Poem: Before the Mustang
June 30, 2025
Before the Mustang
It was reliable, comfy as ug boots,
and just about that chic.
Grey, four cylinder, economical,
totally unAmerican.
Not a hint of speed or sprawl.
It was even easy to park,
and slid out of view
before anyone noticed it.
If you wanted to be a spy,
or a private eye, this car
would be the one for you.
You could dwell outside a house
for weeks, before anyone
thought that there was something to see,
something resembling a car.
I loved it, my first new car.
I hated it for its bland compliance
with a view of what should be.
It broke down exactly once,
and the police were hugely surprised.
It had a cavernous boot for shopping,
and no-one raced it from the lights,
making sport from nothing.
It is gone now, but I’m sure
someone is driving it, somewhere,
that grey slab of suburban metal,
that practical lump of sleep.
PS Cottier
Yes, I know that's not a Mustang! But I had to share a photo of this beautiful object spotted at my local shops.
The poem above appeared in the volume V8, written by myself and Sandra Renew, published in 2022 by Ginninderra Press.
Poem: This is a poem, not a listicle
February 9, 2023
This is a poem, not a listicle. It tastes like leather. If you listen you will soon note that it speaks bad French. It has never been to France. It bought cheap steroids in Bali. It would like to contain the word 'roseate', but can't. It read itself out loud just last week and was well received. It just watched the film The Brain from Planet Arous. It keeps reciting 'After I'm gone, your earth will be free to live out its miserable span of existence, as one of my satellites, and that's how it's going to be...' It can't translate that into French. This is a poem, not a listicle. PS Cottier
A poem dating back to 2015, published here once before, which shows that I was watching too many old science fiction films! I will be posting newer, even new, work here again soon.
But first I have a launch of the book V8 (written by Sandra Renew and one PS Cottier) at Smiths, Alinga Street Civic on Monday 13th, 7pm. Sarah St Vincent Welch will launch the book, and there will also be an open mic before readings from the book. In case you’re wondering, V8 is about cars and other vehicles, and is a poetry collection published by Ginninderra Press.
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.
Social distancing from ghosts
March 16, 2021
Just had a new poem published at Not Very Quiet, an online journal of women’s poetry. The theme was ‘mask’, which immediately made me think of how useless a mask would be against ghosts. I hope you enjoy the poem, and do look at the rest of the issue, which was edited by Moya Pacey and Sandra Renew.
Tuesday poem: Two stroke (or more)
April 8, 2019
This one is via link to Not Very Quiet, an on-line journal of women’s poetry. The guest editor for this edition on the topic ‘Performing gender’ was KA Nelson, and the editors who run the whole thing are Moya Pacey and Sandra Renew, with the production being managed by Tikka Wilson.
There’s lots of good stuff to be found there! Here’s a slightly terrifying image to get you in the mood.
PS Cottier 