Bob Rummery performing a song by Cross-cut Wilson, at Walking On Water 4th October 

Juliet Mirellier, fantasy writer, reading at Walking On Water 4th October 

Ray Penny, reading a short story at Walking On Water at the Brisbane Hotel, 4th October. 

Kookaburra at peace. 

a wealth of wondrous works

Go to http://www.ubu.com

A huge array of avant garde (for want of a better word) works, with recently added active archives of experimental film. Great!

A link to more about Ikkyu

http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/media/bukz/ikkyu/

Wild Ways: Zen Poems of Ikkyu

Lady Mori's Gifted Touch

My hand is no match for that of Mori.

She is the unrivalled master of love play:

When my jade stalk wilts, she can make it sprout!

How we enjoy our intimate little circle.

by Ikkyu, translated by John Stevens.

The Dharma Master of Love

My life has been devoted to love play;

I've no regrets about being tangled in red thread from head to foot,

Nor am I ashamed to have spent my days as a Crazy Cloud -

But I sure don't like this long, long bitter autumn of no good sex!

by Ikkyu, translated by John Stevens.

from Wild Ways: Zen Poems of Ikkyu (Shambhala Centaur Editions, 1995)

Fran Sbrocchi painted this wonderful little scene on her magic computer painting system. More can be found at http://donkeyincorporated.blogspot.com/

Robb Scott's pencil drawing entitled The Mirage at http://pencilrevolution.com/ 

Robb Scott's Drawing

There's a wonderful site all about pencils and pencil drawings at http://pencilrevolution.com/ ... Thanks to Jill Jones for this info.

Cordite News

http://www.cordite.org.au/archives/001008.html

Please see below for details of how to submit to Cordite.

SUBMISSIONS ARE STILL OPEN FOR CORDITE #23: CHILDREN OF MALLEY!

2005 marks the 62nd anniversary of the death of The Great Dromedary of Australian poetry, Ern Malley. To commemorate this momentous occasion Cordite would like to invite Malley's progeny to submit poems for The Children of Ern Malley edition. Dedicated to celebrating "No-Man's Language", the Malley edition will feature poems published under noms de Malley (for instance Vivian Malley, Aloysius Malley or plain old Bert Malley). It is worth remembering that Cordite has a preference for poetry that tries to split the infinite. Beyond is anything.

Please click on the link above to be rushed to their site where further submission details await you.

New and On View: Mudlark No. 29 (2005)

Field Trip to My Mother
and Other Exotic Locations

by Dawn Tefft

Dawn Tefft holds an M.A. in English, recently taught composition and literature courses at Columbia College and Roosevelt University in Chicago, and has just begun working on a Ph.D.in Creative Writing at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the fall of 2005. She was a finalist in Winnow Press's Open Book Award in Poetry in 2004 and previously won the Academy of American Poets Prize at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She has poems published in The Cream City Review, Melic Review, Lullwater Review, Rhino, Disquieting Muses Quarterly, Karamu, kaleidowhirl, Redivider, LitRag, Niederngasse, and Mudlark.

Spread the word. Far and wide,

William Slaughter

MUDLARK
An Electronic Journal of Poetry & Poetics
Never in and never out of print...
E-mail: mudlark@unf.edu
URL: http://www.unf.edu/mudlark

A Poem by James McIntyre

E-Verse Radio published this wonderful snippet:

A reader writes in on a link from last Friday:

"I have a prized little volume called Very Bad Poetry, edited by Kathryn Petras and Ross Petras (Vintage Books, 1997) that contains some hilarious and varied examples of doggerel, including several works by J. Gordon Coogler, king of 'while-you-wait' poetry, ('How Strange Are Dreams!'; 'God Correctly Understood') and Canadian cheese-ophile (in more than one sense) James McIntyre. Here is his 'Ode on the Mammoth Cheese', based
on an actual four ton chunk of cheese displayed in Toronto circa 1855, according to the editors:"


Ode on the Mammoth Cheese
Weighing over 7,000 pounds

We have seen thee, queen of cheese,
Lying quietly at your ease,
Gently framed by evening breeze,
Thy fair form no flies dare seize.

All gaily dressed soon you'll go
To the great Provincial show,
To be admired by many a beau
In the city of Toronto.

