Two New Chapbooks by Andrew Lansdown from Picaro Press

You might like to know that Picaro Press (Warners Bay, NSW) has just published two small collections of Andrew Lansdown's poetry:



1. Consolations: 48 tanka (28 pages)



2. Little Matters: a gathering of 89 haiku & senryu (24 pages)



These chapbooks are available from the publisher http://www.picaropress.com/ for $3.60 each, postage included.

I'll say it again ...

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.


CALVIN COOLIDGE
July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933

from The Group

WARNING!! SPECIAL SEALED POETRY SECTION!!


All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling Oscar Wilde No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers Horace Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing Sylvia Plath A poet's work is to name the unnameable to point at frauds to take sides start arguments shape the world and stop it going to sleep Salman Rushdie Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world Percy Bysshe Shelley Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history Plato Poetry is as precise as geometry Gustave Flaubert Always be a poet even in prose Charles Baudelaire A poem is never finished only abandoned Paul Valery



CLICK BELOW AT OWN RISK!!**



http://larrybuttrose.blogspot.com/2009/08/group-2-poets.html



Poetry is what gets lost in translation Robert Frost There is poetry as soon as we realize that we possess nothing John Cage Poetry the best words in the best order Samuel Taylor Coleridge Painting is silent poetry and poetry is painting that speaks Plutarch To see clearly is poetry prophecy and religion all in one John Ruskin There's no money in poetry but then there's no poetry in money either Robert Graves I talk to God but the sky is empty Sylvia Plath Forever is composed of nows Emily Dickinson A poet can survive everything but a misplint Oscar Wilde

LAUNCH: The Softness of Water by Vivienne Glance, published by Sunline Press

You are invited to celebrate the launch of

“The Softness of Water”
a collection of poems
by Vivienne Glance

Launched by Shane McCauley with Donna Ward

Sunday 27th September 2009

2.30pm - 4.30pm
The Inner Courtyard, Fremantle Arts Centre
1, Finnerty Street, Fremantle

Light refreshments
Music from WAZA Ensemble
and Jen de Ness & Bill Atkinson
Books available for sale $25

Sonnets from Carine Senior High School Students

Recently I visited Carine Senior High School for National Poetry Week where a couple of classes were looking at the Sonnet form. We looked at Sonnets from Shakespeare to Tranter, taking them on a whirlwind journey from the revolutionary forms created by the Bard through to John Tranter's hundred sonnets in his earlier collection, Crying In Early Infancy.

Their teacher, Helen McCormick, kindly sent me a couple of sonnets by two of the students, so - with their permission - I will share them with you now.

Sonnet #4,359
by KALE CROSBIE

Shall I compare thee to a bowl of cereal?
Thou art more lovely - though contain less whole grains.
While a bowl of cereal is a tasty morning snack
and contains many nutrients essential to well being,
I believe you could far outpace one in a triathlon,
Or maintain a better golfing handicap.
Cereals wither by milk's souring course untrimmed,
But thy eternal dairy shall not rot!
I would also like to point out that such a bowl
Does not have the mental capacity to operate simple devices
Such as an umbrella, doorknob or wooden box,
Whereas you exceed at such activities.
So long as brunch can provide us with these nutrients,
So long lives my preference for you over Uncle Toby.


*

The Model of Modern Society
by Hannah Richards

Her hair is ruler straight with multi-hued tips,
eyelashes flick dark black while lines are drawn.
A tan visage, cherry-licking lips.
Glass reflects a sleek, short silk, slimly worn.

A diamond bag worth half the week's earnings
clutched at her side, the nails creamy French fakes.
The men sigh, brought back to common yearnings,
women cry, oh how that jealousy aches.

Replications stuck in people’s faces.
At new birth, will she be remembered?
Girls; dreaming of re-walking her paces.
Sly reporters; her story dismembered.

To be famous, to be rich, to be hot;
aspirations are founded on these, are they not?

*

Thank you also to Betty Bryant who organised the visit, and to Robin (spl?) Archer, teacher, and the great librarians I met who were nothing like the ones I see causing such havoc on ABC TV.


