Launch photos of 'Lines in the Sand'

Photos courtesy of Frances Macauley Forde - Thank you!

Rose Van Son and Sarah French, Jeanette and Andrew Burke with Trisha Kotai-Ewers, John Kinsella (with Dorothy Hewett on poster), John Harman and Bruce Russell (holding jacket), Dorothy Macgowan and Shane Macauley, Peter Bibby (scarf) Glen Phillips and William Grono,

Taken off my daughter's Alice's facebook site: Charlie, Miles and Andrew Burke playing cricket at our old Darlington house.

Although ... Miroslav Holub

Although a poem arises when there's nothing else to be done, although a poem is a last attempt at order when one can't stand the disorder any longer,
although poets are most needed when freedom, vitamin C, communications, laws, and hypertension therapy are also most needed,
although to be an artist is to fail and art is fidelity to failure, as Samuel Beckett says,
a poem is not one of the last but of the first things of man.

~ ~ ~
Certainly a poem is only a game.
Certainly a poem exists only at the moment of origin and at the moment of reading. And at best in the shadow-play of memory.
Certainly one can't enter the same poem twice.
Certainly a poet has the impression from the beginning that no purpose exists, as Henry Miller has said.
Certainly art becomes generally acceptable only when it declines into a mechanism and its order becomes a habit.
But in its aimlessness, in its desperate commitment to the word, in its primal order of birth and re-birth, a poem remains the most general guarantee that we can still do something, that we can still do something against emptiness, that we haven't given in but are giving ourselves to something.
The most general gurantee that we are not composed only of facts, of facts which, as Ernst Fischer says, are deeds withered into things.
Provided a poem, which is the poet's modest attempt to put off disintegration for a while, is not regarded as the philosopher's stone, bringing salvation and deliverance to stupefied mankind.
For art doesn't solve problems but only wears them out.
For art is fidelity to failure.
For a poem is when nothing else remains.
Although ...

(formatting shot to pieces by blogger but you get the gist of it)

Miroslav Holub 'Although' (book title as well as poem title) Cape Editions 1970

'Lines In The Sand' on sale now

After obtaining the anthology Lines In The Sand, I realised just how many contributors I left out yesterday. Mea culpa, I should have waited.

Last evening, Grant Stone - Murdoch University librarian, radio show presenter, sometime ABC guest/expert, founder of the Laughter Club, and other activities - launched this well-orchestrated collection of prose and poems by Western Australians. Yes, generations are represented, but the major impact of the collection to me was the maturing of many 'new writers' of yesterday into confident voices with things to say - personal, universal, about history, society and literature itself.

I am moved to see Lesley Dougan writing about her sister Dorothy Hewett, and to read Brian Dibble's piece on Elizabeth Jolley. Well-known names like John Kinsella (who also wrote the foreward)is there alongside Megan McKinlay and Debbie Hills. Hal Colebatch and Shane Macauley are in the mix with BJ Thomason and Nandi Chinna... I just can't name them all, but the general feeling at the Centre for the Book at the State Library last evening was of an extended family, and that feeling is truly in this book as you read it. These people are expressing their lives from the many corners of this community.

People who help this literary community in other ways as well are here as writers, their first love: Amanda Curtin, editor; Roland Leach, teacher and publisher; Frances Macaulay Forde, controller of the Poet's Corner and photographer of poets in public; Trisha Kotai-Ewers, centreplate of the FAWWA; Dennis Haskell, editor and UWA professor - these people put in the hours to help other writers achieve and publish.

Some say, Writing is a lonely business, and it often is, but last evening and in Lines In The Sand anthology, writing has brought an extended family together.

Today, celebrate FAWWA's 70 Years with 'Lines In The Sand'

You are Invited!

At 6:30pm TODAY
the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA anthology
'Lines In The Sand'
will be launched at
the Centre for the Book,
Alexander Library.

This gem includes a healthy cross-section of contemporary Western Australian writers, including Fay Zwicky, Robert Drewe, Glen Phillips, Sarah French, Rachel Petridis, Cecily Scutt, Murray Jennings, Lesley Thomas, Andrew Burke, Kevin Gillam, Georgia Richter, Roland Leach, Anna-Maria Weldon, Cyndie Innes, Lucy Dougan, Steven Dedman, and many others. (I've only seen the contents list once and I'm listing by memory, so forgive me if I've left your favourite author out.)

My suggestion: Buy one at the launch and get all the authors you can find to sign it. It will be worth a bob or two in years to come. In the meantime, you can read it >g<

Ezra Pound's birthplace

A poet's place

At Ezra Pound's former house, now part of The Sun Valley Center for the Arts, a small plaque near the door is all that identifies it as Pound's birthplace. A bookcase containing a life mask of Pound and assorted books are the only items inside that hint at Pound's connection. Pound was likely born in an upstairs bedroom (only the first floor of the house is open to visitors).

The house, simply called The Center, is open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Admission is free. Writers' workshops, exhibits, concerts and classes are offered.

The Center is at 341 Second Ave. S. (at the corner of Pine Street and Second Avenue) in Hailey, Idaho. More information: Sun Valley Center for the Arts, www.sunvalleycenter.org or 208-726-9491.

full article at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2004430400_tridahopoet25.html

FAWWA Anthology to be launched Thursday

Lines in the Sand will be launched on Thursday 29th May, at 6:30pm, in the Centre for the Book, State Library, Perth, by Grant Stone, Scholarly Resources Librarian, Murdoch University.

RSVP or order your copy from admin@fawwa.org.au

introducing Zimmy

Photos taken on our new Jack Rassell X's 6 week birthday. Off to the vet tomorrow to have her first shots.

Washington Post's Mensa Invitational

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational, which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

The winners are:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.
The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes,
and it's a serious bummer.

