New Poem 'Epistle to David'

Now on display at The Wonder Book of Poetry http://wonderbookofpoetry.org/

Sappho's Poetry Night - Brooks, Cahill and Powell

On the second Tuesday of April, the monthly poetry night at Sappho Books and Cafe will host poets David Brooks, Michelle Cahill and Craig Powell. Open mic too. 

Tapas, drinks, poetry, etc., in a courtyard.

7pm to 9.30pm

SAPPHO'S Book Cafe and Wine Bar

51 Glebe Point Road, Glebe

DAVID BROOKS
spent his earliest years in Greece and Yugoslavia, where his father was an immigration officer. He studied at the ANU before postgraduate degrees at the University of Toronto, where he was overseas editor for New Poetry and worked with such poets as Galway Kinnell, Mark Strand, and Czeslaw Milosz. His first collection, The Cold Front (1983), was short-listed for major awards. His The Book of Sei (1985) was heralded as the most impressive debut in Australian short fiction since Peter Carey’s, and his novel, The Fern Tattoo, was short-listed for Australia’s most prestigious prizes for fiction. The Sydney Morning Herald called his latest collection, The Balcony (UQP 2008), ‘an electric performance’. His most recent publication is The Conversation (UQP 2012). Until 2013 he taught Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, where he was also the foundation director of the graduate writing program. He is co-editor of Southerly.

MICHELLE CAHILL
is the author of Night Birds. Her collection Vishvarūpa was shortlisted in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. She has received awards and grants in poetry, most recently a Forward prize nomination, the CAL/UOW International fellowship at Kingston University, London and a Developing Writer’s Grant. She co-edited Contemporary Asian Australian Poets (Puncher and Wattmann).

CRAIG POWELL
Born Wollongong NSW 1940, graduated in Medicine from Sydney Uni 1965, then specialised in Psychiatry. Lived in Canada 1972-82. During which time he studied with the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis. Worked as a psychotherapist in Sydney 1982 till 2012 when he had to retire because of an injury. He is widowed with two adult children and two grand-daughters. He has produced 9 poetry collections.

OPEN MIC
Get in early because there's only time for 10 readers, 2 minutes each, maximum!

Sunflower - photo Barbara Temperton

—I rushed up enchanted—it was my first sunflower, memories of Blake—my visions—

'Sunflower Sutra' - Allen Ginsberg

Art Auction For Charles Blackman Trebles Expectations: Will Pay For Artists Care For 'Rest Of His Life'

by  SIMON THOMSEN 

Painter Charles Blackman. Photo Patrick Riviere/Getty

A fundraising art auction for Charles Blackman, one of Australia’s greatest living artists, has raised $900,000, three times more than expectations.

Blackman, 85, has Korsakoff’s syndrome, a form of dementia caused by alcoholism, and requires 24-hour care at his rented Sydney home.

On Tuesday, Melbourne’s Mossgreen gallery sold the last 400 works Blackman owned, hoping to raise $300,000, but Mossgreen managing director Paul Sumner said the response was so overwhelming from bidders that the artist would now have his healthcare costs covered for the rest of his life.

read on HERE

Meg McKinlay's Author Promotion Tip

from Meg McKinlay, poet, YAL novelist, children's author and editor:

Police officer spots me 'texting' while stopped at traffic lights this morning. Pulls me over after we've rounded the corner.

Police Officer: Do you know why I've pulled you over this morning?

Me: I'm sorry ... I actually don't.
PO: Even when stopped, you may not touch your phone.
M: Yes, but I don't actually have my phone with me.
PO: [skeptical; peering into car] Well, we observed behaviour consistent with texting. What do you say you were doing?
M: [putting it together; show him my hand, which is covered in spidery lines of text]
PO: You were writing on your hand? [sub-text: "What are you - twelve?"]
M: Yes.
PO: Well ... all right then. I don't think we have a law against that. Currently. But you shouldn't be distracted while driving. What exactly was so urgent?
M: It's kind of hard to explain.
PO: Try me.
M: [tries him; explains about lines of prose that appeared, whole and perfect, and had to be captured]
PO: Right. So you're an actual writer, then? Would I have read anything you've written?
M: [resists urge to make usual, flippant comeback] That's hard to say. But yes, I am an actual writer.
PO: Huh. Cool. Well, good luck with the book, I guess. [turns back to his partner, waiting in car] Hey, he has kids. Maybe I'll look you up! Do you have a website?