PS: I apologise to Kale who I had as Kate for about two days - sorry about that.

Thursday evening @ 6.30pm at PLANET BOOKS be there for the launch of ANDREW TAYLOR'S The Unhaunting

Hear ye! Hear ye!

Entries are now being accepted for the KSP Short Fiction Award 2009:


Writers of all ages are invited to submit their work.
Young writers (20 years and under) are encouraged to enter the
Mundaring National Young Writers Awards
where they may submit their work for FREE!

Cash prizes are awarded, and winners will be invited to read
at the Celebration of Katharine’s Birthday
KSP Writers’ Centre, 3 pm Sunday, December 6, 2009.

A fee of $7.00 per story applies for all Open Category entries with a limit of one story per person.


For further information, including Conditions of Entry,
please contact KSP on 9294 1872
or visit their website http://www.kspf.iinet.net.au.

My visit to ECU Bunbury today (for National Poetry Week)

Dr Donna Mazza, author and academic, arranged for a poetry workshop and reading down at ECU Bunbury today. I enjoyed every minute of it - well, I'm like that with an audience, aren't I. The audience was mainly from the local campus, but a small number of people did come from Margaret River and Busselton, etc. I was flattered that people would drive out of their way to hear me.

My new book, Beyond City Limits, did sell well, so I was doubly pleased.

Pics: The small crowd are reading entries in the instant poetry competition, which Donna organised great prizes for. And the formal photo shows myself, the boss Robert Irvine, and the indefatigable Donna Mazza.

Today, 2-hour Poetry Workshop at ECU Bunbury Campus

If you are down Bunbury way Thursday 3 September, come to ECU's South West Campus, Building 5, for a two hour Poetry Workshop lead by yours truly, starting at 10am, then a poetry Reading & Slam, with prizes, after. It will be fun, I assure you, and it is all part of Australia's National Poetry Week.

Andrew Taylor interviewed by Peter Jeffery this Friday

Hear ANDREW TAYLOR on 6EBA (95.3 FM) around 4pm this Friday in an interview with Peter Jeffery. This Arts program is one of the few places in Perth media where poetry is often featured and promoted.

Andrew Taylor's new poetry collection, The Unhaunting, has just been released by SALT Books. It will be launched by Dennis Haskell at Planet Books, Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley, 6.30pm on Thursday 10th September.

STOP PRESS:

The title poem from Annamaria Weldon's collection The Roof Milkers (Sunline Press 2008) will be featured on ABC Radio National's Poetica this Saturday 5th September.

Couple more snaps from Perth Spring Poetry Festival

Peter Jeffery, chair of WA Poets Inc, addresses the panel in his inimitable style; Shane McCauley, assistent editor of Indigo magazine, waits for the next question.

Images from today at the Spring Poetry Festival, Perth

Amber Fresh and Janet Jackson (reading); Graham Nunn, guest of the Fest, reading; Andrew Taylor reading. In the audience: Maureen Sexton, Coral Carter, Amanda Joy (guest of the Fest), Scott Patrick-Mitchell in black. Poem-painting by Annie Otness.

'Beyond City Limits' should be in hand Tuesday

BEYOND CITY LIMITS is a book of poems of place, published by the International Centre for Landscape and Language (ICLL) at Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, Western Australia, and edited by Glen Phillips and Andrew Taylor. I thank them profusely for their help along the way of selection, construction and production.

From Nov 13, 2006 and Notes on the Poetry Festival and National Poetry Week

Snap: Learning & Teaching

no poem is perfect
i keep telling myself
but in a whisper
hoping i won't hear.


This first verse was from a slightly longer snap, written way back in China. Shawna, a reader, pointed it out to me.

The Perth Spring Poetry Festival started last night, launched by Phillip Mead, with Chair of WA Poets Inc Peter Jeffery organising, MCing, and being the busybee he has been for decades for the furtherment of WA poets and poetry. Others on the bill last evening included Maureen Sexton, Graham Nunn (guest of the fest), Helen Hagemann, Vivienne Glance, Patrick Scott-Mitchell, Roland Leach and Gary De Piazzi. A reading elsewhere later, in Victoria Park, featured Sue Clennell, Peter Bibby and others. I could only attend the launch, and even then I forgot my camera, so there are no pics to show you.

