Charles Simic
The Buster Keaton Cure
“Every few years I take a look at Buster Keaton’s films, and recently, being thoroughly depressed by our wars and our politics, I watched a dozen of his shorts to cheer myself up.”
“Every few years I take a look at Buster Keaton’s films, and recently, being thoroughly depressed by our wars and our politics, I watched a dozen of his shorts to cheer myself up.”
My current thinking is prompted by Hart Crane who said:
"The writing of a poem is not - as the writing of a chemical equation is - intended to describe anything; instead, the poem is the chemical reaction itself."
Over many decades, when I’ve been teaching writing, I have used a great list of famous poets who have described poetry, never quite nailing its essence. Today, while throwing out books to the op shop, I came across Natalie Goldberg’s WILD MIND. Page 203 held a great surprise – another definition:
Poetry is a dumb Buddha who thinks a donkey is as important as a diamond.
Wow, this reader’s mind is in a turmoil of images which collide and clutter in the neural junkshop. It doesn’t tell me ; it delights me.
One of my favourite artists
was born before language
and I understand what s/he
was communicating:
five clay streaks on
a cave wall. Now the Tv
would feast on the arts channel
exploring which school of art
s/he creates in, what
string of influences s/he had,
the materials s/he chose
and the palette of the diaspora.
I ask, ‘Why did you stop at five?’
S/he puts up her hand in answer.
Published in The Australian 2022,
Lisa Gorton wrote in her poem Grafitti:
An arm’s length of
wall permits any depth
of meditative calm or
your money back.
I read it on the Internet,
I saw the streaks on my screen.
*
Why I wrote this poem
is the same impulse s/he had.
(from the novel ‘All Our Christmases’)
I have no idea what bird that is which scuds,
a silhouette along the silver-pink surface.
You need to hear a call, but it’s nearly night
and they don’t.
It’s not quite a lake, although there’s been more rain.
The frogs sound resigned to the season change,
the grasses, reeds and marshes
are fed again by the winter creek
from the foothills
where cashed-up people spend the weekends
scraping barnacles from boats
and vacuuming driveways.
Across the water, distant shadows are absorbed
and suburban lights flick on for the News.
I have no boat, no house, no complaints.
For me, nothing taints this swamp
this winter silence
an old bed
a shed roof almost leakproof
a lake moon
rates to pay soon.
PS: The novel is for sale at Crow Books and New Edition
Out there ground imprisoned by drought
longs to escape in rain. Tussocks of
spinifex
inject the sky through needles.
The law of agony has sentenced
the thorny devil to wander its
scorching hell.
Look over the nearest rocks and
watch the sun
gloat over ants’ nests trying to
reach the clouds.
Why bother to expel breath here?
Better to conserve
every drop of sweat for the long
haul,
for the trudge over dune-oceans, and
twisted logs
sunk to the bottom of a lost
water-hole.
And that dingo hobbles, hesitant,
toward nowhere, fur ruffled by hints
of wind, teeth drooling for food,
without finding a companion
anywhere.
Peach
Peach pits are poisonous This is not a mistake.
Brenna Twohy.
we eat of life as if a ripened peach.
I wipe my chin, protest that I have had little
of this though on the cracked blue and white
plate only a single slice remains.
look, you nod. can mirrors have intruders?
hair is hoarfrost, face a windfall, hands aftershocks.
the sun is low. there are clouds. shivering begins.
on kitchen china, discarded skin, that last piece.
it is late, you say, for sweetness. crush the kernel.
tell the secret of the seed as you leave me.
head in hands. the pause between seconds.
I open my throat.
plate only a single slice remains.
I’m a catabolic woman
Stimulating
Dangerous
I want a slow hand
across my sagging breasts
spiralling nipples
tummy rolls thighs love handles
a wet tongue that adores
the many craters of my hot skin
me vivid with desire
shouting
nonsense as lust unravels
This landscape
sticky with you
won’t be enough
Years later
maybe sooner
Reality sneaks in
This could be enough
ABOLONE FISHING
John walked out
on ankle-high surf
babbling on the reef
finding its way
through the sharp rocky surface
I followed behind
nervous in my old tennis shoes
walking gingerly
tyre lever in hand
hunting for abalone.
