Reviewing is a labour of love, and in this case the labour was a long one — elephantine in fact — nearly two years gestation! Thank heavens this review popped out in the end, of David Stavanger’s intriguing poetry collection, The Special: This book is dedicated to the dead who are bravely living (and to those who wake wild-eyed in the …
I’m honoured to have a poem published in Writing to the Wire, an excellent new anthology edited by Dan Disney and Kit Kelen (University of Western Australia Publishing). “Writing to the Wire is a collection of poems by Australians and people who would like to be Australians. It is a book about the idea of being Australian. It is about …
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 …
A few weeks ago I was fortunate to be part of the 3rd Sydney International Women’s Poetry & Arts Festival, an inspirational event directed by poet, activist, feminist and filmmaker Saba Vasefi. I first read my poetry at this event in 2014, and have since become firm friends with Saba, working with her on the festival each year as its …
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 …
I recently had the honour of featuring as a guest on the excellent blog of poet Julie Maclean. She has some very generous things to say and has published three of my new poems! Please take a read, and thank you Julie!
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 …
Lotus Gurgling sounds woke me — (perhaps I needed to pee?) — the sink had filled with water abundant enough to spill out onto the floor and flow in a sacred stream under the bathroom door. In this lucid dream within a dream I rose from your father’s bed and followed the trail to you, my son, a lotus blooming …
Let’s leave everything be. Let’s just stop fixing. Perhaps if we let everyone settle clarity will be revealed. Today I entered the cathedral of the bush— sought permission to walk the land; felt it granted. Was buoyed by a chorus of cicadas ulullating their adulation to the Gaia of this world. (On Facebook a slowed down recording of cicadas— Oh …
I’ve had two poems published in the wonderful Tincture Journal – ‘Epistle to my Paedophile’ and ‘Dear Ottla’. You can read the first of these below, but if you want to read the second (which is a found poem sourced from the letters of Franz Kakfa), you’ll have to buy a Tincture. Tincture is a quarterly e-book of fine writing …