13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you

14. Glibido: All talk and no action.

15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom
at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.


=========================================================
The Washington Post also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

The winners are:

1. coffee, n. the person upon whom one coughs.

2. flabbergasted, adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

3. abdicate, v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. esplanade, v. to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. willy-nilly, adj. impotent.

6. negligent, adj. absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

7. lymph, v. to walk with a lisp.

8. gargoyle, n. olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. flatulence, n. emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

10. balderdash, n. a rapidly receding hairline.

11. testicle, n. a humorous question on an exam.

12. rectitude, n. the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. pokemon, n. a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. oyster, n. a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism, n. the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent, n. an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

You are Invited to John Mateer's Book Launch

Salt Publishing and Inbooks
invite you
to celebrate the publication of

ELSEWHERE
by
JOHN MATEER

Published by Salt

To be launched by
John Kinsella
Wednesday, 28th May, 2008
6.30pm at
Planet Books
636-638 Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley

RSVP by Monday 26th May to
Natalie: marketing@inbooks.com.au

What Is It Anyway? Poetry Daily asks ...

On Tuesday we (Poetry Daily http://www.poems.com/) continue our series of prose features with "What Is It Anyway," from Quote Poet Unquote: Contemporary Quotations on Poets and Poetry, edited by Dennis O'Driscoll, just out from Copper Canyon Press:

"Poetry: three mismatched shoes at the entrance of a dark alley."
—Charles Simic

"Poetry is energy, it is an energy-storing and an energy-releasing device."
—Miroslav Holub

"Poetry is the eroticization of thought—psychic vitality."
—Cal Bedient

"A poem... is the attire of feeling: the literary form where words seem tailor-made for memory or desire."
—Carol Ann Duffy


Please - contribute your own!

Everyday Sitting in Zen

"One's everyday life, in its entirety, should be thought of as a kind of sitting in Zen. Even during formal sitting, one may leave one's seat to attend to something. In my temple at least, such things are allowed. Indeed it's sometimes advisable to walk in Zen for one incense stick's burning, and sit in Zen for the other. A natural thing, after all. One can't sleep all day, so one rises. One can't talk all day, so one engages in zazen. There are no binding rules here."

Bankei (1622-93), quoted from his Sayings and Writings, compiled and edited by Dr D.T.Suzuki as one of the volumes of the Iwanami Library, only part of which is available in English. (Not from the book above which is there for illustrative purposes only - although it looks like a fine book.)

From Sydney Writers Festival site ...Liyarn Ngarn

Wednesday, May 21, 7:30-9:45pm
Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay

Liyarn Ngarn (meaning ‘coming together of the spirit’ in the Yawuru language of the West Kimberley region) is a powerful and important documentary charting renowned British actor Pete Postlethwaite's personal journey with respected songman Archie Roach into Aboriginal Australia. Seen through the eyes of an outsider who is suddenly immersed in the mire of Australian race relations, the film documents a 30 year long mission of indigenous leader and Yawuru man, Patrick Dodson, to bring about a lasting and true reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. This is a culturally significant and moving account of suffering and searching for justice.

Following the screening, Pete Postlethwaite, Patrick Dodson and Archie Roach discuss the road to reconciliation.

Supported by The Horizon Foundation.


Now there's an item I'd like to be at. Check out more at http://www.swf.org.au

Laughter is the Best Medicine

At the risk of losing my 'serious' readership, I would like to share a joke which tickled my fancy this morning. Thank you to my cousin Mary for sending me this.

Solving the Problem

A guy goes to a psychiatrist. "Doc, I keep having these alternating recurring dreams. First I'm a teepee; then I'm a wigwam; then I'm a teepee; then I'm a wigwam. It's driving me crazy. What's wrong with me?"

The doctor replies: "It's very simple. You're two tents."

Pages Cafe Poets Corner Reading TOMORROW

Poets Corner @ Pages Cafe on 2 pm, TOMORROW, Saturday 17th May 2008, with special guests Murry Jennings, Annamaria Weldon, Deanne Leber and Andrew Burke.

Open Mic will be at 4pm, as usual: readers welcome to register with Frances Macaulay Forde on the day.

Pages Cafe is on the ground floor of the State Library in Perth's cultural centre. Easy to get to by train; heaps of parking; walk there if you have to >g<

Please come.

Work Safe! An Aussie ballad

The sun was hot already - it was only 8 o'clock
The cocky took off in his Ute, to go and check his stock.
He drove around the paddocks checking wethers, ewes and lambs,
The float valves in the water troughs, the windmills on the dams.

He stopped and turned a windmill on to fill a water tank
And saw a ewe down in the dam, a few yards from the bank.
"Typical bloody sheep," he thought, "they've got no common sense,
"They won't go through a gateway but they'll jump a bloody fence."

The ewe was stuck down in the mud, he knew without a doubt
She'd stay there 'til she carked it if he didn't get her out.
But when he reached the water's edge, the startled ewe broke free
And in her haste to get away, began a swimming spree.

He reckoned once her fleece was wet, the weight would drag her down
If he didn't rescue her, the stupid sod would drown.
Her style was unimpressive, her survival chances slim
He saw no other option, he would have to take a swim.

He peeled his shirt and singlet off, his trousers, boots and socks
And as he couldn't stand wet clothes, he also shed his jocks.
He jumped into the water and away that cocky swam
He caught up with her, somewhere near the middle of the dam

The ewe was quite evasive, she kept giving him the slip
He tried to grab her sodden fleece but couldn't get a grip.
At last he got her to the bank and stopped to catch his breath
She showed him little gratitude for saving her from death.

