A New Poem by EZRA POUND!

Hast thou 2 loaves of bread
Sell one + with the dole
Buy straightaway some hyacinths
To feed thy soul. —Ezra Pound

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/09/15/finding-lost-ezra-pound-poem-castle/

English Poetic Tradition & MUP INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION

In the most famous literary essay of the twentieth century T S Eliot wrote of “Tradition and the Individual Talent”, arguing that no poet’s work has its meaning alone. This series of discussion groups comprises twelve sessions, meeting fortnightly; commencing Wednesday, November 1, 2017 18:00 20:00.

 

Each session will begin with a talk on the poets and the period by Dennis Haskell, and will examine the tradition of poetry from Great Britain from a contemporary poet’s point of view as well as that of a literary scholar followed by group discussion. It is aimed at a greater understanding of the poetry of the past and the way the history of English poetic practice informs contemporary writing.

 

The total cost is $120 and all proceeds go to WAPI and the Centre for Stories.

 

Text: The Norton Anthology of Poetry, ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter & Jon Stallworthy. 5^th edn; NY: Norton, 2005.

 

There will be a maximum of 20 participants. Enrolment is via the Centre for Stories website: http://www.centreforstories.com/story-events/2017/11/1/the-english-poetic-tradition

 

 

23rd Melbourne Poets Union  INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION 

 

Closing Date: Sunday 23rd of September 2017

 

2017 Competition Judge - Judith Rodriguez

 

First prize – Leon Shann Award $AU1,500

 

Second Prize $AU500,

 

Third prize $AU200

 

Martin Downey Urban Realist Award $AU100

 

Book Vouchers for 3 Highly Commended &

 

Books for 6 Commended Poems

 

 Details at

  http://www.melbournepoetsunion.com/2017-mpu-international-poetry-competition.html

JOHN ASHBERY RIP - 90 Years .

 

We are very sorry to hear of the loss of our admired and beloved contributor John Ashbery.

I don’t know what the poet that I am is, very much. I was rather an outsider as a child—I didn’t have many friends. We lived out in the country on a farm. I had a younger brother whom I didn’t get along with—we were always fighting the way kids do—and he died at the age of nine. I felt guilty because I had been so nasty to him, so that was a terrible shock. These are experiences which have been important to me. I don’t know quite how they may have fed into my poetry. My ambition was to be a painter, so I took weekly classes at the art museum in Rochester from the age of about eleven until fifteen or sixteen. I fell deeply in love with a girl who was in the class but who wouldn’t have anything to do with me. So I went to this weekly class knowing that I would see this girl, and somehow this being involved with art may have something to do with my poetry. Also, my grandfather was a professor at the University of Rochester, and I lived with them as a small child and went to kindergarten and first grade in the city. I always loved his house; there were lots of kids around, and I missed all this terribly when I went back to live with my parents. Then going back there each week for art class was a returning to things I had thought were lost, and gave me a curious combination of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. —John Ashbery, The Art of Poetry No. 33

 

WAPPA's HIT PARADE

ENTER NOW!

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23rd MPU INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION 
Applications are now open!
(Closing Date: Sunday 23rd of September 2017)

See below for entry forms and details.

Award show will be held on Friday November 24th at Collected Works  -
​check the upcoming events page. It's going to be a nail biting rush of excitement to find out who wins.

​

2017 Competition Judge - Judith Rodriguez
​
​First prize – Leon Shann Award $AU1,500

Second Prize $AU500, Third prize $AU200

Martin Downey Urban Realist Award $AU100
​
Book Vouchers for 3 Highly Commended
& Books for 6 Commended Poems

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ENTRY FORM HERE see below for payment methods

2017-mpu-ipc-pdf-entry-formfinal21.pdf File Size: 154 kb File Type: pdf Download File

Melbourne Poets Union IPC Payment

1 Poem $10.00 AUD 2 Poems $20.00 AUD 3 Poems $30.00 AUD

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Email entries to: <mpoetsunion14@gmail.com>
​
OR

Post entries to: MPU International Poetry Competition, PO Box 266, Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 8009, Australia.