Self-promotion, people. It can happen anywhere, any time.

...

Meg's webpage(s) is/are HERE

Definitely No Ducks(Walker Books, 2013) Max, the class duck, is in trouble. The Antarctica display has been totally destroyed. Ripped. Torn. Chewed. And everyone knows Max is to blame. Or is he? Abby and Noah are determined to uncover the truth. If they can't, they will have to say goodbye to Max forever. A sequel to Duck For A Day.
Picture BooksThe Truth About Penguins (Walker Books, 2010) Penguins? Everybody knows penguins ... don't they?	No Bears (Walker Books, 2011; Candlewick 2012) Ruby is in charge of this book. And she'll tell you something right now. There are NO BEARS in it. Not even one.

larf: Famous Artists Modeling Agency

Virgil Quote

It is a marvelous quote on its own but a contentious one when applied to the repository of unidentified human remains from the 9/11 assault on the Twin Towers. Read all about it, if you wish, HERE but I'd rather leave it clean and philosophical.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez hospitalised

Gabriel García Márquez. Photograph: Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images

Nobel prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez was hospitalized on Thursday in Mexico City, two officials at the health ministry told Reuters on condition on anonymity.

García Márquez, whose career spans journalism to the fantastical novels that inspired the genre of magical realism, lives in Mexico City. The 87-year-old Nobel laureate entered the hospital Monday suffering from the infection and from dehydration, Mexico's Secretary of Health said in a written statement.

Read on HERE.

Issa Haiku

in heat shimmers
the holy man's
bare feet

Issa - 1804

.陽炎によしある人の素足哉
kagerô ni yoshi aru hito no suashi kana

The subject of the haiku is a "good person" (yoshi aru hito); I think that by this Issa might mean a Buddhist arhat. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan. 

http://haikuguy.com/

The Arrivalists

Asylum seekers in their own words.

The government doesn’t want you to see this, or read things like this.

It could be argued that Successive governments have de-humanised asylum seekers. They are not people like you and me, they have become ‘illegal arrivals’, ‘detainees’, we’ve all heard the language.

They are also anonymous, we don’t see their faces we seldom hear their stories; they have numbers
They have no voice, no face, painted and portrayed as a threat; they are dehumanised.

Only when someone is dehumanised, can the government treat them without humanity. Our asylum seeker policy requires this, because if we knew them as people we would not allow it to happen.

The Arivalists presents the writings and creative work of people who are or have been in the asylum seeker detention system.

Read their works and you will connect with them as other human beings – people in pain, with sadness, with anxiety and fear. Just people, just like us.

And the more people that connect with our asylum seekers, the harder it is for the government to continue their current inhumane practices.

So read the work, share it, spread the word, let’s change the way the rest of Australia feels about the people we have in immigration detention.

The Arrivalists is a project of The New Parliament Magazine, you can find it here: http://thearrivalists.tumblr.com

How famous creatives spend their time.

More to see, more to read, more to ponder HERE.

Tonight in Freo!

Bring your friends to the place where poetry rains. 

Tonight. Doors open at 7pm.

HYPERALLERGIC: Poliakoff and the Russian Connection

Serge Poliakoff, “Rouge” (1953), 45 3/4″ x 35″

The retrospective of Russian-born painter Serge Poliakoff (b. 1900, Moscow–d. 1969, Paris), which just closed at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, was both a welcome surprise and something of an anachronism. One would be hard pressed to find clues in the current international art scene, or even in the secondary market, to explain the royal treatment lavished by a well-funded institution on an artist almost forgotten today. But as the curator explained in one of the many promotional videos, this exhibition is part of a museum program of rereading past significant figures — a laudable and rare effort.

Continue reading and viewing HERE.

How to Submit Poems - from HuffPost Books at the Huffington Post

By Writer's Relief Staff:

Generally, literary journal editors encourage authors to submit three to five poems at once for consideration.

The question is, how should a writer choose which poems to include in any given submission group? Should the poems be wildly different, or should there be some continuity?

There are four practical strategies to guide you in creating a group of poems for submission. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

1. Grouping Poems That Are Dramatically Different In Style, Tone, Or Theme

Advantage: By casting a wide net, you may be more likely to garner an acceptance letter for at least one of your poems—because if one type of poem doesn’t resonate with the editor, maybe another will. If you are not overly familiar with the market that you are submitting to, this can be a good strategy.

Disadvantage: By including very different poems, you may give the impression that you as a poet are not yet confident in your voice. Over time, experienced writers tend to discover what they do best, and that creates a natural continuity. (Note: This is not true of all poets, but we feel it’s worth mentioning.)

2. Grouping Poems That Are Similar In Style, Tone, Or Theme

Advantage: When you submit a group of poems that are similar in style you are confidently proclaiming, “This is who I am and what I do.” If you are submitting to a themed literary journal or anthology, you definitely want to be sure that your poems match the theme.

Disadvantage: By not submitting a wide variety of poems, you may miss an opportunity to connect with an editor who doesn’t like the particular style or theme of your group.

3. Grouping Poems Of Different Lengths (Very Long Poems Or Very Short Poems)

Very Long Poems: If your poems tend to be very long, sometimes it’s better to send fewer than the maximum number that an editor is willing to consider in any one round. Sure, an editor may say, “Submit up to five poems.” However, submission guidelines that include such language tend to refer to poems of standard length: one or two pages.

If you’ve written a ten-page poem, you may want to send that one poem and nothing more; this demonstrates respect for the editor’s time. Also, editors only have so much space per issue, so sending one long poem is a smarter strategy.

Very Short Poems: If you’re writing short poems, feel free to send the maximum number allowed in one round of submissions.
It’s okay to group long and short poems together—just be sure to consider the points mentioned above.

4. Grouping Poems That “Must” Be Published Together

Some poets submit individual poems that they feel belong together as part of a larger collection of poems. However, writers need to have realistic expectations. Most literary journals prefer not to dedicate a high number of pages to a single poet in any given issue—unless, of course, that poet is being featured.

So what should you do when an editor offers to publish only one poem from a larger group of poetry? The answer is ultimately up to you. If you insist upon seeing your group of poems published together, then you will have to turn down the offer of publication. But if you’re excited to see one poem from your group published on its own, you should send your I accept! letter right away!

Now that you know how to arrange your poetry into the best possible groups for submission, you’re one step closer to getting that coveted acceptance letter.

For more from Writer's Relief, click here!

Kafka Ha-ha

Poets evening and dinner at Hovea Ashram

The sacredness of place

Poets Night and Vegetarian Dinner

                    

“What the country wants is for us to let it in - into who we are and what we’re doing and what we know of eternity. It needs us, and it wants to tell us something.” Mark Tredinnick, in The Blue Plateau, University of Queensland Press 2012

Join noted and awarded poets Amanda Joy, Rosie Barter, Hessom Razavi and Gary Colombo De Piazzi, accompanied by musician Janet Alexander on Tibetan Bowls, for an evening of great food and inspirational poetry that explores place and the sacredness of place as only poets can.

Sunday, 13^th April 2014 – 5:30 – 9:00 pm

Hovea Ashram of the Universal Great Brotherhood

805 Margaret Rd, Hovea  

“Within everyone there is the Sacred and that spark of enlightenment can manifest in a place that becomes unique and sacred to the individual.” Gary Colombo De Piazzi, poet.

Program

5:00 pm              Arrive

5:30-7:00            Vegetarian Dinner

7:00-8:00            Poetry accompanied by Tibetan Bowls

8.00-9.00            Share experiences

                                         

Contribution: $35 per person.  

This is as a fund raising event for the Ashram.

Please book by phoning the Ashram on 9298 8485

Universal Great Brotherhood Mission:

“To provide a spiritual and physical environment in which all walks of life can engage in the diverse possibilities of peace”

Issa's Best - translated by the Haiku Guy

Issa's Best: A Translator's Selection of Master Haiku presents 1,210 evocative and inspiring haiku by Issa arranged in seasonal order, including an introduction to Issa's life and poetry. Order your paperback copy here: Issa's Best ($9.99).

Also available as an e-book for Kindle and Nook ($2.99).

"Poetry is ..."

"Poetry is the oldest established form for the written word, and it is a necessary embodiment of language, a vehicle by which we are able to express and explore even the most complex concepts and emotions. Poetry is a mode of expansion and play, a mode of questioning and affirming. It allows for discovery and meditation. The quiet and most intimate act of holding and reading a collection of poems — especially these days when our brains are overworked and we are inundated with noise — should be protected and kept sacred." - The latest in a series of occasional profiles of poetry publishers. These questions were answered by Carey Salerno, executive director of Alice James Books.