Cows numerous as a swarm of bees,
Or as the leaves upon the trees,
It did require to make thee please,
And stand unrivaled, queen of cheese.

May you not receive a scar as
We have heard that Mr. Harris
Intends to send you off as far as
The great world's show at Paris.

Of the youth beware of these,
For some of them might rudely squeeze
And bite your cheek, then songs or glees
We could not sing, oh! queen of cheese.

We'rt thou suspended from balloon,
You'd cast a shade even at noon,
Folks would think it was the moon
About to fall and crush them soon.

Quote he ...

"A room without books is like a body without a soul." - G. K.Chesterton

William McGonagall

Meet William Topaz McGonagall, the worst poet in the world:

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug212005/artic1045362005820.asp

Poem by Jill Jones

Jill Jones, Sydney-based Australian poet, was the featured poet at Poneme (a poetry list) in the past week, so I asked her if I could publish one of her poems here. It starts with a brief introduction by herself. It simply struck a fine chord with me, so I hope you appreciate it too.

Andrew

The following poem was written for an exhibition of Australian surrealist paintings that showed at the S.H Ervin Gallery in Sydney. I can’t say I’m a huge Nolan fan but I wrote in response to three of his paintings, this one being my favourite poem. I tried to emulate, impossibly, a kind of ‘exquisite corpse’ procedure. Impossible to do alone obviously because you know what is before and behind you but, let’s say, I tried to push the Q&A format a bit.


Dream horses

Where are your eyes?
Nothing has prepared us for this.

What is earth?
There’s a pain that remembers bone and horn.

Is the sky above?
Only figures in a landscape.

How fast is the wind?
Even the broken floats in dreamland’s waters.

Do you remember when?
You will know when you see us.

Will you take us with you?
Born into the boundless plain.

How long have you been here?
Our names were once Surefoot and Swift.

Do you think we will be happy?
Dream horses do not need your eyes.



– after Clay Horses by Sidney Nolan

(This poem first published in Agenda, Vol 41, 2005)

Thanks, Jill.

fascicle volume 1 - Brilliant!

Here's the site of a brilliant new publication on the Net - http://www.fascicle.com

I'll be lost in there for days.

Spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it ...

"One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes."

- Annie Dillard

from E-Verse Radio

"About 30 years ago, Jimmy Launce, formerly a disc jockey at WJR radio in Detroit, collected more than 300 of 'I could have been ...' puns from listeners. Some of them follow."


I could have been a big wheel, but I never spoke up.
I could have been a cardiologist, but my heart just wasn't in it.
I could have been a brewer, but I didn't have the head for it.
I could have been a Buddy, but I couldn't Hacket.
I could have been a candle maker, but I didn't know wick end was up.
I could have been a geometry teacher, but I hung around in the wrong circles.
I could have been a bridge builder, but I had fallen arches.
I could have been an elevator operator, but I kept getting the shaft.
I could have been a fairy tale author, but I was too Grimm.
I could have been a Director of the Hallelujah Chorus, but I couldn't Handel it.
I could have been a psychiatrist, but I was a freud.
I could have been a thief, but I couldn't take it.

The audience at the Philosopher's Cafe Poetry Reading, Saturday 13 August 2005. Spot the poet! 

The Philospher's Cafe Poetry Reading

The first part of September's Poetry Month in Perth happened in August - of course. It was a Poetry Reading held at the Alexander Library's cafe, renamed for the event The Philospher's Cafe. It included Andrew Taylor, Glen Phillips, Kate Smith, Zan Ross, Lucy Dougan, Anne Morgan, Liana Christensen , Danny Gunzburg and myself. Photos are available at http://www.francesmacaulayforde.com/PhilosophersCafeAug.html

Next reading there on Saturday 10th September 2005. The first one was so enjoyable, I would urge you to attend the next.

Andrew Burke and Jeanette Nelson, Floreat Beach, walking at sunset, 20 August 2005 (Photo by Tania) 

Footsteps on Floreat Beach. Tania takes the baby for a walk, 20 August 2005 

Sunset off the coast of Floreat Beach, Western Australia, 5.50 pm Saturday 20 August 2005. Photo by Jeanette Nelson. 

