINS HOUSE, cnr Wood and Kirkwood Streets, Swanbourne - set in the trees next to Allen Park.

For more information contact Fellowship of Australian Writers WA
Email: admin@fawwa.org.au Telophone: +61 8 9384 4771
or Andrew Burke at burkeandre(at)gmail(dot)com

First official poem by England's first female poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy

How it makes of your face a stone

that aches to weep, of your heart a fist,

clenched or thumping, sweating blood, of your tongue

an iron latch with no door. How it makes of your right hand

a gauntlet, a glove-puppet of the left, of your laugh

a dry leaf blowing in the wind, of your desert island discs

hiss hiss hiss, makes of the words on your lips dice

that can throw no six. How it takes the breath

away, the piss, makes of your kiss a dropped pound coin,

makes of your promises latin, gibberish, feedback, static,

of your hair a wig, of your gait a plankwalk. How it says this –

politics – to your education education education; shouts this –

Politics! – to your health and wealth; how it roars, to your

conscience moral compass truth, POLITICS POLITICS POLITICS.


Its title? Unfortunately POLITICS. I say 'unfortunately' because it would have been somewhat more subtle if that information was left until last.

Prose Poems - a post to read

As you would have seen recently, I am attracted to the prose poem, as in Water Colour Morning, a poetic form whose definition is not fully clear in my mind, so it is even more interesting to work within its vague borders. Yet I still force free verse (so called) into form, as in the six line verses of On Chapman Hill. So, I am often attracted to discussion about the prose Poem. If you are similarly interested, there is an interesting posting at Best American Poetry's blog, http://thebestamericanpoetry.typepad.com/the_best_american_poetry/2009/06/prose-poem-fact-or-fiction-by-sally-ashton.html It does take you back to the original posting which sparked her thinking, so be patient: at the original posting one must scroll down quite some way to approach the subject.

I hope you enjoy it.

'New Tricks' Creative Writing Lessons

A series of informal classes by one of Western Australia's most experienced Creative Writing teachers, Dr ANDREW BURKE, begins at Tom Collins House from 6.30 to 9pm on Wednesday 1 July 2009, and continues each Wednesday evening thereafter.

All are welcome, FAWWA members and non-members alike.

Subjects covered will include short fiction, formal prose writing, poetry, and 'aspects of the novel' - The pace and character of the classes will be dictated by the people participating. The main joy of these sessions is sharing with others and creating under the guidance of an experienced writer and workshop leader. Andrew's notes are also highly valued and are only available at these sessions. (Refreshments provided.)

Cost: $20 per session, $15 unwaged/pension/disadvantaged.
Time: 6.30 - 9pm Wednesdays
Venue: TOM COLLINS HOUSE, cnr Wood and Kirkwood Streets, Swanbourne - set in the trees next to Allen Park.

EXTREME READING An essay by John Olson

Here's an essay worth reading: http://stevenfama.blogspot.com/2009/06/adventures-in-pharmakon.html

Water colour morning

The farm is in water colour this morning as the rain falls and rests on leaves and in puddles on firebreaks and tracks. Down the pebbly slope from the house, a burnt out tractor rusts faster for this wintry attention, a small pool where the farmer once sat. In the middle of the green paddock, fallow now since the last owner left with his paint brushes and easels, a kangaroo stands head held high, stock still in the rain, sniffing the wind. At first glance he could be mistaken for a tall stump of a burnt out tree – he’s as grey as weathered timber and shadows on this overcast morning camouflage him like areas of burnt bark. His mob moves in the trees beyond the fence where the posts are dappled with lichen on the leeward side and raindrops hang from the wires like thousands of birds’ eyes watching the sun struggle through grey clouds. Far in the distance, far beyond the township which is 17 kilometres away as the eagle flies, lies Geographe Bay. It can be seen in water colour from here on Chapman Hill, framed by the wide glass doors which open onto a raised wooden deck – kangaroo, tree plantation, distant paddocks with cattle, Busselton township, then the bay. Down in the right hand bottom corner, the artist’s old studio sits like a scribbly signature, rough hewn timber planks for walls and rusting corrugated iron roof, bush path to its weathered door overgrown with brown rocks painted yellow on top to light a walker’s way by moonlight. Because the putty has dried out, the glass of a window in the old studio falls and crashes to the cement floor, startling the roo in the field who bounds into the plantation, scaling the fence with one effortless leap.