She took off like a Bondi tram around the other side
He swore next time he caught that ewe he'd hang her bloody hide.
Then round and round the dam they ran, although he felt quite puffed
He still thought he could run her down, she must be nearly stuffed.

The local stock rep came along, to pay a call that day.
He knew this bloke was on his own, his wife had gone away
He didn't really think he'd get fresh scones for morning tea
But nor was he prepared for what he was about to see.

He rubbed his eyes in disbelief at what came into view
For running down the catchment came this frantic-looking ewe.
And on her heels in hot pursuit and wearing not a stitch
The farmer yelling wildly "Come back here, you lousy bitch!"

The stock rep didn't hang around, he took off in his car
The cocky's reputation has been damaged near and far
So bear in mind the Work Safe rule when next you check your flocks
Spot the hazard, assess the risk, and always wear your jocks!

Anon.

Poet's Corner this Saturday

Poets Corner @ Pages Cafe on 2 pm, Saturday 17th May 2008, with special guests Murry Jennings, Annamaria Weldon, Deanne Leber and Andrew Burke.

Open Mic will be at 4pm, as usual: readers welcome to register with Frances Macaulay Forde on the day.

Pages Cafe is on the ground floor of the State Library in Perth's cultural centre. Easy to get to by train; heaps of parking; walk there if you have to >g<

This photo of Robert Creeley's gravestone, off Ron Silliman's blog. In recent days, I've been playing Creeley reading his poems to Steve Swallow's music. It always saddens me to hear a voice of one once so alive who is now dead, but it is better I suppose than the silence of a gravestone.

Oh No

If you wander far enough
you will come to it
and when you get there
they will give you a place to sit

for yourself only, in a nice chair,
and all your friends will be there
with smiles on their faces
and they will likewise all have places.



Track One on So There, Robert Creeley (poet) and Steve Swallow (composer), with The Cikada Quartet, and Steve Kuhn on piano. Recorded August 25, 2001 at The Make Believe Ballroom, West Shokan, New York. Released by XtraWATT/12 (ECM Records GmbH). More at http://www.ecmrecords.com

You can hear pieces of tracks off this CD at http://www.legalsounds.com/download-mp3/steve-swallow-with-robert-creeley/so-there/sufi-sam-christian/song_807457

New $5,000 poetry prize - the Blake Poetry Prize

From http://www.nswwriterscentre.org.au

The Blake Poetry Prize 2008

$5,000 prize for new national poetry competition on the theme of 'Bliss, blasphemy and belief'

The NSW Writers' Centre is delighted to announce that it is joining the Blake Society, Leichhardt Municipal Council and Wet Ink magazine in sponsoring a new national poetry prize to be known as the Blake Poetry Prize, which calls for entries on the theme of 'Bliss, blasphemy and belief'.

The Chairwoman of the NSW Writers¹ Centre, Máire Sheehan,said: 'The aim of the competition is to give Australian poets another opportunity to achieve national recognition and a financial reward for their efforts.'

This new competition was made possible by the generosity of Leichhardt Municipal Council, which has a strong commitment to supporting the arts, and especially writing through the NSW Writers' Centre.

"This grant of $5,000 continues our longstanding commitment to the NSW Writers' Centre and the development of arts through the written and spoken word," Mayor of Leichhardt Council Cr Alice Murphy said.

The NSW Writers' Centre is pleased to develop this partnership with the Blake Society which awards the annual Blake Prize for Religious Art. Blake Chairman, the Reverend Rod Pattenden, said: 'This exciting new initiative links visual art and literature, and offers new possibilities for poets to explore the nature of spirituality in the twenty-first century.'

Australia's newest literary magazine Wet Ink will join the partnership by providing the judges for the competition and publishing the winner and commended entries in Wet Ink, which is distributed nationally and internationally. Co-managing Editor of Wet Ink, Dominique Wilson, said: 'We are very excited to be part of this important new prize. Wet Ink is dedicated to promoting new writers, and this prize enables us to further support emerging poets through recognising their talents and exposing their work to a broad audience, both within Australia and overseas.'

Download an entry form and conditions at the NSW Writers Centre link above.

Entries close Friday 27 June 2008
Entry fee: $15

Autumn in Perth

Poets Corner @ Pages Cafe 17 May

Note from Frances: If you haven't experienced Poets Corner @ Pages Cafe yet our next event takes place on 17th May 2007 with special guests Andrew Burke, Murry Jennings and Annamaria Weldon.

Open Mic will be at 4pm, as usual: readers welcome to register with me, Frances Macaulay Forde on the day.

Note from Andrew: It starts at 2pm, and Pages Cafe is on the ground floor of the State Library in Perth's cultural centre. Easy to get to by train; heaps of parking; walk there if you have to >g<

Gary Snyder wins Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

CHICAGO, April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --- Poet Gary Snyder is the winner of the 2008 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Established in 1986 and presented annually by the Poetry Foundation, the award is one of the most prestigious given to American poets, and at $100,000 it is one of the nation's largest literary awards. Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine and chair of the selection committee, made the announcement today. The prize will be presented at an evening ceremony at the Arts Club of Chicago on Thursday, May 29.

In announcing the award, Wiman said: "Gary Snyder is in essence a contemporary devotional poet, though he is not devoted to any one god or way of being so much as to Being itself. His poetry is a testament to the sacredness of the natural world and our relation to it, and a prophecy of what we stand to lose if we forget that relation."

Help the Homeless

http://www.housesforthehomeless.com.au - with every click on this site, realestate.com.au will donate $1 to Mission Australia.

There are countless people out there who don't have a roof over their head, including families with little kids shivering through our winter nights. So, click away.

