The Attitude of Cups, MPU Anthology - Out now!

This is the front cover of the latest anthology from the Melbourne Poets Union of poetry about tea, wine & coffee (however, I'm still waiting for the book to be listed in bookstores for real cover). Nevertheless it's a beautifully presented work by many well known Melbourne poets, and I'm proud to have a poem in there called "Left Over Wine". Here's part of the poem only, because the anthology would make a great Christmas present.
Contact MPU for details.

Left Over Wine

   it's fragile
and rehearsed in this mind cask
home pleasures are like the sentiment
of crisp, summer wine

it mouths get help!
so you dive unexpectedly
into the freezing brook
through wooded trees
          perfectly still
only you've had more wine than usual
and distortion wins

the grass is intense
and there's plenty of green
it's like having a bottle
          you've saved all these years

blackberries hedge the railway bridge
          mulberries give a whole new meaning
          to bottled jam
          the purple avenger stays before tea
you say 'no' to this dream in your head
it's a letting down of home-field
the school team
you approach fewer each year

you let the grader scrape the voices in the glade
swing the river rope you missed
          hold your breath longer under water

you can't remember how many silkworms you kept
or when the blackberries disappeared
          but the wine tastes sweeter than it used to

the old neighbourhood has disappeared in brick
the weathercock is a stable dish
and backyard pickets no longer talk

          you turn over, wake in a different world 

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Saturday Poetry Workshops at the Grove (Cottesloe) for 2012

Saturday Poetry Workshops were successful at the Grove Library in 2011 and OOTA will again offer this after-hours course in 2012. Tutor, yours truly, Helen Hagemann.

It will consist of fortnightly Saturday Poetry Workshops for casual participants. Each Workshop will introduce contemporary poetry for those poets wanting to write contemporary poetry.

Participation in the Workshops will cover the study of poems, discussion and several writing exercises. In a recent survey the consensus was that most writers wanted to continue with the same 2011 format, with a minor introduction of the classics and traditional poetry and its forms. Poets wishing to attend can view the times and dates on the OOTA blog (Out of the Asylum Writers Group) and also Writing at the Centre blog. Classes are earmarked to start in 2012 on Saturday 4th February. 1.30pm-3.30pm.

The Grove Library now has a coffee shop and we will continue to incorporate this social side of our poetry group after class.

OOTA Click here for more information
Writing at the Centre Classes

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