ENTRY $10 per poem

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY

 All poems entered must be written in English, typed in a standard font (such as Times Roman, Garamond or Calibri) in 12pt, with a maximum of 50 lines.

 Poems must be the original work of an individual author, unpublished, not accepted or submitted for publication,
and not have been entered in any other competition.

 All poems must be accompanied by a single completed entry form. Entry forms may be downloaded from the MPU website
 The author's name or any identification must NOT appear on the same page(s) as the poem.

 There is no limit to the number of entries an individual may submit.

 The entry fee is $AU10 for each poem entered. Entry fees are not refundable.

 Entries may be submitted by email or by post.

 Email entries: poems and the completed entry form should be submitted as a single MS Word file or PDF attachment via the MPU website mpoets.union14@gmail.com by midnight Sunday 23 September 2017.

Prior payment of the entry fee must be made online to:
Account name: Melbourne Poets Union, BSB: 063 010, Account number: 1005 4087.

The author's name must appear as the 'Message/Reference'. This payment can also be made at any CBA branch or Post Office.

 Postal entries: poems and the completed entry form should be sent to MPU International Poetry Competition, PO Box 266, Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 8009, Australia and received by Sunday 23 September 2017.

Entries must be accompanied by a cheque or money order payable to Melbourne Poets Union for the appropriate amount. Please do not send cash.

 Shortlisted poets will be notified by telephone or email before Friday 3 November 2017.

 Announcement of results and presentation of awards for all the prize-winning poems will take place at the Awards Night on Friday 24 November 2017 at 6.30 p.m. at Collected Works, Swanston St, Melbourne.

All prize-winners will be invited to read their poems at the event.

 The competition results will be published on the MPU website and Facebook. MPU reserves the right to publish the winning poems on their website and FB and subsequent anthology.

 Judith Rodriguez will judge the competition. Her decision is final and no correspondence shall be entered into.

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​ENTRY FORM HERE

2017-mpu-ipc-pdf-entry-formfinal21.pdf File Size: 154 kb File Type: pdf Download File

Melbourne Poets Union IPC Payment

1 Poem $10.00 AUD 2 Poems $20.00 AUD 3 Poems $30.00 AUD

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(Closing Date: Sunday 23rd of September 2017)

NOW Open

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Proudly sponsored by:

Black Inc Books - www.blackincbooks.com.au

Black Pepper Publishing - http://blackpepperpublishing.com

The Paperback Bookshop - http://www.paperbackbooks.com.au

and Wendy Fleming - CLICK HERE

The Queensland Poetry Festival 2017 poetry awards winners

 

Queensland Poetry Festival would like to announce the winners for the three main Arts Queensland Poetry Awards: the Thomas Shapcott, the Val Vallis, and the XYZ.

THOMAS SHAPCOTT POETRY PRIZE

 

Winner

Rae White Milk Teeth

 

Highly Commended

Luke Best Percussion

Mindy Gill August Burns the Sky

Rae White Milk Teeth

Jonathan Hadwen The Gone Day

 

VAL VALLIS AWARD FOR AN UNPUBLISHED POEM

 

Winner

Quietly, on the way to Mars – Bronwyn Lovell 

 

Highest Placed Queensland Entry

The Future of Music – Laurie Keim

 

Highly Commended

His Master’s Voice – Jeff Guess

9(after) HER dating app adventures – Rebecca Jessen

Buying satin dresses at Yu Garden – Ella Jeffery

 

XYZ PRIZE FOR INNOVATION IN SPOKEN WORD

 

Winner

Monday June 27  – Quinn Eades

  

Highest Placed Queensland Entry

Fight with my soul  – Anisa Nandaula

 

Highly Commended

25 words or less – Brendan Bonsack

This street was once a river – Sean M Whelan

Arguing with gravity – Maddie Godfrey

 

Congratulations to all winning and highly commended poets from QPF. 

 

 

The winners  of the Philip Bacon Award and Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize are:

 

 

OODGEROO NOONUCCAL INDIGENOUS POETRY PRIZE

Co-Winners
Jeanine Leane – Historians
Sachem Parkin-Owens – My Ancestors
Highest Placed Quandamooka Entry
Sachem Parkin-Owens – My Ancestors
Highly Commended
Grace Lucas-Pennington – On Arrival
Rachel Bos – Tick Tock 
Ashleigh Johnstone – Fragments of the Shadow People

THE PHILIP BACON EKPHRASIS AWARD

Winner
Dael Allison – Gethsemane, Bribie Island 1958
Highly Commended
Magdalena Ball – Agony in the Garden
Madison Godfrey – Three Winters
Joe Dolce – Homage to Shead
Joe Dolce – Too Late for Taxidermy

Congratulations to all the winning and highly commended poets from QPF. 

 

The PETER PORTER Poetry Prize 2018 Open Now

   

 The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia's most prestigious prizes for a new poem. The Prize – now open to all poets writing in English – is named after the great Australian poet Peter Porter (1929–2010). The Prize was first awarded in 2005 (Stephen Edgar) and was renamed in 2011, following Peter Porter's death. Past winners include Tracy Ryan, Judith Beveridge, and Anthony Lawrence. To date, Judith Bishop is the only poet to win the Prize twice.

Each year all the shortlisted poems are published in the magazine, giving them equal prominence. The overall winner (who receives $5,000 and an Arthur Boyd print) is then named at a subsequent ceremony along with a runner-up who receives $2,000. The other three shortlisted poets receive $500.

Entries are now open for the 2018 Porter Prize (now worth $8,500).

Click here for more information about the 2018 Porter Prize.

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions page before contacting us with queries about the Porter Prize.
Click here for more information about past winners and to read their poems.
Click here for more information about the 2018 judges.

The unicorn and the angel was produced by Arthur Boyd to illustrate the book of poems by Peter Porter, entitled the Lady and the Unicorn (Secker & Warburg, London, 1975). The print is generously donated by Ivan Durrant in honour of Georges Mora.



We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Ms Morag Fraser AM, and the support of ABR Patrons. The print is donated by Mr Ivan Durrant in honour of Georges Mora.

Hurry up and Enter

 

All queries can be directed to: wordsofwyndham@wyndham.vic.gov.au;

Glenn Greening ph. 03 8744 0200; or Mica Meerbach ph. 03 8734 2600

Australian Poetry: ‘Work’ for issue 7.2

Australian Poetry is looking for poems focused on the theme ‘work’ for issue 7.2, guest edited by Benjamin Laird and Cassandra Atherton.

Poems can also be selected from submissions outside this focus; that is, you can also submit poems on any theme. The theme of ‘work’ is broad – please be inspired to address it curiously! Work can be seen to connect to the work-place, employment, work-place issues etc.

Submissions for 7.2 can be sent to apjsubmissions@gmail.com and closes midnight, 1 October 2017.

ISSA HAIKU

in the big rain
gushing down
little butterfly

 

ISSA 1814

 

.大雨の降つて涌たる小てふ哉
ôame no futte waitaru ko chô kana

 

Issa can imagine and empathize with the reality of tiny creatures. For this intrepid little butterfly, for example, raindrops are crashing down like bombs.

http://haikuguy.com/issa/

CANBERRA POETRY READING Wednesday August 9th

Hello Poetry at the House (ANU Canberra) supporters

 

It's just a week to the next reading featuring John Stokes (Canberra), Merlinda Bobis (Canberra and the Philippines) and Andrew Burke (Perth). It's on Wed Aug 9 at 7.30 in the Fellows Bar at University House. At the moment there are only nine people coming!

 

Andrew Burke's latest book is a small pocket-sized book in English and Mandarin entitled The Line is Busy (Flying Islands Press). Before this he has had a baker's dozen books published and countless book reviews. He holds a doctorate in Writing from Edith Cowan University where he used to lecture. He will have flown all the way from Perth on the 'Red-eye Special'! Don't miss him.