As part of it all, AnnaMarie Weldon visited Applecross High School during the day, and I visited Carine High School. Both schools were eager and responsive communities. Thanks to the teachers and students who participated.

The Festival runs all this weekend, with National Poetry Week events happening at school, libraries and other centres all next week. Look up the WA Poets Inc website for a full program.

Quote of the Day

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled." - Plutarch -

Larf

Sue Clennell sent me a series of newspaper crazy quotes, and many were funny, but this one tickled my fancy.

Celebrate the Launch of ANDREW TAYLOR'S 'THE UNHAUNTING' at Planet Books Thursday 10 September

The Unhaunting
by
ANDREW TAYLOR
Published by Salt

To be launched by
Dennis Haskell
Thursday, 10th September
6:30 pm
at Planet Books
636 Beaufort Street
Mount Lawley, Perth

RSVP by Tuesday 8th September
Tel 08 9328 7464 or email
books@planetvideo.com.au

You can see more about the book at http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/smp/9781844713486.htm

That's why they call it Silly Point, Punter ...

Stumps - Day 3
England 332 & 373/9d
Australia 160 & 80/0 (20.0 ov)
Australia require another 466 runs with 10 wickets remaining

THREE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PUBLICATION

MELALEUCA

Melaleuca is a free e-zine of Australian poetry, delivered monthly
through your email in-box. For submissions and subscriptions, contact the editor, Phillip A. Ellis, at phillip.a.ellis@gmail.com


*

Broken Hill Anthology
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Deadline 30 October


Meuse Press is publishing an e-anthology - "from this Broken Hill” - of poetry, short prose & photography celebrating the people, culture, history & landscapes of Broken Hill which is currently being considered for National Heritage listing.

The anthology will not appear on paper & there will be no money in, so no payment out to contributors. You are invited to submit up to 3 pieces. Submissions should be in the body of the e-mail, single spaced Times New Roman 12p & be accompanied by a 3 line bio. Prior publication is no problem but you should include acknowledgement. It will be edited by Barbara de Franceschi, Marvis Sofield & Les Wicks.

Send to leswicks@hotmail.com


*

dotdotdash taking submissions for Issue 2


The inaugual issue of dotdotdash will hit the streets on September 5th!
So get writing or drawing again because submissions are now open for dotdotdash Issue 2. The theme is ‘ugly’, but unthemed work is also sought.

Submissions close 30th September. To submit visit http://www.dotdotdash.org/

Salt Publishing and Inbooks invite you to celebrate the publication of

The Unhaunting
by
ANDREW TAYLOR
Published by Salt

To be launched by
Dennis Haskell
Thursday, 10th September
6:30 pm
at Planet Books
636 Beaufort Street
Mount Lawley, Perth

RSVP by Tuesday 8th September
Tel 08 9328 7464 or email
books@planetvideo.com.au

You can see more about the book at http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/smp/9781844713486.htm

Rae Armantrout, USA poet

Q: What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

A: I carry a notebook with me and write down observations and ideas. In the morning, over coffee, I sit down with my notebook and see what’s there. If there’s something there, I work on it.


Andrew: What a good routine!

The entire interview, and others in this 12 or 20 Questions series, available at http://robmclennan.blogspot.com/2009/08/12-or-20-questions-with-rae-armantrout.html