Intra View

We keep waiting for something to go wrong
with the seasons. I don't think writers
should tell people what to believe
or how to behave. But something has already
gone wrong with the genres. So I let lots
of fragmentary, sometimes contradictory opinions
- as though they came from a large cast
of different characters - into the poems.
They have all bled into one another. That's
what life is like, after all. Decorum is
no longer observed. Just listen, next time
you take a bus into town. Millions
of different voices, each as important
as your own solitary whining. Isolation
and decline, fatal flaws
and falls, the throes of heroes.


(This text compiled by interweaving a paragraph from The Information by Martin Amis with the paragraph from an interview with John Tranter which I published on Tuesday. All literature is a game, of some seriousness or not.)

Creatrix - WA Poets Inc poetry online e-journal

Creatrix is the new name for our poetry online e-journal, previously known as Fresh Works, which is resuming after a short recess.

Creatrix will be published online in March, June, September and December each year.

To be considered for the June 2008 edition, your poems are to be received by Friday 23rd May 2008. All submissions to be sent by email.

We accept poetry up to 60 lines, or shorter poems preferred, open theme (no more than three poems per poet per issue). There is no guarantee your poem/s will be chosen.

At this stage, publication is for WA Poets Inc member poets only (NB FREE membership). Currently we cannot pay contributors, but your poetry will be showcased. We will accept prize winning or previously published work, with acknowledgements. Send poems as attachments either in .rtf or word .doc files.

Copyright of material in the e-journal remains with the individual contributors and cannot be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the authors.

The editing team for Creatrix will be Peter Jeffery, Andrew Burke and Maureen Sexton. The next edition will be edited by Maureen Sexton.

Email to The Editor with the words "online submission" in the subject line. The email address is: wapoets@yahoo.com.au.

ECU LUNCHLINES

Friday 2 May 2008

you are invited to hear

ANDREW BURKE

read poems and talk
about his recent experiences
teaching and living in
China and The Kimberley

12.30pm
Building 17 Room 219
EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY
Mount Lawley campus

'That's what life is like' John Tranter

A quote from John Tranter during an interview with Cordite magazine http://www.cordite.org.au/:

I don't think writers should tell people what to believe or how to behave. So I let lots of fragmentary, sometimes contradictory opinions - as though they came from a large cast of different characters - into the poems. That's what life is like, after all. Just listen, next time you take a bus into town. Millions of different voices, each as important as your own solitary whining.

JOHN TRANTER http://johntranter.com/00/index.html is Editor of the exciting poetry-focused magazine, Jacket.http://jacketmagazine.com/00/home.shtml

Exciting New Anthology of Aboriginal Literature

From the publishers, Allen & Unwin:

An authoritative survey of Australian Aboriginal writing over two centuries, across a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. Including some of the most distinctive writing produced in Australia, it offers rich insights into Aboriginal culture and experience.

Description

A groundbreaking collection of work from some of the great Australian Aboriginal writers, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature offers a rich panorama of over 200 years of Aboriginal culture, history and life.

From Bennelong's 1796 letter to contemporary creative writers, Anita Heiss and Peter Minter have selected work that represents the range and depth of Aboriginal writing in English. The anthology includes journalism, petitions and political letters from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as major works that reflect the blossoming of Aboriginal poetry, prose and drama from the mid-twentieth century onwards. Literature has been used as a powerful political tool by Aboriginal people in a political system which renders them largely voiceless. These works chronicle the ongoing suffering of dispossession, but also the resilience of Aboriginal people across the country, and the hope and joy in their lives.

With some of the best, most distinctive writing produced in Australia, this anthology is invaluable for anyone interested in Aboriginal writing and culture.

This volume is extremely significant from an Indigenous cultural perspective, containing many works that afford the reader a treasured insight into the Indigenous cultural world of Australia. - From the foreword by Mick Dodson

The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature is published as part of the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature project.

Prank at the Melbourne Olympic Torch Relay

Route of the 1956 Olympic torch relay, from Cairns to Melbourne. In 1956 runners bore the Olympic flame across Australia, on a path from Cairns to Melbourne, where the summer games were to be held. But before the flame even got as far as Sydney, it had to endure a series of setbacks. Torrential rains soaked it. Burning heat almost overwhelmed the runners. The flame even went out a few times. Then in Sydney itself it encountered a situation unique in Olympic history.

Cross-country champion Harry Dillon was scheduled to bear the flame into Sydney, where he would present it to the mayor, Pat Hills. After making a short speech, Hills would pass the flame along to another runner, Bert Button.

Thirty-thousand people lined the streets of Sydney waiting for Dillon to arrive. Reporters stood ready with their cameras to record the historic occasion. Finally the runner appeared, bearing the flame aloft, and everyone began cheering. As the crowd pressed forward a police escort surrounded the runner in order to keep order.

With this escort around him, the runner made his way through the streets all the way to the Sydney Town Hall. He bounded up the steps and handed the torch to the waiting mayor who graciously accepted it and turned to begin his prepared speech.

Then someone whispered in the mayor’s ear, “That’s not the torch.” Suddenly the mayor realized what he was holding. Held proudly in his hand was not the majestic Olympic flame. Instead he was gripping a wooden chair leg topped by a plum pudding can inside of which a pair of kerosene-soaked underwear was burning with a greasy flame. The mayor looked around for the runner, but the man had already disappeared, melting away into the surrounding crowd.

The Pranksters
The identity of the rogue runner was only publicly revealed years later. It was Barry Larkin, a veterinary science student at Sydney University’s St. Johns College. He had dreamed up the prank in collusion with eight otherstudents.

Their intention was to poke fun at the torch relay because they felt it was being treated with too much reverence considering the tradition’s dubious past. It traced its origins back to the 1936 Berlin games organized by the Nazis.