My son Charlie took this photo up in Indonesia recently when he was coaching their cricket team. Yes, Indonesia plays cricket! Well, some of them do ... What a thoughtful creature. He has Jimmy Edwards whiskers ... 

she waits for me

she waits for me
as I do my washing
porridge on the stove

while she waits
she edits my furniture
for her tidy house

when we get together
we will have more
grandchildren

this time is so different
from the first marriage
the second the third

it is our 'last true love'
we say, gazing at each other
like herons at a river

I bring my porridge
to the table
and think in its steam

too much cinnamon
and not enough
metaphor

Philip Whalen .... see below 

Whalen project

People who have read this blog in the past would know that I'm a fan of Philip Whalen's poetry (and his attitude to life). Well, now Michael Rothenberg is working on a Collected Poems and is looking for those far-flung pearls from Whalen's pen ... Maybe you can help. Here's his note:

Dear Everyone,

I am working on the Complete Collected Poems of Philip Whalen and nearly done with the job. I would appreciate it if any of you, or your friends have poems by Philip Whalen from small magazines, mimeos, letters, that you think have never been published, please let me know by e-mail, and send me a photo copy at: Michael Rothenberg, 1914 Pierce St., Hollywood, FL 33020. I would appreciate any help you can give.

Best regards,

Michael

Michael Rothenberg
walterblue@bigbridge.org
Big Bridge
www.bigbridge.org

Interesting magazine and series of images at http://www.barcelonareview.com/index.html 

New Advanced Writing Class

I am offering an Advanced Creative Writing class, partly as an extension for my TAFE students who have been through the basic course, and for anyone else who should like to tune-up their writing skills. It will be held on a Wednesday evening, from 7 to 9pm for
eight weeks - $120 a term. It starts on 17 August 2005.

I'll create a Unit Outline for it tomorrow and post it here then. It will cover contemporary prose techniques and will address some aspects of poetry. Please be aware it is not a business writing course or a journalism course.

It will be held in Mount Lawley, either at my home address if numbers are small, or a local hall otherwise. Details will be confirmed when numbers are known.

Close off date is 11 August 2005.

Please reply to aburke@iinet.net.au

Listen here ...

"Poetry is tribal not material....this is where you can remember the good
times along with the worst; where you are not allowed to forget the worst,
else you cannot be healed."--C. D. Wright

Thanks for the quote Ken Wolman http://kenwolman.blogspot.com/

Leia Burke sitting on her grand dad's knee, 26 July 2005 at Cafe Martino  

quotes

Kerouac opened a million coffee bars and sold a million Levis. . .[but] Kerouac and I are not real at all. The only real thing about a writer is what he's written, and not his life. We will all die and the stars will go out one after another. . . W.Burroughs

Let the beauty we love be what we do. - Rumi

Charles Bernstein - it is a still off a video, so the quality is not always 100%.  

The Cork SoundEye Festival 2005

Keith Tuma has put up 70 or so stills from a video taken at the Soundeye Festival Cork 05 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ktuma/

Thanks to Randolph Healey for the info. You will put faces to many names, among them Fanny Howe, Charles Bernstein, Lee Harwood, Randolph and Alison Croggon.

Alison Croggon at the Cork Festival 2005

Claude Simon

For me, the big chore is always the same: how to begin a sentence, how to continue it, how to complete it.

*

To begin with, our perception of the world is deformed, incomplete. Then our memory is selective. Finally, writing transforms.

Claude Simon

Dorothy Parker busy at her desk. A scathing wit and a sad life ... 

for the fun of it

Hogamus higamus,
Men are polygamous.
Higamus hogamus,
Women monogamous.

Dorothy Parker

Margaret Walters CD Power In A Song - details below. 

'Honey - They're playing our song!'

