New book: V8
September 13, 2022
This is a hand and the cover of my/our new book, called V8, written with most excellent poet Sandra Renew. It’s about cars, utes, motorbikes, bikes, public transport and even the occasional spaceship (well one or two, anyway). Journeys to Russia, through Melbourne, and into the Hindu Kush feature in its pages. It is quite a large poetry book at over 130 pages, and can be ordered here. Ginninderra Press is the publisher, and I really like the cover (and the contents). Thank you to Stephen Matthews.
The process of writing a book with another poet was surprisingly smooth. Sandra and I had noticed that we both write poems about vehicles, so it was an easy step to the idea of having a book on the subject. We will be arranging a launch.
This is the first of two books I will be having published in the next month or so.
Poem: No genie, no wish
September 2, 2022
No genie, no wish I thought it was a safe dwelling, this huge shell, bright blue, blooming on sand. Not petty house for me, no scrummaging for dangerous weeks. My belly needs support, is un-calcified, tending to slump. I need other species to form places for me to hide, to live, and from where I scavenge, daily, for minute bites of food. Imagine my joy, at this mansion, the cavity through which I pushed an eager few centimetres of crab. And now I find myself trapped, unable to live in this blue world. When I die, I send out a cry, not in words but scent, telling other hermits that a shell has become vacant, and so, how many others will meet inside this treacherous, plastic tomb? A million such containers cover the beaches’ sheets of sand, a kaleidoscope of pain. Fake promises of security, washing up with very wave. I am a message, trapped inside a blue bottle of disaster, an artificial gift of doom. PS Cottier Hermit crabs are dying inside plastic and glass waste washed up on Australia’s remote islands: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/12/05/what-happens-when-hermit-crabs-confuse-plastic-trash-shells-an-avalanche-death/
Tuesday poem [haiku…sort of]
August 23, 2022
Chitinous plates turtles party with roaches zoot scutes PS Cottier
It’s lovely thing to have a blog, wherein one can post one’s weirdest creations. I was thinking of an old fashioned phrase for parties; bring a plate. And I had a vision of cockroaches and turtles partying, with plates attached to their bodies (part of their bodies). A scute is the hardened shell of a turtle. And an excuse for a pun. Look up zoot suit, if you need to.
That wonderful illustration is by Jean Ignace Isidore Gerard, who used the name Grandville. Courtesy of the site Old Book Illustrations, which is just fantastic.
I will shortly have news about forthcoming publications!
Poem: When I turn 100
August 5, 2022
When I turn 100 After the cake, sprinkled with patronising remarks She’s doing so well! She’s so sprightly! I shall manoeuvre myself outside, whether with cool cockatoo-head carved stick or wheelchair. I shall pour a whisky (large) and light a cigarette, my first since 1986. How sweet it will taste, my long-lost friend, abandoned purely for health those many years. Maybe they’ll be illegal by then, but there’ll still be outlaw motorcycle gangs, willing to supply the demand of a gran (will they ride a whisper of e-bikes then?). I’ll suck the smoke deep into my lungs, and anyone who moans about cancer or emphysema will get a chuckle. Age will free me from responsibility. I’ll clutch my carton like a prize. PS Cottier
Poetry submissions at The Canberra Times
July 21, 2022
Poetry submissions are open at The Canberra Times from today until 8th August. Read the information below before submitting. Unfortunately, due to difficulties with payment, submissions can only be accepted from poets in Australia.
Canberra Times Submission Guidelines July 2022
ALL CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING THE CANBERRA TIMES/PANORAMA POETRY SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO THE CANBERRA TIMES POETRY EMAIL ADDRESS:
poetrycanbt@gmail.com
POETRY SUBMISSION: Do not submit until there is a call-out. The dates will vary depending on the number of accepted poems awaiting publication. The Poetry Editor Penelope Cottier will be making selections. If you are not sure if there is a current call-out, please send her a query rather than sending poems.
• Poems suitable for a general audience in most styles and on most subject matters are welcome.
• Please send up to 3 UNpublished (includes blogs, social media etc.) poems of up to 24 lines. Shorter poems are much preferred.
• The 24 line maximum includes quotes/notes/references (but not title and stanza breaks).
• Attach all poems in one Word file — include your name in the document title. (You are welcome to also attach a PDF if you are concerned that formatting might slip in the Word doc. But do not send only a PDF. Pasting into an email, if you have to, is fine too.)
• Please submit poems during submission periods only.
• Poems should not be on offer to other print or online publications.
• You will be notified by email either way, 6-8 weeks after close of submissions.
• If selected, your poem should generally be published in the Panorama arts section during the following several months.
• Poets selected for publication are asked not to submit during the next submission period.
NB While everything possible is done to reduce the risk of a selected poem not appearing
The Canberra Times cannot guarantee publication. Poets who submit poems
should understand there is a chance their poem may not appear, even if selected.
Hints
• Send your stand-out poem(s). Don’t feel you have to send in three!
• Send a variety.
• Be strategic — remember that poems are selected months in advance of publication.
• Sometimes poems are published in a smaller font due to space limitations — if you have an issue with this you might prefer to submit shorter poems. Space limitations may also mean that slight layout changes must be made.
• For the same reason it is better not to send poems with very long lines or elaborate formatting.
Bio
A biographical note is not necessary but is of interest — just one or two sentences will do.
PLEASE KEEP READING:
The Canberra Times publishes one poem per week in its Saturday Panorama arts section, pending space availability. Payment is $60 per poem after publication.
The aims are to ensure a diversity of voices, and to publish poems on a wide variety of subjects.
Poets selected for publication are asked to skip the next submission window.
The Canberra Times receives hundreds of poems and has space for just a fraction of those. Many quality submissions have to be declined each time.
If you can access The Canberra Times where you live, please buy it every Saturday. Or you can subscribe to the on-line paper, to support fellow poets and a major newspaper that still publishes poetry.
Penelope (PS) Cottier
The Canberra Times Poetry Editor
PS Cottier 