Saturday, September 7, 2024

A Poetry Reading

Such a pleasure reading my poetry to the Sisters of St. John of God who once worked in the hospital in various roles as nurses. After weeks of delay due to Covid, the coast was clear on 4th September to read a selection of my nature poetry. We shared pictures of the little creatures that I photograph on my walk. The little Quenda was a hit with the ladies which I revealed that he kept chewing away in the long grass oblivious to me taking a photograph of him. One of the sisters had a photo of an Ibis (bin chicken). They liked the following poem as Willy-Wagtails visit their gardens.

Wagtails

i.
In the mornings, I'm curious as to whether
or not I see one wagtail or two. The last time
I looked the bird motored up my driveway
at 5.30 am.

ii.
At 7.30 on my usual walk
in Swanley Park, another wagtail darts
amid trees and rooftop antennae, talkative
as a bumble bee on hive duty.
It's spring and she's swishing her tail
in all directions. It's her song, repetitious,
and full of warning.
iii.

In the yard, I wonder what causes this bird
to shift from place to place, to rise
for no apparent reason from freshly
cut grass, to hop along the wall on
latticed vines, her nose in the grapes.
iv.

The sun rises its hot ball into the apex
of the morning, and the bird (or birds)
stop their rollicking over lawn
and terracotta. I know that wagtails
or a wagtail will be back tomorrow
under the Melaleuca, on the hedge,
or will tune in with the hum of bees
in the rows of dark trees,
her "tich-tich" moving towards
every bird within reach. ©

Review: The Last Asbestos Town

I was totally gobsmacked when I came across Lisa Hill's review of my debut novel, The Last Asbestos Town. It's amazing what you find!

Although my novel (1st Edition) was published in 2020, I have only recently found Lisa Hill’s review on her website ANZ LitLovers. Written on 18th February, 2024, it is a fortuitous find for any author. At the time she also kindly reviewed The Ozone Cafe and said she purchased the Asbestos e-book. Thank you, Lisa!

From Lisa Hill @ ANZ Litlovers

Right on cue, I was part-way through reading a novel about asbestos removal when an asbestos panic erupted in New South Wales. Helen Hagemann’s novel is set in WA, but it’s in Sydney that playgrounds, parks and schools in Sydney have been closed, a Mardi Gras party has been cancelled, and hundreds of sites have to be inspected. The culprit appears to be contaminated mulch, which is used widely in all sorts of places, causing widespread alarm because there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos.

Synchronicity, eh?

This is the blurb from Hagemann’s debut novel, The Last Asbestos Town which I bought after I had read and enjoyed The Ozone Cafe, (2021, see my review).

An Australian National law has been passed and a group known as the Asbestos Task Force (A.T.F.) is formed by the government to systematically remove all known asbestos from towns, cities and suburbs. The city of Perth, Western Australia and surrounds have undergone this removal, and gradually the task force spreads further afield into the South West. Their target has reached Farmbridge, an old pioneer town with numerous asbestos houses and buildings. Newly married, May and Isaac who plan to renovate their home, an old Girl Guide Hall, experience the imminent threat of losing their home after receiving their fateful letter. Believing their home is not made from asbestos, the couple set out on a relentless quest to save the hall from demolition.

Upfront, I’ll say that I would not have continued reading this novel if it had been promoting some sort of conspiracy theory nonsense that denied the dangers of asbestos. But no, The Last Asbestos Town is more about the kind of bureaucratic heavy-handedness over which governments sometimes preside. Sometimes this happens because it’s cheaper and easier to deliver a one-size-fits-all solution and there’s not enough staff to fix the problems that don’t fit into the program, and sometimes it’s because in the haste to do something and be seen to be doing it, a program is put into place without the proper checks and balances . Whatever, sometimes it’s just too bad for some unlucky people who are either drafted into somewhere they don’t belong, or, conversely, who are excluded from something that they really need. Whatever side of politics we’re on, we can all think of examples that exemplify an unresponsive bureaucracy that’s not getting it right for everyone.

(And, to be fair, we can also think of government programs that are very good indeed, and that help the people they’re supposed to help. Truth be told, that happens because there’s an effective, competent bureaucracy.)

Set in a recognisable future in a town that features a street with a notorious name in the history of asbestos in Australia, The Last Asbestos Town features a young couple who are convinced that the property they’ve bought is built with a product that looks asbestos, but isn’t. The thing is, asbestos can’t be identified just by looking at it. A sample has to be analysed.

And in the meantime, the task force is on its way and might well slap a demolition order on the property before their sample comes back from the laboratory.

Read the rest of the review HERE – Book Cover is 1st Edition

Bounty: Prose Poetry - A Cafe Reading Launch

Pleased to announce my new collection Bounty: Prose Poetry will be launched at the Moon Cafe, Northbridge in Perth on Saturday 25th May at 2pm.