Originally, Larkin was not supposed to have been the bearer of the flaming underwear. One of the other students had dressed up in white shorts and a white top, like a runner, but he panicked at the last minute and dropped the torch. Larkin, wearing a tie, picked it up and started running.

The official flame-bearer had been delayed outside of Sydney, so the crowd assumed Larkin was the real thing. Soon a police escort joined him. Larkin later recalled in an interview what the experience felt like: “The noise was quite staggering. There were flashes of photography. I felt very strange because I knew I was carrying a fake torch. The only thing I could think about was what do I do when I got there. I was helped by Pat Hills. I just turned around and walked back down the steps, through the crowd and onto a tram and back to college.”

Reaction
The mayor took the prank in good humor, but the crowd, once it realized what had happened, began to grow unruly. When the real runner arrived a few minutes later, the crowd was milling around excitedly in the street, as if stirred up by the mischief. In the crush of people, women began screaming for the safety of their children. Hills called out for calm. A police convoy had to clear a path for the flame-bearer to get through.

When the torch was passed to the next runner, Bert Button, an army truck had to clear a path to allow him to continue with the relay.

Back at his college, Larkin was given a hero’s reception. When he walked into the hall for breakfast the next morning, his fellow students gave him a standing ovation. Even the rector of the college walked up to him and said, “Well done, son.”

The fake torch was taken to a Town Hall reception, and ended up in the possession of John Lawler, a man who had been travelling with the relay in a car. He stored it for years beneath his bed, until eventually it got thrown out while tidying.


(Thanks to Brian for this item. Don't know where he got it from, sorry.)

The Olympic Walls of China

With the Olympics looming, China is pushing architecture to its limits for a giant coming-out party.

See for yourself with this series of photographs generously offered by National Geographic:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/05/china/architecture/girard-photography?email=Focus_04252008

Thanks to Mary Lyden for drawing my attention to this site.

Praise as good as Cash for Brain

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Paying people a compliment appears to activate the same reward center in the brain as paying them cash, Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.

They said the study offers scientific support for the long-held assumption that people get a psychological boost from having a good reputation.

"We found that these seemingly different kinds of rewards -- a good reputation versus money -- are biologically coded by the same neural structure, the striatum," said Dr. Norihiro Sadato of the Japanese National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Okazaki, Japan.

(...)

So, praise someone today! It'll do them the world of good ...

A Melbourne Dawn

Photo by my cousin Mary Lyden. May the sun shine on you too. (That's my 2020 contribution ...)

Snap: Wednesday Workshop at Tom Collins House

daylight rushes in
pushes me out of bed

i listen to Van the Man
as i drive through traffic
lumpy at the intersections

to park on crushed leaves
by the old writer's cottage

what Furphy found barely a home
we maintain as monument
only an ocean in the backyard
and no chickens pecking
in the shade of melon hill

'what's wrong with this picture?
I'm living in a different time ...
Baby, don't you understand,
I left all that jive behind ...'

here i am telling all i know
just pay at the door
some poets worth their salt
retain a duty to be poor

Write for HarperCollins - but for nothing ...

This is the deal, and I'm not too sure I support the idea. I leave it up to you - Here's their pitch on their website http://www.harpercollins.com/Members/FirstLook/index.aspx

Join the HarperCollins First Look program to preview books in literary fiction, general fiction, suspense, biography, cookbooks, and other genres, for readers who make a difference – like you!

Each month, Advance Reading Editions (AREs) of great books by fabulous authors are offered that you will have the opportunity to review. Reviewers are selected at random, but you must register to be eligible. In joining the program you may select your favorite genres and we will let you know when a book in your preferred category is offered.

COTTONMOUTH Correspondence

I am passing this on for the organisers:

Cottonmouth is a new spoken word narrative art project coming out of Perth, Western Australia. In an attempt to break out from the isolation of this far flung city, Cottonmouth has adopted a very unique format - it is part performance night, part publicaiton, part podcast. This means that Cottonmouth has, at its heart, a national perspective. Therefore, it is looking for national content for its zine, COTTTONMOUTH. This zine is now open for submissions. There are a few simple guidelines:

- submit two poems of no more than 60 lines each.

- submit four smaller poems if they are no more than 15 lines each.

- submit ficition or non fiction of no more than 1200 words max.

- submit up to four illustrations in black and white, 300dpi and suitable for publication.

- ALL WORK must be accompanied with a 50 word bio. please remember to include weblinks in your bios if you wish to draw readers attention to your work online.

- each piece submitted must be in a separate attachment.

- bio can appear in body of email but must also appear as separate attachment also.

- rtfs, word documents and jpegs are preferred form of attachment.

- please include postal address if you wish to receive a copy of the zine and you're unable to attend COTTONMOUTH, which occurs on the second thursday of every month at the rosemount hotel's bar 459 on the corner of fitzgerald and angove streets in north perth.

- please email all work to info@cottonmouth.org.au and remember that this is a monthly publication, so work may appear in one or two issues depending.

Thank you for your time. For more information please visit www.cottonmouth.org.au and check out readings from previous nights, videos of performers and the unique body of work that is our Pegline Project.

Short lists announced for $50,000 Griffin Poetry Prizes

The Canadian Press
Published Saturday April 12th, 2008

TORONTO - Simon Fraser University professor emeritus Robin Blaser, considered to be one of North America's most outstanding poets of the postwar period, is in the running for the Griffin Poetry Prize.

Now in its eighth year, the prize awards $50,000 to the best book of Canadian poetry and $50,000 to the best book of international poetry published in English the preceding year.

Blaser made the Canadian short list, announced this week in Toronto, for The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser (University of California Press).

Montreal writer Robert Majzels and Calgary-born poet Erin Moure made the list for their English translation of Notebook of Roses and Civilization (Coach House Books). The book is by Montreal poet and novelist Nicole Brossard.

Rounding out the Canadian short list is Toronto author David McFadden for Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems of David W. McFadden (Insomniac Press/4 a.m. Books).

Four books are on the international shortlist: Notes From the Air: Selected Later Poems from John Ashbery (HarperCollins Publishers/Ecco); Elaine Equi's Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems (Coffee House Press); The Complete Poetry: A Bilingual Edition, by Clayton Eshleman, translated from the Spanish, written by Cesar Vallejo (University of California Press); and Selected Poems 1969-2005 from David Harsent (Faber and Faber).

from The London Review of Books ...

The Land East of the Asterisk by
Wendy Doniger reviewing
Indo-European Poetry and Myth by M.L. West

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n07/doni01_.html

2008 Pulitzer Prize 'Special Citation': Bob Dylan

Go to http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2008/special-citation/bio/ if you want all the information, but, personally, I just went to the CD player and let him loose for a while. 'If dogs run free, then why don't we?'

Interesting review of John Kinsella's book of poems, Shades of the Sublime And Beautiful (Picador). Is it his latest? I don't know.

Go to http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/poetry/0,,2271115,00.html

From the Washington Post's Poet's Choice column

photo © Star Black









In "Proofs and Theories", [Louise Gluck's] book of essays on poetry, she explains, "I do not think that more information always makes a richer poem. I am attracted to ellipsis, to the unsaid, to suggestion. ... "

Me too.

Quote for Someday

Tradition and progress are the two great enemies of the human race.
- Paul Valery


Thanks to David Bircumchaw for this one.

Measure for Measure - How-to-Write-a-Song Blog

The New York Times has created a blog with successfull contemporary songwriters passing on hints about how to write songs. Now, that's a great idea. Us humble wordsmiths out here in hicksville would love to have some idea how to write a chartbuster, right! So here's your chance to hear the tricks that work straight from the probably-often-hoarse mouth: http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/?ex=1222574400&en=d07a298be1751724&ei=5087?excamp=NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0402-L10&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_id=+NYT-E-I-NYT-E-AT-0402-L10

Two notable contributors ...

Rosanne Cash is a Grammy award-winning artist who has released 14 albums, most recently "Black Cadillac" (2006), and 11 No. 1 singles. She is also the author of a short-story collection, "Bodies of Water" and a children's book, "Penelope Jane: A Fairy's Tale." Her essays and fiction have appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and other publications. She is currently working on a new recording and a book of non-fiction to be published by Viking this year. Ms. Cash's collaborator here is Joe Henry, whose 10th album, "Civilians," was released last year. Her Web site is http://www.rosannecash.com.

Suzanne Vega, (photo above) a singer and songwriter whose success in the 1980s helped establish the acoustic folk-pop movement, has released eight albums, including the platinum-selling "Solitude Standing" (1987) with the hit single, "Luka," and the 2007 recording, "Beauty and Crime" on Blue Note Records. She is also the author of a book of poetry and was a host of the public radio series "American Mavericks." Her Web site is http://www.suzannevega.com.

James Fei - not for the faint hearted!

Challenging music at http://www.jamesfei.com/

Les Murray at Andrew and Beate Taylor's house

Les Murray was visiting Perth last Friday to launch Indigo 2, a vibrant new literary magazine, edited by Donna Ward. On Saturday, Andrew and Beate Taylor had us over for lunch. The photos above show Jeanette Burke and Les Murray, Les Murray and Andrew Lansdown, myself and Donna, Beate and beautiful tart, Andrew Taylor and myself.

Friendly Street Poets Inc. Japanese Poetry Competition

Friendly Street Poets Inc are running a Japanese Poetry Contest. The haiku section is restricted to residents of South Australia, but the haibun and haiku sequence sections are open to all.

Closing date is May 6th 2008.

For further details and an entry form visit http://friendlystreetpoets.org.au

Alice Notley wins Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize

The Nation has reported the annual prize for best poetry book in USA has gone to Alice Notley for her book Grave of Light: New and Selected Poems 1970-2005. The article finishes on this note:

[Alice Notley] is a moving speaker; her voice is the voice of the text as a breath of fresh air, awash with movement, the currents of keeping going. Connection of bits of data is not direct. But it is present, like the white stones of Hansel and Gretel gleaming in the forest dark. She's centered by a voice heard and overheard, an inner counsel she always follows, "don't think/you're a poet write a poem for chrissakes."


It is a fine article, available at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080407/ponsot

Tibetan Author under House Arrest in Beijing

Saturday, 22 March , 2008, 11:15

Beijing: Tibetan author Tsering Woeser and her Chinese husband and fellow author, Wang Lixiong, have been placed under house arrest in Beijing since the outbreak of anti-Chinese protests in Tibet.

"Whatever movements we plan to make, we must first ask for approval," Wang told the US-sponsored Radio Free Asia. "Only when it's approved by higher-ups can we make a move under surveillance."

He had previously been a focus for Chinese authorities, but now the focus has shifted to his wife, who declined to be interviewed for fear of repercussions.

Tsering Woeser, 40, has written 10 books, including two on China's Cultural Revolution. Most of her work has been banned inside China. Her blog was blocked by authorities last year after she published a photo of the Dalai Lama.

The couple regularly makes contributions to Radio Free Asia's Chinese programme.

Les Murray in conversation with Frank Sheehan

at the launch of

indigo journal volume 2

Friday 28 March at 7:30pm

Christchurch Chapel

Queenslea Dr, Claremont



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

Readings From Indigo

@ Walking on Water



Monday evening 7th April 7:30pm.

104b The Laneway, Perth City.

(Near the corner of Murray and Pier streets
laneway is almost opposite Miss Maud's)



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

indigo movie night

The Painted Veil—Sneak Preview!!