After four novels, Merlinda Bobis has returned to poetry with Accidents of Composition (Spinifex Press 2017). In 2016 her novel, Locust Girl. A Lovesong, received the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction. In 1998 her Summer Was a Fast Train Without Terminals was shortlisted for The Age Poetry Book of the Year. She's a dramatic performer of her own work.

 

In a long career John Stokes has published widely worldwide; won or been short or long-listed for many major prizes, and represented his country internationally. His latest book, Fire in the Afternoon (Halstead Press, 2015), won the ACT National Writing & Publishing Award for best poetry book for 2015.

 

 

Admission: $10 waged, $5 unwaged.

Parking at ANU University House is best from Garran Road and on Balmain Lane off Balmain Crescent.

The Winner of the 2017 ARCHIBALD PRIZE

 

Mitch Cairns has taken out the Archibald Prize for his portrait of artist Agatha Gothe-Snape.

Mitch Cairns has won the 2017 Archibald Prize for his portrait of his partner, artist Agatha Gothe-Snape, the Art Gallery of New South Wales Board of Trustees' David Gonski announced at the Gallery today. Cairns will carry away a cash prize of $100,000 for the poplar portraiture prize, which is awarded to the best painting of a notable Australian.

READ ON HERE

Issa Haiku - just right for today!

rainstorm--
on this lawn, that lawn
just a cup's worth

Issa

1821

 

.夕立や芝から芝へ小盃
yûdachi ya shiba kara shiba e ko sakazuki

 

Shinji Ogawa translates the phrase, shiba kara shiba e, "from the lawn here to the lawn there." The word, ko sakazuki literally means "small sake cup," but here, Shinji believes, it is more likely being used metaphorically to denote "a small amount of rain."

http://haikuguy.com/issa/

TOM WAITS: Q: What’s wrong with the world?

 A: We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. Leona Helmsley’s dog made 12 million last year… and Dean McLaine, a farmer in Ohio made $30,000. It’s just a gigantic version of the madness that grows in every one of our brains. We are monkeys with money and guns.

 -May 20, 2008 (Glitter and Doom promo, Tom Waits interviews himself)

Giacometti Exhibition

Seeing Beyond Alberto Giacometti’s Bronzes

Tate Modern’s retrospective of the Swiss sculptor, which gathers some 250 pieces, highlights his multi-pronged process and sustained work in plaster, wood, terracotta, oil paint, and more.

 

 

READ ON HERE

Poetry on a Plate

FAY'S FUNERAL poem

for Fay Zwicky 1933-2017

At your funeral today, the poets
and family congregate - dressed
formally, heads bowed. We hear
you play with the Melbourne Symphony
in 1954; we hear you read 'Picnic'
in 2010 - we are all ears until
a light-winged bird flies into
a grevillia out the window
and tweets. I lift my head
and smile.

- Andrew Burke

CLIMATE REVOLUTIONARIES OF EAST AFRICA

 

The world's poor are bearing the brunt of global warming yet they have done the least to cause it. African countries have some of the lowest carbon emissions rates in the world. As examples, South Sudan and Somalia have relatively few vehicles and limited industry. But their fields are drying up and their pastureland is vanishing. This issue, little understood, is one of the great injustices of our time.

READ MORE HERE

Walt Whitman's great poem

I Hear America Singing

 

Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and              strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand            singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he      stands, The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or        at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of        the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows,          robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Vale Rae Desmond Jones

by Mark Roberts

Rae Desmond Jones at the joint launch of The Selected Your Friendly Fascist and P76 Issue 6 - October 21, 2012 The Friend In Hand Hotel, Glebe.

I was on the train coming home from work checking social media on my phone when I saw a post from John Edwards:

Vale Rae Jones, poet, Mayor of Ashfield, teacher and my oldest friend (1966-2017). Rae died today as Ruth & I were there to say "goodbye," at about 4.15pm in Concord Hospital. He was one for the ages.