Very soon I am to be a Featured Poet at Poneme poetry list, so I have been hunting around to show the widest possible range of my work - from minimalist poems to a traditional ballad. Australian folksinger extraordinaire Margaret Walters sung the ballad, and John Warner arranged the music. You can hear it here at

http://members.iinet.net.au/~aburke/balladofmanycrows.mp3


Ballad of Many Crows

As I sat out upon a hill
Upon a hill, upon a hill
I looked up at the crows that fill
The leafy trees of Wagga

I saw their eyes like marbles black
Like marbles black, like marbles black
And felt a chill run down my back
Beneath the trees of Wagga

A woman there had told a tale
She told a tale, she told a tale
How the town had felt five years' betrayal
Since crows returned to Wagga

”Our men have heard the crows' sad song
The crows' sad song, the crows' sad song
Until by their own hand they've gone
I curse the crows of Wagga”

Farmers are a steady lot, not given much to fancy
Born to heed the call to be as iron tough as Clancy

Now they hang themselves in their dark loss
In their dark loss, in their dark loss
When the crows' stark song becomes their cross
Among the trees of Wagga

Black-eyed and beaky with a mourning cry
A mourning cry, a mourning cry
Riverina crows trespass and fly
To cast their eye on Wagga.

Now's the time to break the spell
To break the spell, to break the spell
To greet the future and fare well
Among the trees of Wagga

I go inside to write my song
To write my song, to write my song
The crows know naught of right and wrong
In the leafy trees of Wagga

Details of the CD and how to buy it available at
http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~mwalters/

Paul Hinchliffe's soft images at Church Gallery 13 July on ... 

Paul Hinchliffe goes to Church

Paul Hinchliffe is the artist exhibiting at the Church Gallery, Stirling Highway, Claremont, from 13 July 2005. His soft image works on paper look delightful ... Take a look at

http://www.churchgallery.com.au/5exhibit_hinchliffe.html

Invitation to join

Poneme is an email list about poetry and poetry-related matters. The focus is Australasian but all are welcome. Members are invited to provoke and engage in discussion on poetry communities and histories, poets, poetics and tangentially related issues.

Please feel free to post your own poetry to the list, and to advise the list of your own and others' publications, readings, events, etc.

Collaborative projects happen on list from time to time; if you'd like to participate, ask for instructions/conditions.

New projects are just about to get underway, so join now - it's Free, of course, and always informative.

Here's the address to go to: http://www.poneme.org

Jen Crawford steers the ship.

Calvin says ...

"The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure pure reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!" - Calvin

Thank you to Dominic Fox for this titbit.

See below. 

FAN DONGWANG artist in residence and current exhibitor at The Church Gallery

FAN DONGWANG is featured on the cover of the next issue of the Australian Art Review magazine and is the subject of their feature article. His exhibition continues at The Church Gallery until Sunday 10 July

THE CHURCH GALLERY
264 Stirling Highway
Claremont
Western Australia 6010
Ph 08 9384 1744 Fax 08 9384 1733

info@churchgallery.com.auwww.churchgallery.com.au

Gallery hours: Wednesday to Saturday 10 - 5. Sunday 2 - 5pm. Mondays and Tuesdays by appointment. The gallery is located on the corner of John Street and Stirling Highway. Parking is available on John Street and behind thegallery - except during openings.

Cordite #22 online now

This is a special 'poems from poetry editors' issue, entitled 'Editorial Intervention'. It's good to see what 'they' write themselves, right?

Go to http://www.cordite.org.au/index_22.html and enjoy.

Rain stopped play ...

It's an old cliche in (mainly English) cricket - 'Rain stopped play' ... It happened last night at Egbaston with Australia scoring 262 or so and the Poms at the crease ... Here are the last words of commentary:

it has stopped raining and the covers are being taken off now, play
will restart in 15 minutes

oops! and it starts to rain again! they are bringing the covers
back on it's pouring down steadily now.
we are just 30 minutes away from the cut off time (9:45 local time)
and it's raining steadily

sadly with the rain showing no sings (sic) of easing out the match has
been abandoned here
thanks for being with us, do join us on Thursday for the Australia
v Bangladesh match

Good Night

Snapshots Gallery

Thank you, Randolph Healey, for publishing the Snapshot poems at Wild Honey Press. See them now at - http://www.wildhoneypress.com/snaps_06_05/Poetryetc.htm

NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: While you're out looking at the planets, be alert also for electric-blue noctilucent clouds. Olaf Squarra of Rostock, Germany, photographed these over the Baltic Sea on June 24th:

An 8-minute movie of the display shows how the clouds ripple and move like waves in the ocean.
Noctilucent clouds (NLCs) are a mystery. They hover near the edge of space, far above ordinary clouds. Some researchers believe they're seeded by space dust. Others say they're a sign of global warming. Whatever they are, they're beautiful, and northern summer is the best time to spot them.  