John knows how. He’d been
around the world
working on merchant ships
telling tales of the high seas
and the low dives in port cities.
I’d been in boarding school
for much of his travels,
anchored to declining verbs
and translating Caesar.
He told us about the tough whores
of Marseilles while I was
taking a Burmese girl from
a Catholic boarding school
for a hamburger and coffee.
“Here you go, here’s some,”
as he bent to the reef
hacking at stones as
the sun glittered off
the Indian Ocean.
- 17/08/2022
There's poetry in everything. It's in how you read it. Take, for example, the text below:
20 is a pronic number. 20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20. 20 is the basis for vigesimal number systems. 20 is the third composite number to be the product of a squared prime and a prime, and also the second member of the (2 )q family in this form.20 is the smallest primitive
OLD NOTES DRAFT 2
I
am drained of much
and
live in echoes,
bones
brittle
and
heart
flawed.
Yet
I can laugh
and play
with dialog
with the
shopkeeper
and the old
woman
who sits
outside
on the
padded seat
of her
walking frame.
Tradesmen
bounce
out of
their
utilities
and trucks
to buy a
choc milk
and meaty
pies.
She sips her
coffee
silently in
a
meditation
on
their
exhaust.
Andrew BURKE
15/07/2022
A book review about my NEW & SELECTED POEMS out from Walleah Press.
The review is live: https://westerlymag.com.au/andrew-burke-new-and-selected/
Thank you Editors of Westerly and Jackson who is a fine poet herself.
SMELLS LIKE SEPTUAGENARIAN SPIRITS
When we turned off the wireless in the
lounge-room
my father once said you can’t beat a
nightcap.
Slumber should be deep, dreamless and
rewarding.
Lean times. His choice was cheap Johnny
Walker red.
He would run his tongue over his lips
and say goodnight
the last thing before sleep.
Times are okay now. I’ve walked in the
Cuillins
which he sang about but never got to. He
never smelt
‘…the
tangle of the Isles.’
I’ve travelled to untangle a string of
work worries
Had wild highland heather scrape the
campervan
and uncorked a Lagavulin in the long
twilight.
-
that unmistakeable
aroma of smokey peat –
wishing I could
share it with him
the last thing
before sleep.
I’m fourteen
years older than my father was when he died.
My youngest son
is catching up to both of us.
He who stuck a
giant poster of Kurt Cobain
on his bedroom
wall all those years ago
after he’d heard
the bad news and stared at it
his guitar
across his chest
the last thing
before sleep.
-
© 2019 Murray Jennings
SHOW DAY - a memory by JAN NAPIER
It was time
to go. I tossed a towel over my shoulder, squeezed toothpaste onto the brush,
and locked the van. I could hear Mick next door, muttering in his sleep as I
stepped outside. Sliding sideways down the narrow passage way between two canvas
joints, I walked out on to the grass street which runs betwixt
This was a twenty foot, four berth van in which the rest of Jack’s workers lived. Although it was their home, in practice we all shared the use of the facilities such as the stove and fridge. It was the place where we all ate, partied, and socialized.
For now, I just wanted breakfast - a coffee. If I could manage to boil the kettle without waking anyone up, I would be able to escape without having to make cuppas for everyone. I was in luck. The boys were still snoring.
Hot drink in one hand and cigarette in the other, I went and sat carefully on the ball rack which fronted Jack’s basketball joint. I loved this time of the day. Everything was quiet and fresh. The sky was just turning blue, while the grounds were hushed and still. The big rides stood silent, freshly painted and gleaming in the weak morning sun. Music systems only needed to be plugged in. Ticket boxes furnished with a variety of tatty chairs awaited endless rolls of tickets, and change trays. The joints, contents hidden behind their smothers, were all filled to bursting with plush. The twenty cent machines familiarly known as choppers slept under their individual canvas hoods. Shortly, sleepy bodies would begin to emerge from caravans, wander off to the showers, or in search of a cooked breakfast from the CWA ladies. For the moment however, it was all mine.
