Tuesday poem: On editing
September 11, 2017
Irma Gold has written a thoughtful piece about writing her story ‘The Line’ that appears in this year’s Award Winning Australian Writing.
My poem in this book, which covers both prose and poetry, is three lines in length, although I did not write it as a ‘real’ haiku. It won a contest for a poem in 50 characters or less, which means that the emphasis was on what was not spoken as much as the words that appeared. Editing and writing become virtually inseparable when the poem is so short.
I took the ‘How Tweet It Is’ title of the Fellowship of Australian Writers’ contest literally and wrote a poem called ‘The Cat’s New Beard’ which is not in the least bird-friendly. It’s about a cat eating a bird. I won’t post it here, as the book just came out, and I can’t really post an extract of a tiny poem. But here’s another short poem about the process of editing a wee poem about a bird.
Plucking words
too many feathers —
bantam or robin?
Now a bantam is bigger than a robin, just as Batman is bigger than the Boy Wonder, so robin is probably the better option.
I am enjoying reading the book, which contains everything from evocative stories (Irma) to dead canaries (me). Why not purchase one? The editor is Pia Gaardboe.
Tuesday poem: Between smug and shocked
September 6, 2016
Between smug and shocked
she clutched at anthologies —
straws in a cocktail
The anthology being clutched by the poet, drunk on literature and (mostly) wine was launched in Melbourne last week. I read at the launch in the Athenaeum Library, and Melbourne Books arranged a really cool event. I had a great champagne beforehand at the sort of bar Melbourne does so well, also in Collins Street, as I hate to read totally sober.
Good to meet the editor/mixologist of Award Winning Australian Writing, Chloe Brien, and some fellow ingredients. (I am usually an olive, although lemon twist or even crème de something unspeakable is not unknown.)
I also attended the Australian Catholic University’s Poetry Awards, and you can read the results here. They also produced a book of the short-listed entries, but I am unsure if that is available for sale.
AWAW would make a really good gift, as everyone will like at least some of the work included. I’ve just started reading the anthology, and there’s a lot to appreciate. Particularly the poem that starts on page 203, she said modestly. Everyone will love the taste of that.
I was also just short-listed and published in the Hunter Writers Centre Grieve anthology, and look forward to reading that one as well. I won’t probably use so many alcohol metaphors about that anthology.
Tuesday poem: Turn away
August 2, 2016
Turn away from the night.
Too much freedom is implied.
Trap stars in flags, pin them down,
render them national, bordered,
an angular abacus to figure normality.
Adorn children’s essays with thin
gold paper star stickers.
Wonder is juvenilia that we must
grow to despise, jettison
like milk teeth swapped for coin.
Yet those million suns, flickering
light sirens, keep calling, ululating.
Day demands in clear clipped diction
that we make work’s timed rituals
the sum of all equations. From such
abbreviation, each star whispers
turn away, turn to me,
turn to me, and turn away.
P.S. Cottier
I can’t remember if this has been published before; it’s not on my List, so probably not. There’s going to be a lot of flag waving soon at the Olympics (and, of course, in the final grim push to the US elections) so it seemed appropriate.
My poem ‘Criminals who are no longer criminals’ has been included in this year’s Award Winning Australian Writing, which included poems and prose that have previously been awarded first place in a literary competition (as you can probably read on the cover). The annual is published by Melbourne Books, and I’ll be going down for the launch late this month and reading the poem, which will be fun.
The poem qualified as it was placed first in the Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing, organised by the New England Writers Centre, and it is concerned with the definition of crime changing over time. It also has a speculative element, as there are ghosts involved.
I believe that the current Thunderbolt Prize is still open for entries: check out the rules and categories here.
PS Cottier 