I read it again in disbelief and felt the punch to my stomach. Then there were tears rolling down my face as I sat in the train staring at my phone. People in the carriage started moving away from me.....

Rae was a friend and a mentor. He was one of the first contemporary  Australian poets I read as a teenager and my fascination with him only increased following the controversy over the inclusion of ‘The deadshits’ on Robyn Archer's  1978 LP The Wild Girl in the Heart.

I then meet Rae in person when I started hanging around NSW Poets Union events. Over the following years we worked together in various capacities in the Poets Union and I got to know him quite well. I also came across his "legendary" publication Your Friendly Fascist, a journal which he ran with John Edwards. The Fascist, as one could tell from its title, was not a normal literary journal. If you work appeared in it, for example, it was not always clear if it had been selected on "literary merits" or if it was so bad the editors couldn't resist taking the piss.....

In the early 1980s I decided I wanted to start publishing and, taking the lead from magazines like Magic Sam and Your Friendly Fascist I found a gestetner machine and started learning how to use it. Rae heard about my new machine and, in need of a way of printing the final issue of the Fascist, offered to come round and show me how to print a magazine. That issue of Your Friendly Fascist was, in fact, the first publication to emerge from Rochford Street (from my second floor bedroom in fact).

Over the years Rae was always happy to provide advice on poetry and publishing and, during his years in local government (he was Mayor Of Ashfield for a number of years), he feed me a number of stories when I was working as journalist for Tribune.

We began working together again a few years ago when, while he recovering from an operation, he wrote an article for Rochford Street Review about Your Friendly Fascist 'Lots of energy here, not much control”: Your Friendly Fascist – 1970 – 1984. Rae Desmond Jones remembers…..'. After it was published I said to him in a half joke it would be great to do a "best of" - about six weeks later he contacted me to say he had pulled it together. Rae had put a lot of work into the selection, editing and layout but he still wanted that "ratbag" look and so we photocopied the pages, printed the covers on an inkjet printer and bought a big stapler to staple them together.

Over the intervening years we discussed the possibility of doing a sequel - Your Friendly Fascist - The Rejects, sadly for Australian Literature that book will now never appear.

Goodbye Rae and thank you.

Rae Desmond Jones in Rochford Street Review;

• “Let There Be War Between Us”: Robbie Coburn reviews Decline and Fall by Rae Desmond Jones
• “There is history, but it won’t tell”: Rae Desmond Jones Launches Sea of Heartbeak (Unexpected Resilience) by Les Wicks 
• A Hammer With Which to Shape Reality: Kit Kelen Launches It Comes from All Directions: New and Selected Poems by Rae Desmond Jones.
• 'Something Astonishing': Rae Desmond Jones reviews Dark Night Walking with McCahon, by Martin Edmond
• The return of the Gestetner Revolution……sort of…. The double launch of: THE SELECTED YOUR FRIENDLY FASCIST edited by Rae Desmond Jones & P76 Issue 6 (The Lost Issue)
• The Ruthless Eye: Rae Desmond Jones reviews Undercover of Lightness by Andrew Burke.
• “Lots of energy here, not much control”: Your Friendly Fascist – 1970 – 1984. Rae Desmond Jones remembers…..
• Poetry of the Great Australian Nightmare: Rae Desmond Jones reviews The Welfare Of My Enemy by Anthony Lawrence
• Carol Novack – A life remembered. Tributes from John Jenkins and Rae Desmond Jones
• The Beautiful Dead – THIRTEEN POEMS FROM THE DEAD by Rae Desmond Jones

Rochford Street Review extends its deepest condolences to Helen, Karey, Alys, Bevan and the rest of his family and very many friends and colleagues.

Rae's funeral Service will be held on Friday, 7th July, 2017 in the Ashfield Uniting Church, 180 Liverpool Road, Ashfield, commencing at 11.30am.