It was the
first day of the Royal Show. We (the crew) had to be on deck sober, showered, and respectable, at
Others started to take down storm ropes and fold up the smothers. When they had finished doing that, one of them grabbed the sledge hammer and knocked out the storm pegs securing the joints. I worked a dart joint and preferred to remove my own smother. Subsequently, I checked the stock then went to get the darts from Bev, the bosses’ wife. When everything had been done, it was back around to Jack’s van where Bev handed out waist bags which contained a small float. She called your name, gave you a bag, and assigned you to a particular joint. Jack employed a lot of casuals for this show. He would take them to their work stations and explain the job. They were put into a joint with a member of his permanent crew. The experienced employee would keep an eye on the new recruit. I was permanent, so Bev gave me two bags then told one of the casuals to go with me.
There was a few minutes to get organized, (find somewhere to put your water, cigarettes, throat lollies, learn each other’s names, etc), before officials opened the showground gates and the initial trickle of humanity began to filter down to the alley. I smiled at a family of four as they passed in front of the stall.
“Have a game. Four darts for two dollars,” I called, offering a handful of darts. They looked, grinned, and shook their heads. Never mind. My apprentice was staring at me in undisguised horror. “It’s OK, you just watch me for a while, then you can have a go,” I reassured her.
“ I’m not doing that. It’s too embarrassing,” she refused.
It didn’t get really busy till about lunchtime. Jack came across to ask how my helper was getting on.
“Pretty useless actually,” I told him sotto voice. “She won’t spruik, just stands there doing nothing.”
“ Give me a minute, I’ll swap her into a quieter joint,” Jack promised.
The next girl was fine. Frantically we counted scores, gave out prizes, avoided flying missiles, ducked shattering light globes, assured tearful tots that the teddy which they had just impaled wasn’t really hurt, changed money, and gathered up spent darts. As we worked, one of the crew who was acting as stock boy, would periodically enter the stall to replenish and tidy our supply of toys. He also carried some change, which meant that we didn’t have to wait for Jack. At set intervals, either he or Bev would appear with a fresh set of waist bags. This was called doing a collect. We handed over our full bags, and took the new ones.
The meal breaks were half an hour. I went back to the crew van, made some lunch, then sat down. After being on my feet for hours, all I wanted was some time out and a chance to sit down somewhere quiet for a while. For the first few days, most of the casuals rushed around buying showbags or going on rides, then complained that they hadn’t had time to eat and their feet hurt. Tough bikkies. Eventually they learned. If they lasted that long.
Nights were busy times too. The mums with young kids had gone home, but the teenagers and retail workers were out with their mates. The alley looked spectacular after dark. The rides and joints were all adorned with coloured lights which sparkled, flashed, dazzled, and twinkled. It was like working in fairyland, albeit a noisy one. Generators thudded away behind rides and joints supplying power for motors or lights, spruikers called, and every ride had its own music blasting out.
At last, all the covers were back on the machines and the money had been removed to Jack’s van. I shot off to grab my shower gear. The public facilities were miles away in the Silver Jubilee pavilion, and I wanted hot water not cold. Nor did I feel like standing in line half the night. Luckily, there was only one woman before me, so I was in and out pretty fast.
The next thing on my agenda was a couple of beers with the boys, then something to eat. However, when I walked into our crew van, I discovered that a couple of Jennie’s boys were visiting. Naturally, they had brought a carton. It would have been the height of bad manners to let the beer get hot. By the time that we had all compared notes about our respective day, it was half past one. I opted out and retired to my van. I certainly wasn’t going to take any rocking tonight. Well, one day down, seven to go.
FINIS
I will start with a pertinent quote
from Yeats: Out of the quarrel with
ourselves, we make rhetoric, but poetry is born of the quarrel with ourselves.