Read the interview in full HERE

Société Jamais-Jamais presents 'Alibis' - Pam Brown

poems in English and French by Pam Brown
translated by Jane Zemiro

Now available. Order a copy here.

Here's an extract:

 
Scenes 

what’s graspable
on the starless night
of the blackout
as the gleaming cars 
snake cautiously 
up around 
that hillside curve
is the way
the absence of street light
suggests the past -
not a past
I ever knew,
but one I make up, tonight

a boy slides through it
on a silver scooter,
coming back
from synagogue,
curly tails 
dangling beneath 
an embroidered yarmulke
perched like a lid
to imagination’s
reckless feats 
or dimmer prospects -
sets of fraying notebooks 
filled with scripture

     *
over the road
two very stoned spectres 
can’t figure out
how to turn off
the one 
working headlight
on their old
silver BMW
so they leave it on
& hurry off
on foot,
jerkily,
on pills probably,
fags attached
to lower lips,
flat battery 
a portent

     *

an intense white light
shines down 
through folding greys
on the isolated city -
it transforms
to a plastic model,
to a distant maquette,
like toys on my horizon

that white plastic bag
has been drifting
from the gutter
to the road
for three days,
when the rainwater 
carries it off 
to the Tasman Sea
I think I’ll miss it 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Scènes

ce qu'on peut saisir
par cette nuit sans étoiles
alors que des voitures reluisantes
serpentent prudemment
le long d'un virage de la colline
c'est la façon
dont l'absence d'éclairage des rues
évoque le passé -
pas un passé que
j'aie jamais connu
mais celui que j'invente, ce soir

un garçon glisse dans la rue 
sur un scooter en argent,
il revient 
de la synagogue,
des frisettes
qui pendent sous son yarmulke brodé
perché comme un couvercle
sur des exploits téméraires 
de l'imagination
ou peut-être même -
une série de cahiers effilochés
remplis de textes sacrés

    *

de l'autre côté de la route
deux spectres complètement défoncés
n'arrivent pas à comprendre
comment éteindre
le seul phare
qui fonctionne encore
de leur vieille BMW argentée
alors ils y renoncent et se sauvent
à pied,
par à-coups,
bourrés de médicaments sans doute 
une clope attachée
à la lèvre inférieure,
la batterie plate
un présage

    *

une lumière blanche, intense
perce 
les plis de gris 
couvrant et isolant la cité - 
elle se transforme
devient un modèle en plastique,
une maquette lointaine,
comme des jouets sur mon horizon

ce sac blanc en plastique
vole à la dérive
du caniveau
jusqu'à la route
depuis trois jours,
la pluie
finira par l'emporter
dans la mer de Tasman
je crois qu'il va me manquer

1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference - Historic!

Check out this new documentary by Robert McTavish that’s all about the 1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference!

From the Simon Fraser University Library:

Narrated by poet Phyllis Webb, who chronicled the event at the time, The Line Has Shattered is a sixty-minute documentary film that revisits the ’63 Conference and hears from a number of its participants half a century later.

The Vancouver Poetry Conference, hosted by the University of British Columbia in the summer of 1963, is seen by many as a landmark event in the history and development of West Coast Canadian and North American innovative poetry – and indeed a major early manifestation of the Sixties West Coast zeitgeist.

Organized by UBC English professor Warren Tallman and American poet Robert Creeley, the conference was an intense, freewheeling three-week program of discussions, workshops, lectures, and readings at which a rising generation of Canadian and American poets, including George Bowering, Daphne Marlatt, Fred Wah, Jamie Reid,Michael Palmer, and Clark Coolidge, was exposed to and, in many cases, profoundly influenced by the personalities and ‘New American’ open-form poetics of the visiting poet-instructors Allen Ginsberg, Charles Olson, Denise Levertov, Creeley, Robert Duncan, and Margaret Avison. For many of the student participants the conference played a key role in providing them faith that the pursuit and practice of poetry could constitute a meaningful calling and life’s work.

Robert McTavish is a Canadian documentary film-maker whose works include Ghosts on the Land (2001), Fiddler’s Map (2003) and What To Make of It All?: The Life and Poetry of John Newlove (2006). He also edited A Long Continual Argument: The Selected Poems of John Newlove(Chaudiere Books, 2007, afterword by Jeff Derksen) which was hailed by the Globe and Mail as “a fitting monument to the poet’s consummate craftsmanship, and a cause for national celebration.”

See you at the movies!