Sunday 20 April 6:15pm

Windsor Cinema Nedlands

Tickets $15

Ring Rosie 9335 3736 or email dwcontac@bigpond.net.au

To be sure of a seat send cheque/postal order by last post 16 April
made out to Out of the Asylum Writers’ Group.
Mark the envelope:
The Painted Veil,
PO Box 142,
Fremantle 6959.

Include SSAE so they can send your tickets.


More information at www.indigojournal.org.au

Bob Marcacci and Sheila Murphy reviewed

Interesting poetry review site over at Galatea Resurrects has two reviews of friends of mine:
http://galatearesurrection9.blogspot.com/2008/03/imagining-baby-by-bob-marcacci.html

and

http://galatearesurrection9.blogspot.com/2008/03/skinny-buddha-by-sheila-e-murphy.html

Enjoy.

Arthur C. Clarke - His future is now.

Photo: Arthur C. Clarke at age 84, reading in his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi/Reuters)


Arthur C. Clarke, author of science fiction novels such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died at age 90.

An assistant announced the author's death on Tuesday in Sri Lanka. The British-born Clarke had been living in Colombo for many years.

He was the author of more than 100 books but Hollywood adaptations of his books 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010 made him into a household name.

Along with Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlen and Frank Herbert, Clarke is regarded as one of science-fiction's most important figures.

Liar

Swept overboard, unconscious in the breakers,
strangled with seaweed, may you wake up in a gelid
surf, your teeth, already cracked into the shingle
now set rattling by the wind, while facedown,
helpless as a poison cur, on all fours, you puke
brine reeking of dead fish. May those you meet,
barbarians as ugly as their souls are hateful,
treat you to the moldy wooden bread of slaves.
And may you, with your split teeth sunk in that,
smile, then, the way you did when speaking as my friend.

Archilochos



This poem can be found in Dances for Flute and Thunder: From the Ancient Greek, translated by Brooks Haxton. Viking. Copyright 1999 by Brooks Haxton.

Easter is a-comin' in / Merrily sing chick-chick

Happy St Patrick's Day to all!

The Rocky Road to Dublin

In the merry month of May, From my home I started,
Left the girls of Tuam, Nearly broken hearted,
Saluted father dear, Kissed my darlin' mother,
Drank a pint of beer, My grief and tears to smother,
Then off to reap the corn, And leave where I was born,
I cut a stout blackthorn, To banish ghost and goblin,
In a brand new pair of brogues, I rattled o'er the bogs,
And frightened all the dogs,On the rocky road to Dublin.

One, two, three, four five,
Hunt the hare and turn her
Down the rocky road
And all the ways to Dublin,
Whack-fol-lol-de-ra.

In Mullingar that night, I rested limbs so weary,
Started by daylight, Next mornin' light and airy,
Took a drop of the pure, To keep my heart from sinkin',
That's an Irishman's cure, Whene'er he's on for drinking.
To see the lasses smile, Laughing all the while,
At my curious style, 'Twould set your heart a-bubblin'.
They ax'd if I was hired, The wages I required,
Till I was almost tired, Of the rocky road to Dublin.

In Dublin next arrived, I thought it such a pity,
To be so soon deprived, A view of that fine city.
Then I took a stroll, All among the quality,
My bundle it was stole, In a neat locality;
Something crossed my mind, Then I looked behind;
No bundle could I find, Upon my stick a wobblin'.
Enquirin' for the rogue, They said my Connacht brogue,
Wasn't much in vogue, On the rocky road to Dublin.

From there I got away, My spirits never failin'
Landed on the quay As the ship was sailin';
Captain at me roared, Said that no room had he,
When I jumped aboard, A cabin found for Paddy,
Down among the pigs I played some funny rigs,
Danced some hearty jigs, The water round me bubblin',
When off Holyhead, I wished myself was dead,
Or better far instead, On the rocky road to Dublin.

The boys of Liverpool, When we safely landed,
Called myself a fool; I could no longer stand it;
Blood began to boil, Temper I was losin',
Poor ould Erin's isle They began abusin',
"Hurrah my soul," sez I, My shillelagh I let fly;
Some Galway boys were by, Saw I was a hobble in,
Then with a loud hurray, They joined in the affray.
We quickly cleared the way, For the rocky road to Dublin.


Thank you to Max Richards for the lyrics and the site address.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxBKgOyMzSc

The Wife of Bath and Other Gems

The Telegraph newspaper, in United Kingdom, has a week-long series on classic English poets: Chaucer, Milton, Shelley and Rosetti. A worthy quartet indeed. If you would like to see what it says, go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/03/10/bopoetschaucer110.xml

Quote of the Day (It ain't necessarily so ...)

In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.
- Paul Dirac

Thanks, Del.

Another great site for the story below re: Whalen and Rexroth

Thank you to the Bureau of Public Secrets for this site: http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/essays/whalen.htm

Kenneth Rexroth, Michael McClure, Robert Duncan, Philip Whalen, Dave Haselwood and James Broughton, 1957 in Palo Alto - from http://www.poetrysociety.org/journal/articles/poetsonpoets_02fl.html

A Vision of the Bodhisattvas
(occasional drifts in formatting, for which I apologise but can't correct)

They pass before me one by one riding on animals
"What are you waiting for," they want to know

Z—, young as he is (& mad into the bargain) tells me
"Some day you'll drop everything & become a rishi, you know."

I know
The forest is there, I've lived in it
more certainly than this town? Irrelevant—

What am I waiting for?
A change in customs that will take 1000 years to come about?
Who's to make the change but me?