Perth Poetry Club calendar

Perth Poetry Club this Saturday and every Saturday, 2-4pm at The Court, 50 Beaufort Street, Perth. Free entry. Be early! We start shortly after 2pm. Lots of 5-minute open-stage slots, plus...
22 AUG: Gabrielle Everall + Caroline Sambridge + Fiona Stuart (Melbourne)
Three (yes, three) strong entertaining women this week! All very different from one another... so if, like us, you get bored hearing the same thing over and over, this is for you.
GABRIELLE EVERALL -- feminist theory eyes off tight black Levis --
plus CAROLINE SAMBRIDGE -- straight-up comic rhyme --
& FIONA STUART -- a slice of Melbourne life.
Go grrls!
29 AUG: WA Spring Poetry Festival's only event being held in a bar. With
GRAHAM NUNN (QLD) - poetry described as 'assured, achieved and ambitious'. Chair of the awesome Queensland Poetry Festival.
SCOTT-PATRICK MITCHELL - underground adventures. 2009 PressPress Chapbook Award winner.
AMBER FRESH - wanna hear a secret?
PETER BIBBY - direct, engaging, disarming. Two-time Tom Collins Poetry Prize winner.
5 SEP: Derek Fenton + Karla Hart
12 SEP: Helen Child + Dosh Luckwell
19 SEP: Santo Cazzati (Melbourne)
More info at http://www.perthpoetryclub.com. Enquiries: perthpoetryclub@gmail.com or Janet 0406 624 578.

Souvenir-seeking seagull at Australia-England cricket match

Seagull interrupts play: The bird snatched one of the bails, England Lions v Australians, Canterbury, 2nd day, August 16, 2009

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell ONZM 1925-2009

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell died aged 84. Campbell also wrote plays, radio drama and novels.

One of New Zealand's leading poets, Campbell was born in the Cook Islands on 25 June 1925. His mother died from tuberculosis in 1932, and after his father died in 1933 he and his siblings were moved to New Zealand.

More, with links, at http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Literature/People/C/CampbellAlistair/
A couple of poems at http://burning-moon.blogspot.com/2007/03/poems-by-alistair-te-ariki-campbell.html

Carnation Milk 65 Years Ago ...

A little old lady from Wisconsin had worked in and around her family dairy farms since she was old enough to walk, with hours of hard work and little compensation.

When canned Carnation Milk became available in grocery stores in approximately the 1940s, she read an advertisement offering $5,000 for the best slogan.. The producers wanted a rhyme beginning with 'Carnation Milk is best of all.'

She thought to herself, I know all about milk and dairy farms. I can do this!

She sent in her entry, and several weeks later, a black limo pulled up in front of her house. A man got out and said, 'Carnation LOVED your entry so much, we are here to award you $2,000 even though we will not be able to use it!'

Issa's delightful silkworm poem!

at gate after gate
green hills
of silkworm poop


-Issa, 1824

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

John Tranter and three New York Poets on ABC's Poetica

ABC's Poetica this week is a presentation of three New York poets - Ron Padgett, Elaine Equi and Brian Kim Stefans - by John Tranter. Very interesting program for me. If you missed it today, check it out at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/poetica/stories/2009/2607441.htm It is repeated Thursday afternoon 3pm Australian time.

Les Paul has passed to the Great Studio in the Sky

From Associated Press:

Tributes for guitar legend Les Paul; dead at 94

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY (AP) –

NEW YORK — Musicians worldwide are paying tribute to Les Paul, the music icon whose solid-body electric guitar paved the way for rock 'n' roll.

The guitar virtuoso who died Thursday at age 94 performed with some of early pop's biggest names and produced a slew of hits, many with wife Mary Ford. But it was his inventive streak that made him universally revered by guitar gods as their original ancestor and earned his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the most important forces in popular music.

"He actually taught himself to play guitar in order to demonstrate his electronic theories," said Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. "All of us owe an unimaginable debt to his work and his talent."

Paul died in suburban White Plains of complications from pneumonia. He was remembered as a tireless tinkerer whose quest for a particular sound led him to create the first solid-body electric guitar. His invention became the standard instrument for legends like Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page.


Read more at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBD78k8tewQ7FPeiKtJbK8QPmtzAD9A2OOD00

ABC Radio National Books and Drama newsletter 14-21 August 2009

POETICA
15/8/2009 15:00
20/8/2009 15:00
Three Generations of New York Poets
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/poetica/stories/2009/2607441.htm
A selection of poems written and read by New York City based poets Ron Padgett, Elaine Equi and Brian Kim Stefans.