24 June 2009

On Chapman Hill

On Chapman Hill
for Pablo and Jenny


Let’s walk to get the city out
of our bones. I’ll show you red gums,
xanthorrhoea with spears, flame-tailed
black cockatoos — no strangers here
unless you hear the protea’s accent
on the evening breeze.

See, kangaroos’ paws break
the tractor tread marks, while
off that stony corner a body rusts,
wings and bonnets, flat trays
and drive shafts, welded
wildly by the elements.

Tonight, you’ll hear boobooks
stretch silence horizon to horizon
in the bright moonlight. It sends
Pancho into a barking frenzy,
shouting down the ghost in the trees -
attack his best line of defence.

Sure as day follows night, there’s
growth in decay. This land, once
Noongar, is now plotted and pieced. By
the water tank, old Buddha stands silent,
eyes hooded among raindrops sparkling
on gum leaves in sudden sunlight.

Fringe Gallery Tomorrow Night Poetry Reading

Event: Geoff Lemon and Dick Alderson at Fringe Gallery
"Tall Fabulous Poets!"
What: Performance
Host: Terry Farrell
Start Time: Friday, June 26 at 7:00pm
End Time: Friday, June 26 at 10:00pm
Where: Fringe Gallery
94 Bawdan Street, Willagee.

$5 to get in.

The acoustics are great.
See you there.

This is just to remind Australian writers that fourW (Wagga Wagga Writers Writers group annual anthology) is open for submission until June 30th.

This will be the 20th annual edition. Launches in Wagga, Sydney & Melbourne.

http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/humss/booranga/submission-guidelines.html

PS: I am out of town, without internet connection at present, so messages will be infrequent. But lots of photos coming up next week!

Put Your Hands Up for The Kimberley is The Wilderness Society's campaign to help keep the greedy WA government and developers out of one of the most ancient and beautiful landscapes in the world. This is certainly an Australian asset, but it is also a World asset. Here you have a huge slice of the planet largely uncorrupted by humans. We have already let too much destructive industry feast on the natural spoils of this unique area - Don't let apathy rub out another pristine corner of the Natural World!

Go to http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/kimberley?utm_source=apache&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=kimberley and put your hands up for The Kimberley.

Chapman Hill Pics

Beckett on a Hills Hoist in the Australian Bush

Back when I was in China, my eldest son Miles sent me a Beckett T-shirt as a birthday present. I still wear it, with the warmth of love for son and author next to my heart. Here it hangs on a great Aussie invention, the merry-go-round washing line, by the house we are staying in on Chapman Hill.

On Chapman Hill

Ah, walking in the bush brushes away the city cobwebs in a second. Lots of rain here in recent days, but sudden sunshine breaks through the clouds and warms up our limbs before the rains come again. As the house runs on rainwater, the water is very welcome, and I'm certain the farmers hereabouts are cock-a-hoop. More photos of beautiful native plants to come, but everytime I've ventured forth I've had three dogs with me, two on leads, so taking photos is not easy! I could press the shutter button with my nose I s'pose ...

Also a poem waits in the wings which I've been writing on and off for a week now. Draft after draft is titled 'final draft' until I look at it again, or read it out aloud to the birds who sing better than I ever will.

Can Creative Writing be taught?

It has long been a question between writers and academics, Can Creative Writing be taught? To throw in my tuppence worth, I believe experienced writers can share their techniques and their learning from their journey so far with students, thereby cutting the gestation period to fruition of any writing talent a student may have. Even if there is no latent talent there, a full creative writing course will help any student read with more comprehension and perception. That's worth all the effort a good CW course will ask of a student.

This question has been around for a long time and has been tackled by many insiders and outsiders of university Creative Writing programs - so I point you towards this New Yorker article http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/06/08/090608crat_atlarge_menand?currentPage=all

An anecdote: Once, as president of an august writing body, I addressed a group of novice writers in an out of town writing group. They listened very politely to my motivational speech about giving your all to writing - putting creative writing before all else, including making money, personal relationships, supporting family, etc. Afterwards, over tea and cake, a mature gentleman came up beside me and said, "We're just a suburban tennis club, you know - We're not bloody Wimbledon!" That night, I learnt a lot!

SALT New Title from MARION CAMPBELL

Hey, here's an interesting title from an author best known for her novels, Marion May Campbell - SALT's new publication of a book of poems Fragments of a Paper Witch. And during June you can buy it for 33% off. Good deal.