"Returning again and again," Amida says

Why's that dream so necessary? walking out of whatever house
alone
Nothing but the clothes on my back, money or no
Down the road to the next place the highway leading to the
mountains
From which I absolutely must come back

What business have I to do that?
I know the world and I love it too much and it
Is not the one I'd find outside this door

31:iii:60
— Philip Whalen

Reprinted from Canoeing up Cabarga Creek: Buddhist Poems 1955-1986 (1996) by Philip Whalen, with permission of Parallax Press, Berkeley, California, www.parallax.org

Unusual Easter Time - the facts

Easter this year is: Sunday March 23, 2008

As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after
the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20).
This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar
that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is
why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day
earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare. This year
is the earliest Easter any of us will ever
see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly
of our population have ever seen it this early (95
years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or
will ever, see it a day earlier! Here are the facts:

The next time Easter will be this early (March 23)
will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last
time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or
older, you are the only ones that were around for
that!).

The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will
be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last
time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive
today has or will ever see it any earlier than this
year!


Thanks, Del, for this information.

Yungang’s treasure

Since I lived in Linfen (cough, cough) I've kept up with news of that grotty city with a Google Alert. There is a better spin on the province at http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2008/3/12/columnists/ziyingbrush/20581640&sec=Ziying's%20Brush

ZIYING'S BRUSH

Shanxi’s Yungang grottoes are renowned for some of the finest Buddhist carvings in China.

WHENEVER China’s coal-rich Shanxi province is in the news, it is usually for the wrong reasons.

Grim images of the darkened skies and soot-covered streets of Linfen, a coal-mining centre in the southern part of the province, have been featured repeatedly in various international media.

INDIGO 2 Launch Invitation

Out of the Asylum Writers' Group
with Christchurch Grammar
Centre for Ethics

presents

Frank Sheehan in conversation with Les Murray


Friday 28 March at 7:30pm
Christchurch Chapel
Queenslea Drive Claremont


RSVP Friday14 March
email: dwcontac@bigpond.net.au
or call 9335 3736



The Lane Bookshop will be on hand to sell indigo for $25

Beatnik Questionnaire, copyright 1960, Gimmix Novelties, White Plains, N.Y. (Harry Ransom Center)

Free Penguins at Planet Books!

Your friendly bookseller offers you:

Penguin have given PLANET BOOKS a couple of boxes of Penguin 70s (small books by
authors including Dave Eggers, Will Self, Anthony Beevor, WG Sebald...)

They are giving one away with every purchase while stocks last!

PLANET BOOKS
636-638 Beaufort Street
MOUNT LAWLEY WA 6050
phone 08 9328 7464

Australian Archibald Prize for Portraiture goes to ...

Sydney artist Del Kathryn Barton has been announced as this year's Archibald Prize winner.

Barton's self-portrait You Are What Is Most Beautiful About Me also depicts her two children - Kell and Arella.

PEN Petition to Free Chinese Writers

PEN America
is trying to get China
to free nearly 40 writers
rounded up in advance of
this year’s Olympics

World-renowned writers from China and North America marked International Human Rights Day by launching We Are Ready for Freedom of Expression, a campaign that challenges the Chinese government to release all the writers and journalists it is holding in prisons before the August 8, 2008 opening of the Olympic Games. Noted Chinese authors Liu Xiaobo and Zheng Yi were among those joining international counterparts including Margaret Atwood, Francine Prose, and Salman Rushdie in issuing the challenge on behalf of PEN.

You can help:

Sign the petition to the Chinese government

Sign the petition to the U.S. Congress

Sign up to receive updates & breaking campaign news

Information on 38 currently imprisoned writers
(plus four others already released)
with actions you can take
to help each
are on the Penn American Center site!

http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/1527

If you're into Pantoums ...

go to http://poetry.about.com/b/2008/03/05/mcsweeneys-quarterly-seeking-pantoums.htm

Invitation to view Poneme's blog

I've been on the poetry list Poneme for some years, through its various manifestations, and now it has sprouted wings: yes, it has its own blog. Your welcome to view http://poneme.blogspot.com/

A slightly different Hope and Sandals is on there now - latest edit prompted by Frederick Pollack , so thank you Fred. I do listen to other poets, you know >g<

Hope and Sandals (revised)

shuffling yours and hours
you come to a sudden cliff
hot autumn winds make nerves
jumpy and skin erupt

take the easy way out
and lie down or
walk to the letterbox
in hope and sandals

today's snail dries out
in the letterbox oven as
the driveway burns your feet
no news or cheques

no matter tonight
is the third episode of
that gangland series
just the ticket to

take your mind off

PoemTalk - Podcasts worth hearing

sponsored by
the Poetry Foundation | the Kelly Writers House | & PennSound

readings by the poets and close readings of the poems by critics and poets.
Featured already are William Carlos Williams, Adrienne Rich, George Oppen and Ginsberg chanting Blake


I hope you enjoy -
http://poemtalkatkwh.blogspot.com/2007/10/broken-pieces.html

In Hope and Sandals

shuffling yours and hours
you come to a sudden cliff
hot autumn winds make nerves
jumpy and skin erupt

take the easy way out
and lie down or
walk to the letterbox
in hope and sandals

today's snail has dried out
and the letterbox yawns
as the driveway burns your feet
no news or cheques

no matter tonight
is the third episode of
that gangland series
just the ticket

pitched passed grief
days are marked off
as liquidity balances
book after book

Poems: Philip Whalen; Photos: Aram Saroyan

http://www.bigbridge.org/AS-CH.HTM

Beautiful series of photographs taken early in his life by poet Aram Saroyan, and then added to by poet Philip Whalen. A wonderful series full of wit and humanity.

Quote of the Day

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.

- George Orwell


Thanks, Del, for this one.

Quote of the Day

Everywhere I go I find that a poet has been there before me.
Sigmund Freud