Grafitti

I’ve had an angry little poem published over on the excellent Bluepepper — the place for poetry with bite. This poem certainly has some! Thanks to editor Justin Lowe for his unfailing support. Graffiti Degrade degrade degrade yourself take care to curl up small. Have I grown compact enough? Unfurl me at your peril. In the lengthening autumn of my shadow …

Poetry & Place Anthology, Launch & Giveaway!

My poem, Mourning Morning, has been included in an excellent anthology, Poetry & Place. It’s a collection of poems which explore ideas and experiences of ‘place’ in a variety of forms, from free and structured verse to concrete poetry and haiku. I just got my contributor copy in the mail — it’s terrific! There’s been a virtual launch of the book, with …

My review of Hook and Eye, by Judith Beveridge, published in Mascara

Judith Beveridge’s Hook and Eye is a collection of previously published poems selected to showcase the highly regarded Australian poet’s work to an American readership. The poems are for the most part imaginatively — rather than autobiographically — conceived, lyrical while still remaining largely outward looking, and full of the sensual imagery and sound-play for which Beveridge’s work is prized. …

Launch of Engraft by Martin Langford

Well it’s done!  Engraft has officially been launched, and I couldn’t be happier. The room was full, the crowd were kind, and some books were sold. Phew! Distinguished poet and critic Martin Langford was generous enough to launch the book, and Rochford Street Review were good enough to publish the speech he gave. Martin said: “Writing has a complex relationship …

Engraft – A Sneak Peak!

Good Lord, it’s a book! My first poetry collection, Engraft, has just been published by Island Press, one of Australia’s oldest and most well respected independent poetry publishers. Which is all rather exciting! Here’s a sneak peek from the book: pirate up on the plateau dog running sprightly in the wind ears flapping triumphantly teeth bared in what is surely …

Southerly Buster

I recently had my poem, ‘Southerly Buster’, included in a fabulous initiative, Spirit of Sydney – Poetry Alive, organised by Australian poet Les Wicks. For those who’ve not experienced one, a Southerly Buster is a weather phenomenon synonymous with long hot Sydney summers. After days of increasing heat, powerful cold fronts charge up the New South Wales coast, bringing abrupt and extreme …

Your fierce face

Your fierce face on the pillow— brows spearing down towards wide bisected koala nose succulent lips acute resilient chin. Tonight you are troubled by concerns beyond your scope: baffling sorrows pervading childhood’s lair… Felt inside the strident pitch of your father on the telephone; the tremulous tone of your mother’s lullabies. Felt in the streak of the cat, the slink …

A review of Robbie Coburn’s chapbook, Before Bone and Viscera.

    Before Bone and Viscera, the third of Robbie Coburn’s publications is, like its predecessors, an unsettling read. This slim but intense volume is comprised of a ‘Prologue’ plus ten poems, and explores the dual territory—previously traversed in his chapbook Human Batteries (Picaro Press, 2012), and first full-length collection Rain Season (Picaro Press, 2013)—of the tortured rural landscape of …