As I reported before about SALT... They're now giving you a huge 33% off ALL books till the end of June. Use the coupon code G3SRT453 when in the checkout to benefit. Don't forget if you spend £30 or $30 you get free shipping too.

Hispirits and Son ...

I'm down near Busselton, a town which sports a shop with the original title of Steptoe and Mum ... It has nothing to do with the following, but I'd like you to check out my eldest son's wisdom at http://www.milesburke.com.au/blog/2009/06/04/learn-to-say-sorry/#comment-360452

foam:e, issue 6 on display

I'm down south in Western Australia, on a chilly and damp day, away from my own computer, with little to say, so I thought I'd direct you to a couple of poems which have been online for a while now but which you may not have seen at foam:e, a magazine which grew out of an old discussion list I used to be on. When I am less lazy, I will key in a new poem I wrote here yesterday. Of course, once you have read my poems, there are a heap of other poems to visit there, and an invitation to submit your own poems from next month.

http://www.foame.org/Issue6/poems/burke.html

Come and celebrate the world's largest population of Humpback whales in Broome SUNDAY 7 JUNE

Come down to Cable Beach to celebrate the inaugural Kimberley Whale Festival in Broome on Sunday the 7th of June!

The Whale Festival is a celebration of the world's largest population of Humpback whales, and a forum to promote the wonders and bio-diversity of the Kimberley Coast.

Events include forming a life-sized human whale on the beach for an aerial photograph (please wear blue for this if you can), an illustration competition for kids, and photography competition for adults (with great prizes including a whale watching trip for 2 with Sentosa Charters), a fish-cake cook-off at Matso's (also with great prizes), and whale and wildlife films in the evening. As part of the show "The Hopeful 3" and "Shadow Play" will be playing at Matsos from 12 - 5.30pm.

Organisers would like to note that this event is not an anti-gas rally, but a celebration of the world's largest population of Humpback whales, and a forum to promote the wonders and bio-diversity of the Kimberley Coast.

Organisers hope that the Whale Festival will become an iconic event on the Kimberley calendar well into the future.

This is a great family day out, and a celebration of the magnificent Western Australian Humpback Whales.

For more info and to volunteer, please see http://kimberleywhalefestival.blogspot.com/

>A THIRD OFF ALL SALT TITLES THROUGHOUT JUNE.

After their wonderful survival activities in recent weeks, SALT Publishing are still in a positive frame of mind, so much so that they are pushing to sell more books by offering you a special June Sale deal on all their titles. Now's your chance to buy those SALT books you've wanted!

A THIRD OFF ALL SALT TITLES THROUGHOUT JUNE


They're now giving you a huge 33% off ALL books till the end of June. Use the coupon code G3SRT453 when in the checkout to benefit. Don't forget if you spend £30 or $30 you get free shipping too.

The Domino Effect - for the rebuilding of New Orleans

Way back in time, in the late 50s and early 60s, when other kids in the neighbournhood were buying and listening to Elvis, I was a big fan of Little Richard and Fats Domino. Now they have met up again, with master blues man BB King, in a concert to help rebuild New Orleans.

Read more about it at http://blog.taragana.com/n/fats-domino-makes-rare-appearance-with-bb-king-little-richard-at-la-fundraising-concert-68299/

(QUOTE)

NEW ORLEANS — Fats Domino rarely emerges from his Louisiana home — and many wondered if he’d show up for “The Domino Effect,” his namesake concert that raises funds to help rebuild schools and playgrounds damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Sure enough, the 81-year-old New Orleans native did show up. He smiled and waved from his private suite overlooking the New Orleans Arena to more than 3,000 cheering people who attended Saturday’s concert to see two of his old friends perform — Little Richard and B.B. King. Domino is an icon in New Orleans, known nearly as much for his reclusiveness as for hits like “Blueberry Hill” and “Ain’t That a Shame.” He was never slated to perform in the benefit that is named after the city’s most famous musician.

Little Richard, at the piano in a sparkly white suite, delivered an energetic set that included “Lucille,” ”Tutti Frutti” and other hits.

Between songs, he reminisced about New Orleans and Domino. Richard’s breakout hit “Tutti Frutti” was recorded at Cosimo Matassa’s studio in New Orleans in 1955.

“I was right here,” Richard said, playing the piano as he talked. “I was right here.” (END QUOTE)