Welcome to this book launch of
CONSTELLATIONS by Deanne Leber – a very important book in the contemporary west
coast literary scene of Australia. This poetry community has a long history
that is described and illustrated by various anthologies still available today,
the latest being John Kinsella’s Fremantle
Press Anthology of Western Australian Poetry. But there’s no Deanne Lieber included
… and no L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E Poetry. I guarantee there will be in the next
anthology: There will be quotes from this book and its influences. It is a
breath of fresh air in the local poetry scene – it progresses both in its
composition and its writing.
I mention composition because this is
very physical writerature – an intellectual architecture, still tactile but
with deep theory behind it. The basic element is the words but grouped together
they associate, contradict, waylay connotations, expose and whistle their own
tunes. They are all from Deanne’s lexicon of all her life until now. The form
is realized by human techniques but the highlight of the form is the reading of
the constellations by the writer. The ‘Author’ may be dead, as Roland Barthes
wrote, but the Reader is ever more important in the CONSTELLATIONS.
As reader and writer, Deanne Leber is
influenced fundamentally by Gertrude Stein and Lyn Hejinian – but you can trace
her creative impulses back to the earliest known drawing by human hand, five
strokes of clay in a South African cave. The nearest link to Deanne’s prose
poems would be Ania Walwicz in Australian poetry. And maybe Michelle Leggett in
NZ.
How to read CONSTELLATIONS is a very
personal thing. Each reader experiences a different universe. There are
constellations illustrated, one at a time – followed by a prose poem of one
page with a different kaleidoscopic theme each time, then an emergent poem on
an entirely different theme with its own page … and finally the verbal bones of
the theme positioned on the page as dictated to by the apexes of that
individual Constellation. The obvious way to read them is one constellation at
a time, but I read some prose poems one day and marveled over the emergent
poems on another. The spiky visual poems I read as sculptures. You can do what
you like, read it in large gulps or small breaks but it will last you a long time
to exhaust its multi-dimensional layers.
As Lyn Hejinian says, The process is more composition than
writing. But let’s zero in on the writing, the words Deanne chose at one
stage or another. Here’s a couple of quotes from her prose poems: notice how
age-old images come to life by juxtaposition -
Deanne Leber quote: A
plastic rose and a feather duster caressed. A dirty knee’d angel with the words
of a poet stuck in throat. Hum of song stuck in note. Stars sucking tongue.
Undone. Crawling to begin again.
DL quote: Skin closes moments made new
by colour. Longing to be your slow sad ballerina. Dancing my heel got caught in
the gutter. Threaded to your skin to your heart. When writing replaces words
you can’t say.
DL: Waiting for a tongue to begin.
Love hearts and wings against skin. He etched feathers on walls as the train
linked each track to a new word. Breaking their
umbilical shells. Born into shapes caressed with pen.
I love ‘words breaking their umbilical shells.’
I haven’t finished CONSTELLATIONS yet
– I’ve only had the text a week - and I will never exhaust this book. It’ll be
like Finnegan’s Wake for me, an
endless delight. Buy it now before they run out.
-
Andrew Burke (MA, PhD)
Submit your work!
We are looking for both Photography & Poetry submissions for Print Issue 2: Fall 2021 — Just like with Issue 1, the next issue will be a limited printing.
All contributors receive a free copy, while the proceeds from sales go to benefit our current charity partner.
Deadline for all submissions is through 7/1, 11:59pm EST
Send the following in the body of an email to: Submit@olneymagazine.com
Type only the submission category (poetry/photography/etc.) as your subject line
Name & pro-nouns
Short bio (<100 words)
Author Photo
Website & Social Links
Cover letter optional
Congratulations to everyone on the shortlist for the 2020 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards!
The Awards support, develop and recognise excellence in writing. At $60,000, the Western Australian Writer’s Fellowship is one of the most valuable awards in Australian arts and open to writers of any style, medium or genre. Other than the Daisy Utemorrah Award, all the awards are open to Western Australian authors.
The Daisy Utemorrah Award for Unpublished Indigenous Junior and Young Adult Fiction is open to Indigenous writers from across Australia. This award is administered by Broome-based Indigenous publisher Magabala Books with support from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.
The shortlists:
The Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer ($15,000)

The Premier’s Prize for Writing for Children ($15,000)

The Daisy Utemorrah Award for Unpublished Indigenous Junior and YA ($15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books)

The Western Australian Writer’s Fellowship ($60,000)

AUTUMN LEAVES
There are fallen leaves
at the backdoor
but I won’t sweep them.
I have more important
poetry matters to attend to.
On This Very Street in Belgrade
Your mother carried you
Out of the smoking ruins of a building
And set you down on this sidewalk
Like a doll bundled in burnt rags,
Where you now stood years later
Talking to a homeless dog,
Half-hidden behind a parked car,
His eyes brimming with hope
As he inched forward, ready for the worst.
-- Charles Simic (born May 9, 1938).
SUBURBAN FROG
I
stopped to stand
on a
stone bridge
in the
wetlands
I
stopped to listen to
a
frog’s monologue donk donk
but as
I stopped he stopped –
all I heard
was a handyman
thumping
and sawing
to my
left and to my right
space
invaders in a backyard.
I
stood and waited to
catch
my breath and as I
waited
frog started again donk
closer
seemingly donk donk
under
the bridge – and his throaty song
lightened
my load donk donk
and I
smiled as I looked up
to the
top of the tallest gum donk
ANDREW BURKE
burkeandre@gmail.com
"...poetry is survival, sir. it throws some of the stink bombs out of my room. if it comes as rhythm fine or physic, fine, any old way. I think of it more as a loaf of bread, a long fat hot loaf, sliced half down the middle, spread with pickles, onions, meats, garlic, chilies, old fingernails...add ice beer and a shot of scotch, ram it down under electric light, forget the mountains of faces and eyes and wrinkles and bombs and rent and graves, get it in, warm, smelling, filling, light a cigar, blow the whole room paint the whole room blue with smoke, play the radio, think of the bones of Chopin's left foot---that to me, is poetry, or zingplay, or the rays." Bukowski,
SCREAMS FROM THE BALCONY - [To Allen DeLoach] February, 1967
Can I suggest you back Australian poetry by buying The SATURDAY PAPER and reading three poems by Chilian poet JUAN GARRIDO-SALGADO ? That's this week's issue - but the paper has a literary creative page each week which is worth reading - as they are scarce!
everyday
i’m going to write
a poem
about how my wife
does the washing
everyday
but i am too busy
hanging out the washing
as i peg
her knickers
to the frayed line
i think of robert frost
he said re free verse
to hang the washing out
without pegs you’d
have to tie shirt arms
to each other …
my brother colour codes
the pegs a line of red
and a line of green
and a line of blue
and a line of yellow
and a line of white
birds have pecked
this line for its
underlining for
their nests …
in autumn wispy curls
reflect my aged beard
my wife interrupts:
“what a lovely drying day!”
as she is wont to say
everyday
Here are three recent poems by myself that have just appeared at https://periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2021/04/andrew-burke-three-poems.html
Thank you, rob mcclennan, editor in chief.
One of my best books - and now a rarity - 'PUSHING AT SILENCE' going cheap athttps://rochfordstreetreview.com/about-rochford-street-review/rochford-street-press/rochford-street-press-bookshop/
If that doesn't work, go to Rochford Street Review and look for their bookshop.
During my many years as an investigative poet I have dabbled in 'renga' (as I've known it) with various friends and students. So here is a helpful essay by David Gerard, famous for his thousands of Issa translations and his Daily Issa.
Daily Issa There are two ways to receive a random haiku by Issa every day.
by email:
That's it. You might receive a message inviting you to join Yahoo, but you can ignore this if you want. If you don't receive a haiku within 24 hours, check your Spam folder and indicate that the Daily Issa is legit.
on Twitter: