Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Camping WA

When the days seemed longer,
the road wider, we headed south,
panel van & surfcat hitched.

You knew where the road led, through acres
of Tuarts, valleys that searched the sky.

Ahead were thick forests in sleepy canvas,
first pee at Margaret River, before a coast road
to Walpole, smell of dieback as thick as the
leafy glare that fluttered through windows.

The kids' heads doing a backward pounding
into upholstery. Their hands scattering toys,
knuckles clenched for last punch.

White markers beside the road, large green
signs smuggling you in; to a right gravel turn,
Caravan & Camping five more ks,
- beware trucks crossing.

The language then: of leaving a city for solid
mountains, echoed laughter across the bay,
pelicans collapsed on a jetty,
fertile song encircling campsite.

The boss quickly chopping malley roots,
for billy tea, chops on a steel plate,
the peaceful coil of smoke.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Kewpie Doll

Little doll, good luck charm, fairy wings,
rustles her blue taffeta skirt in the wind.
She is part of carnivalé, as old as Ray Lawler's
play, Summer of the 17th Doll.
Flocks of morning light glaze her pink head
with only one dent, having been held too many times.
Her faded lipstick pouts an "O" as the mouths of girls,
words forming seduction in their heads.
She has lost her wand, her diamond ring,
but not her kiss-curl, her good luck heart.
At the windowpane she raises her suppliant wings
& reaching for the stars, taps
her tiny blue shoes against glass.
Fairy wings dispersing dust, as if she is back there
above the gaze of girls, lolling in the wind,
taking in the glitter of carnivalé,
the rustle of lemon & pink Kewpie dolls
luminous & young.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Perth Writers Festival - Sunday 1st March 2009: 5.00 - 6.00pm @ the Dolphin Theatre UWA.
Poetica

Robert Adamson and Mark Tredinnick will consider themes that shape their poetry and share some of their recent writing. Chair: Johanna Featherstone.
Robert Adamson's books, including Inside Out grace the shelves of my poetry library. I have all but two, however, his latest collection The Golden Bird includes poetry from those collections. I am yet to discover Tredinnick's work, but Adamson, I believe, along with Anthony Lawrence, are the best poets writing today. Both poets write of a life lived. This gives me the reader insight into their personal world, relaying an immediacy of experience, knowledge, and a poeticism (form & feeling) that convey a sense of "place/lifestyle" deep into one's consciousness. I know Adamson's world. I grew up on the Central Coast in Ettalong, Broken Bay, and therefore my interest in his work is not only associative, nostalgic & also inspirational, but allows me once again to enter the Hawkesbury - to enter into its dark recesses, as well as its unique beauty. I thoroughly recommend his large & beautiful book -poetry & photography Juno Gemmes- The Language of Oysters.

Bounty

Bounty
Prose Poetry

The Five Lives of Ms Bennett

The Five Lives of Ms Bennett
A Family Saga

The Ozone Cafe

The Ozone Cafe
White Collar Crime

The Last Asbestos Town

The Last Asbestos Town
Available from Amazon

Evangelyne

Evangelyne
Published by Australian Poetry Centre, Melbourne

of Arc & Shadow

of Arc & Shadow
Published by Sunline Press, WA

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Helen Hagemann MBA (Wrtg): ECowan

Helen Hagemann MBA (Wrtg): ECowan
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