Great image of Sappho ... 

New Sappho!

From http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/ -

Sappho, dead 2,600 years, is still coming up with new work.

Many a word said in jest ... 

Hamilton Stone Review

Hamilton Stone Review, Issue 6, Summer 2005, Now Online!

Featuring fiction by Pat MacEnulty, Ramsey Wilkens, and Masha Zager and poetry by Gene Frumkin, Amy King, Kenneth Pobo, Joseph Somoza, David Hopes, Stephen Vincent, Bob Marcacci, Harriet Zinnes, Kerry O'Keefe, Gregory Vincent St. Thomasino, Eileen Tabios, Frederick Pollack, and David Howard.

http://www.hamiltonstone.org/hsr6.html

Submissions to the Hamilton Stone Review

At this time, the Hamilton Stone Review is not open to unsolicited fiction submissions, but will be taking unsolicited poetry submissions until Sept. 15, 2005, for Issue #7, which will be out in October 2005.

Poetry submissions should go directly to Halvard Johnson at

halvard@earthlink.net.

The Joy is in the Detail

Well, if you can't read the detail on the Alice Haines poster following, the debut CD launch is at the Fly By Night Club on 16 July 2005 from 8 pm. $20 entry but there are other bands and a whole night's entertainment, so don't hold back!

Alice Haines CD launch should be a blast.  

Great Leap Forward

The Cold War now is over but the stakes are getting higher
I'm frightened of collateral damage and of friendly fire
And I don't believe we can defeat no axis of evil
By putting smart bombs in the hands of dumb people

These are just some of the lyrics of 'Great Leap Forward' by Billly Bragg. He sang it on Andrew Denton's 'Enough Rope' on ABC TV some time back, but I have just now been reading the interview which concludes with these lyrics.

Here's the address for you to read the complete song and interview:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s946793.htm

The Write Stuff competition

The WRITE STUFF competition closes on 30 June.

Anne Kellas can email entry forms to people,
From: "Anne Kellas" <anne.kellas@gmail.com>
or you can download them as PDFs or WORD docs from the web site at:
http://www.the-write-stuff.com.au

JUDGE: this year the poetry section is being judged by Stephen Edgar, who kindly agreed to be the judge long before he was announced as the winner of the inaugural Australian Book Review poetry prize. It is wonderful to have his support. The Write Stuff Poetry competition is now totally self-supporting, having started last year with some funding from a private poetry benefactor.

The Write Stuff is a money-losing venture ... All funds raised by the comp. go into the next comp and paying the judge etc.

Regards

Anne Kellas

Ryokan quote

With no-mind, blossoms invite the butterfly;
With no-mind, the butterfly visits the blossoms.
When the flower blooms, the butterfly comes;
When the butterfly comes, the flower blooms.
I do not "know" others, Others do not "know" me.
Not-knowing each other we naturally follow the Way.

Ryokan, Japanese poet. He lived as a Zen Buddhist monk in the Niigata area of Japan from the late 1700s through the early 1800s.

D. T. Suzuki wrote of Ryokan that “when we know one Ryokan, we know hundreds of thousands of Ryokans in Japanese hearts.”

Logo of Cipher Journal, very interesting ezine 

from Cipher Journal

the dao that is talked about is not steadfast
whatever you call it is not its regular name

from The Dao De Jing
by Laozi / translation by Thomas Meyer

This snippet from CipherJournal at http://www.cipherjournal.com Much interesting and good reading in translation and about translation.

What Kind of World-view Do You Have?

Here's one of those fun-but-useless quizzes for you to waste your time with: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=23320

I'm a Postmodernist -surprise, surprise.

Raven at Stickybeaks Cafe (for Rosalind & Kay)

'Oh, go away!'
raven drops his complaint
to a grieving grizzle -
ah, ah, aaaaaahhh .
long last note after
the death of love.

'He'd be good as sculpture -
see? The shiny metal
of his feathers,
the fleshy bag of his chin.'
What would we make of him
if he was made by us?

Raven perches on
a glazed tree root
carved into a kangaroo
beside the playground.
'He should be in a museum
under glass - not here.'

Real? Art
is distanced from
this day, its chill
and laughing children.
Art? It is real root
and black raven -
Ah, ah, aaaaahhh.