LINGUA FRANCA
15/8/2009 15:45
20/8/2009 15:45
Natural Semantic Metalanguage
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/linguafranca/stories/2009/2653726.htm
The Natural Semantic Metalanguage is a way to eliminate all the confusions of cross-cultural communication, by using a core set of basic and universal concepts present in all languages. Invented by the Polish-Australian linguist Anna Wierzbicka, it is based on a centuries-old idea of a language of the mind.


SUNDAY STORY
16/8/2009 08:30
My Brother Steven by Nathan Hollier, read by Syd Brisbane
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/shortstory
A young man’s search for good times doesn't help bring meaning to his life.


AIRPLAY
16/8/2009 15:00
20/8/2009 19:00
Blackrock by Nick Enright
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/airplay/stories/2009/2607357.htm
Nick Enright's Blackrock has been an acclaimed stage production and a major feature film. This leading Australian playwright has also reconceived the story of Blackrock for radio, working from aspects of both the stage text and the screenplay. The result is a sharply observed journey among the sounds and voices of Blackrock, the beachside suburb of a contemporary industrial city.


THE BOOK SHOW
Monday to Friday 10:00 (repeated at midnight)

17/8/2009
Graham Swift's Making an Elephant
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2649421.htm
British author Graham Swift talks about his new collection of non-fiction stories and poetry Making An Elephant.

19/8/2009
A literary history of babysitting
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2649477.htm
They're oversexed, underpaid, they break up homes, steal husbands and are the victims of gruesome murders. They're babysitters.

20/8/2009
Bernard Schlink In Conversation
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2649429.htm
German-born author, scholar and judge Bernard Schlink is in converation with Ramona Koval.


THE BOOK READING
Monday to Friday 14:00
3/8/2009 - 21/8/2009
Life of Pi by Yann Martel, read by Raj Sidhu
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookreading/stories/2009/2508939.htm
After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing up on the wild, blue Pacific. The crew of the vessel consists of a hyena, a zebra, a female orang-utan, a four hundred and fifty pound tiger and Pi, a sixteen year old Indian boy.


FIRST PERSON
Monday to Friday 10.45
10/8/2009 - 28/8/2009
Flaws in the Glass by Patrick White
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/firstperson/stories/2009/2595551.htm
Flaws in the Glass is a disturbingly honest autobiography which, much to White's chagrin, proved more popular than his novels. He writes of his youth in Australia, his English boarding school, life at Cambridge and his trips to Germany. Also of London during the Blitz, his RAF wartime intelligence role in the Middle East, and his first meeting with the man who was to become the focus of his life.

Daily Issa

in the coolness
like Gautama Buddha...
cross-legged


-Issa, 1818

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

Answer to Sunday's Word Game

Remember this Word Game from Sunday? It's time I told you the answer, isn't it!

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

If you take the first letter off and place it at the back, the word is spelt correctly but backwards. Did you get it?

Perth Poetry Club 15 Aug MORGAN YASBINCEK

from the desk of Janet Jackson ...

This week, we've got Morgan Yasbincek! Poignant insights, clever metaphor, surprising language, and a clear, elegant reading style... all you could want in a contemporary poet, really. And it's not just me that thinks so:

MORGAN YASBINCEK is a Western Australian writer. She has published two collections of poetry and one novel. Her first collection, Night Reversing won the Anne Elder and Mary Gilmore awards. Her second collection, Firelick was short-listed for the Victorian Premier’s CJ Dennis award.Her novel, liv, was short-listed for the ASAL award and highly commended for the Victorian Premier’s Fiction award. She has taught creative writing in Australia and overseas and has recently mentored several first collections of emerging Western Australian poets. She will (we expect!) be reading from her new collection.

Plus open stage. Don't be shy -- our audience wants your words.

2-4pm in the Red Bar at The Court hotel & restaurant, 50 Beaufort Street, Perth. Food and drink for all tastes, service with a flourish. Just along from the train station.

Be late if you like -- but you risk missing half the show. Our guests do two sets, one in each half of the afternoon. And we break with the tradition of poetry events by actually starting pretty soon after 2pm.

'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