2008 ~ Helen Hagemann

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Graham Mort - A British Poet's Site

Poets on the InternetIf the truth be known, not all poetry on the internet is a challenge to the reader. On occasions, however, one does come across great poetry and so this post highlights my discovering the British poet, Graham Mort.His latest collection is called Visibility and he has won the Bridport Prize for short fiction in 2007. He is a humanitarian (helping in Africa) and lectures at Lancaster University. View some of his work at these...

Poem for the Day

Ghosts of Christmas There are ghosts in this house, a factory turkey, paper stockings, a machine gun, boiled fruit cake, an old Santa without raiment, sculling back a skinful. If you unearthed these boards you'd find presents from a wishlist; a Christmas tree; my son climbing with a star, the wild scent of pine filling every room. And on Christmas morning, the crush of paper underfoot; trucks working the berber from the rug, the throaty...

DOROTHY PORTER

Resource for DOROTHY PORTER writingsPlenty to read and marvel at from Dorothy Porter athttp://www.austlit.com/a/porter-d/index.h...

John Kinsella & Tracy Ryan - Poets' sites

John Kinsella & Tracy RyanThree new sites for these two West Australian PoetsMutually Said: http://poetsvegananarchistpacifist.blogspot.com/Tracy Ryan: http://www.geocities.com/tracy_ryanJohn Kinsella: www.johnkinsella.o...

Dorothy Porter Dies (10th Dec) - Such a Sad Day

ValeDorothy Porter died in Melbourne this morning of 10th December from complications due to cancer. She was 54. A writer at the height of her powers, Dorothy's most recent publication was EL DORADO, her fifth verse novel. It was shortlisted for the Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize (Age Book of the Year Award), the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, the Prime Minister's Literary Award for fiction, and Best Fiction in the Ned Kelly Awards and the...

Poem for the Day

Ode to the Post(wom)anIt is always the postman delivering news,outstretching arms to that most noticeablepoint - letterbox at land's edge. Friend andlifelong reminder of correspondences. And althoughthose dreaded bills equate to the missing zero at the bank,there's harmony in a house with gas, light globes glowing dust.Little envelopes and packages move forwardlike gifts: birthday parcels, a postcard from Turkey,stamps to re-cycle if they've missed...

Helen Hagemann's Poetics - The Female Voice

Problems for WomenWhen it comes to our writing tradition, it has relatively only been, (& referring to Virginia Woolf 's A Room of One's Own), a matter of eighty years since women have been allowed a sense of equality as writers. We are allowed into university libraries, we no longer hold back in relation to our female psyche. We have established the objectivism of the female through political correctness, and no subject matter is diminished...

Poem for the Day

Masks My daughter carries her life in a suitcase. Life would be cosier, for her - if she never left home. Today she returns like a tryst softening her edges. Perth is home. It will bathe her in stars, & by day, her skin will be treated to sun. Her heels will feel the pacy city grown, more cars, more trains, but no trams dividing roads. Not that she didn't like Melbourne. No! Melbs was cool, trendy, more nightclubs & bands. But the men, oh the...

The Western & Sydney Rock Oysters

Pacific & Indian Ocean OystersAround Australia there are basically three common oysters available. The most popular being the Sydney rock oyster which grows on the eastern seaboard in temperate waters. They are low in cholesterol and high in omega-3, calcium, iron and zinc. The fun is really in the prising, gathering and eating these delicious shellfish. All my life, I have fished from the many bays, inlets & now islands of my home in the...

Australian Book Review

Australian Book Review, October 2008City of LiteratureThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has named Melbourne as its second City of Literature, Edinburgh became the first in 2004. The Victorian government announced the bid in late 2006 and committed $9 million in the 2007-2008 budget to support the Melbourne Writers' Festival and establish the Centre for Books and Ideas at the State Library of Victoria. The...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Longfellow is a new poet that I have discovered. Mainly through listening to country music, esp. Emmylou Harris. I have been led to him through song. What a brilliant poet he was, with an amazing amount of work, all penned by hand. In tribute to him, I have posted his pic & a few lines from The tide rise, the tide falls. From time to time, I hope to add other photos and lines of famous poe...

Two NSW poets

Australian LinksWhile in Katoomba & in Sydney for our gig at the Friend in Hand Hotel (as part of the Australian Poetry Festival), I met two fine poets. Deb Westbury and David Musgrave. Deb has a new collection out called The View from Here , Brandl & Schlesinger; with new poems from the Blue Mountains. David Musgrave is the author of To Thalia, New Poets 10 & On Reflection, Interactive Press. David is also the publishing guru of Puncher...

New "Poetry & Poetics" Sites

As an Australian poet, this blog will now list New Poetry & Poetic Sites. According to Ron Silliman (USA) there are over 10,000 poets publishing worldwide. A nice sum of readers one would think. I aim to link to many contemporary & new poets' sites, as well as include 'poets & poetics' that I may not necessarily subscribe to. The idea is to reach out to the viewing and reading public. Since, I will soon have my first "literary" poetry...

Helen Hagemann's Poetics - The Female Voice

The Concept of the Female VoiceThe female voice is arbitrary. It has an opaque meaning, therefore, it functions as a concept. Not unlike any other concept that has been raised by male poets, such as Charles Olson's 'Projective Verse', where the reader is meant to feel the kinetic energy; to be 'propelled by the language of the poem to follow that track of energy down the page; to experience the process by which the poet's energy propelled...

I Dream of Horses

I dream of horses,drawn in paddocks.Stallions, colts, a silver bay.I call out, ‘get on, get on!’Halfway to town, a rangerin chaps, riding-pants,high-calibre rifle, shoots one.They’ve trampled the melons.At the rodeo, Sunday, in the fracasof bull riding & bucking broncosthe ranger diesin a horse floatjam-packed with melonsto get his fi...

Poetry & Novel

As I write two genres, poetry & prose and something in the middle, I now have a separate blog for my novel. Check out the site called "anovelist" @ http://hhagemann.blogspot.comThere you will find parts of the narrative, a chapter or two, my writing regime and notes on a new novel called The Ozone Café. Stay tuned, dear read...

New Poets Program 2008

Blogs appear to be essential these days. I do have a website @ www.geocities.com/helen_hagemann, however, this blog will host my poetics, inspirations, critiques of other poets' work & new poets on the scene who inspire me. Three poets that I have recently met through the 2008 Longlines Poetry Workshop are Ali Cobby Eckermann, Kimberly Mann & Andrew Slattery. From time to time I will post updates of our forthcoming collections from the...