Bounty: Prose Poetry is a two decade long exploration of the form that has allowed me to explore a multi-layer of styles and preoccupations within the genre. A small selection of the prose poems has been previously published in Southerly, Westerly, Cordite, Eureka Street Journal and online. Available to read as a paperback, on all devices from Amazon & all online bookstores!

Love Poem: the Ancient Greeks

Love Poem: the Ancient Greeks

i
A continent full of snakes and spiders greeted
Paris on his march into Troy. He thought of Helen
while inside the Trojan horse, marking his love
for her on wooden beams with his sword.

When he dreamed of her, the seas whooshed him
back and forth to a bedchamber of camel hair
and wind-chimes.

ii
When Psyche brought home Cupid his dazzling
red hair was not her parents' concern, but more
his two wings that echoed a mellifluous lip music.

They were not impressed with the non-human
aspect of his sailing around the room,
fluttering and lifting her high above.

iii
Pygmalion's love for Galatea was not carnal, sexual
or Greek-style. They did not mention war, or a parent's
non-approval. They stood stiffly around in the blue toga

of the day. He polished her eyes in a mirror image
of his. She gazed back, without end; a woman
he could never domesticate, covet or ruin.

Market: A Prose Poem

Market

A market shows a difference of colour and the possibility of taste especially when an assortment of nylon and lace are mounted. It could be that sizes are too small too young and not tolerable for the older wearer if the decoration is suggestive, but a younger buyer might determine the daintiness of the objects swinging, and there is a spectacle swinging in the breeze which makes for a sniggering and in any case these showy garments once bought will later be undercover or rolled away nicely, nicely in a top drawer with perfumed liners. The amusing side might bring back pleasure each time the buyer slips these panties on, possibly remembering those colourful cartwheels of fitted pink and lime lace and the lengths to which the market stall proudly boasted skimpy, skimpy.

The Ozone Café : 2nd Edition OUT NOW!

The Ozone Café is about three separate owners of the café and its demise through political corruption.
Hagemann delivers a vision of 1960s and ’70s life in a small NSW Central Coast town. The novel is a homage to a café of the same name and of a distinctive P&O design in her hometown of Ettalong, New South Wales. It is also about the struggle of past and present cafe owners to save the cafe from demolition. Here are my cafe owners: -

Vincenzo Polamo, a Calabrian, builds the Ozone Café with his builder-brother in 1957 in fictional Satara Bay. He meets three children, Winifred, Casey, and Nicolas, creating a seascape mural on a café wall that includes them. The café changes from Italian to Australian cuisine. However, due to long hours of hard work and Vincenzo’s wife unwilling to migrate to Australia, Vincenzo sells the café.

Joe Pendlebury suffers setbacks with too few customers, poor health and problems due to a violent storm causing structural damage close to the mural. In major scenes, Pendlebury goes missing, and Nicolas dies from muscular dystrophy, heightening Winifred’s concerns to keep the mural sacred.

Con & Dion Lasaridis experience problems with the damage. Unable to convince the Heytesbury Shire the café is sound after a rebuild, they lose ownership in a court battle; the Shire evoking a Demolition Order, 1946. The Lasaridis believe this is due to an undercurrent of well-known council corruption; Mayor Tyrone being a principal player in corrupt land and property dealings. Vincenzo (et al) removes the mural reinstating it at his home. The mural becomes a lasting memorial to Nicolas Battersby, as well as the sole surviving piece of The Ozone Café.

At the time of commencing the novel, I had very little to go on. Then half-way through I discovered a pic of the Ozone posted on Gosford's Historical Library page on FLICKR. I therefore acknowledge the library Gostalgia, and that I have been given permission to use the picture on the cover of my 2nd Edition of The Ozone Cafe. I am also grateful for the research carried out by actor Felix Willliamson (son of playwright John Williamson) in his search and playing the role of Phil (the Jew) Jeffs in Underbelly Razor - a TV mini series.

Gostalgia: local history from Gosford Library

Phil Jeff's house, with cafe beneath, Ettalong.

The above photograph was taken by Press photographer Sam Hood. It is believed to date from around November 1945, when Phil "the Jew" Jeffs died in St. Vincent's hospital in Sydney. He is buried in the Jewish section of Rookwood Cemetery, under the name "Phillip Davis". The building is of a style known as "P & O" an interwar style that reflected the architecture of a ship's bridge. Unfortunately this building has since been demolished. Aerial photographs from 1957 reveal that Phil Jeff's former house was on the corner of Beach Street and The Esplanade, Ettalong Beach, near Memorial Avenue. The house faced due south, looking straight out to Broken Bay and Lion Island.This was THE prime spot for views in the area, and the site is now the location of Mantra, Ettalong Beach. Nothing remains of Phil Jeffs house in 2011. A brief report of Phil Jeffs death can be read at:nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56436952 Another former Razor war criminal, Kate Leigh, was embroiled in an assault case at Woy Woy in 1931.Read about this case on the Trove newspaper website:trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper