Bounty: A Collection of Prose Poetry ~ Helen Hagemann

Friday, September 15, 2023

Bounty: A Collection of Prose Poetry

BOUNTY is set for release as an ebook & print book around mid-October (after the school holidays) I intend to launch the collection at the Moon Cafe, Perth WA. However, it may be the end of the year or early 2024. The print book will be available at all good online bookstores. Stay tuned for a SUPER DEAL on Amazon!

Here's a sample poem.

BOUNTY Synopsis

This collection Bounty is a two decade long exploration of prose poetry. The form has allowed me to explore a multi-layer of styles and preoccupations within the genre. The collection as three separate sections and progressions range from the everyday life of the familiar as in Section 1 – Bounty that explores some common place objects such as rugs, cushions, cups, vases, clothes, cars, churches and houses. Section 2 – Cultural highlights the experience of travelling utilizing various mechanisms of language. Section 3 – Avant.

is inspired by my university studies of Gertrude Stein especially her subversion of the conventional use of language. While Stein’s unconventional work was ‘language as cubism in a distorted framework’ where the reader makes meaning, my poetry encompasses some experience, meaning or message.

Three poems in the first section Bounty have been inspired by paintings from disabled artists during my participation in the 2009 Creative Connections program.

A small selection of the prose poems has been previously published, work-shopped, reviewed and critiqued in a 2021 Frontier Prose Poetry Project. I received a favourable response from Prose Poetry Editor Jose Hernandez Diaz who ostensibly praised four poems: Bridge, Church, Hotel and Market. He has since provided me with a quote for the book.

The voice lingers playfully in reverie, as many speakers in good prose poems do. There is a lot of experimentation with the force of language and sound. Bravo! - Jose Hernandez Diaz, author of Bad Mexican, Bad American and The Parachutist.

I also wish to pay tribute to ARTerra Portugal and to the administrator, Mickey for a wonderful time at the Lobäo da Beira Residency and our excursions. The front cover is a snapshot of one of the unique streets in the town. I wrote several prose poems about my time in Portugal, with a memorable highlight attending a Fado concert in Coimbra – the University City.