Saturday, December 31, 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017 / ISSA HAIKU

clamoring geese--
over there is the year
ending too?
 
 
.さわぐ雁そこらもとしが暮るかよ
sawagu kari sokora mo toshi ga kururu ka yo
 
 
 
http://haikuguy.com/issa/

Sunday, December 18, 2016

POEM FOR MILLIE


There’s a dead dragonfly hanging
on to our car’s front number plate. One
fine wing blowing in the wind
stops me today as I grieve for Millie,
my faithful companion who died
quietly in my hands, her body
losing all the tension
of her final fevers. Death
is the last roll of life’s dice,
the final token we pay – yet
our greatest relief.

                                    I file this poem
under POEM FOR MILLIE yet
I know it is for me, perhaps
for you, to lessen the sorrow, yet
to remember Millie. My bare feet
are cold as I type, cold where she
would lie across and keep them warm.

Friday, December 02, 2016

Tom Collins Poetry Prize 2016 - ENTER NOW

Ends on January 15, 2017        

$20.00 AUD
            
The Tom Collins Poetry Prize is an annual competition inaugurated by FAWWA in 1975 in memory of Australian author Joseph Furphy (1843 - 1912) who wrote under the name Tom Collins. It is one of Australia’s most prestigious poetry prizes, with first place being awarded a $1,000 prize.

This year the entry fee is $20 for up to three poems. So why not enter two or three poems instead of one – the total fee you’ll pay is $20!

The prizegiving will be at Voicebox in Fremantle in February 2017.

Entries close 15 January 2017, so get writing and enter now!

Terms and conditions:
Opening date: 22 November 2016
Closing date:  15 January 2017 (midnight AWST)
Line limit for each poem: 60 lines
Prizes: First $1,000; Second $200; Third $100. 4 x Highly Commended will receive certificates.

Entry Fee: $20 (maximum of three poems per poet)
  1. Entrants must currently reside in Australia.
  2. All work must be works of fiction and previously unpublished, including e-publishing. Work broadcast on radio, television or film, or performed as plays, are classified as published. Any story that has been awarded or commended in any previous competition is not eligible to enter.
  3. Any poem that is under consideration in another competition is ineligible.
  4. The Fellowship of Australian Writers Western Australia (FAWWA) reserves the right to publish the winning, second place and highly commended entries in its publications (including web site).
  5. Non-award winning poems will be responsibly destroyed after the competition. Ensure you keep a copy.
  6. The real name of the poet must not appear on the poem submission. All entries will be judged blind through the Submittable portal (identifying information will not be made available to the judge).
  7. Entries must be submitted via Submittable. Poems can be uploaded in .docx, .doc, .pdf and .rtf format (sensible font, font size and spacing to be used).  Each poem should be uploaded as a separate file. Entries submitted via regular mail or email are ineligible and will be responsibly destroyed.
  8. Maximum of three poems per author.
  9. Entry fee of $20 will be collected via online payment on Submittable. No other form of payment is acceptable. No refunds will be given. Payments submitted outside of Submittable or in relation to ineligible entries will not be returned.
  10. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 
  11. Shortlisted writers will be notified via email and the winner announced at the prizegiving at Voicebox in February 2017. Results will be published on the FAWWA website www.fawwa.org.
  12. FAWWA Committee members are not eligible to enter.
For any general queries contact FAWWA at fellowshipaustralianwriterswa@gmail.com


Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The VERSO Book Awards


Announcing the Inaugural 
 
The Verso Book Awards 2017
 
the book as a work of art  
 
at Kinross House, 603 Toorak Rd, Toorak, Melbourne, VIC 3142
1 to 16 July 2017 – and part of  Melbourne Rare Book Week
 
The Verso Book Awards are administered by the publisher of Verso Magazine and are devoted to The Book as a Work of Art in Australia and New Zealand. The Awards are open to all citizens and residents over the age of eighteen in both countries.
 
The Verso Book Awards carries a first prize of AUD $2500, with two second prizes, each receiving AUD $1000. The winners will be the subject of a special essay in Verso Magazine. All exhibitors will be featured in a full-colour catalog of the exhibition.

For full terms and conditions and Entry Forms, reply to this email.

Best wishes
Alan Loney, publisher

Monday, November 28, 2016

EROS

                                    
The sense of the world is short,—
Long and various the report,—
              To love and be beloved;
Men and gods have not outlearned it;
And, how oft soe’er they’ve turned it,
             ’Tis not to be improved.
 

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Have fun! Make your own John-Cage type Poems

Have you visited ModPo's own "Mesostic Poem Generator"? Make your own quasi-unintentional poem. Try on some semi-unoriginality! Post to the Facebook group or to the forums!

Saturday, November 19, 2016

haiku

about the nape of
garden Buddha's sunburnt head
white daisies

(after Issa)

Friday, November 11, 2016

Ron Pretty Poetry Prize NOW OPEN

 

Submissions for the 2016 Ron Pretty Poetry Prize are now open!

First Prize: $5000
Second Prize: $1500
Third Prize: $750


Judge: Ron Pretty
Opening Date: 15 July 2016
Closing Date: 22 November 2016

Enter Here .http://fiveislandspress.com/ron-pretty-poetry-prize

Monday, November 07, 2016

Rimbaud still gets mail!

 
Although Rimbaud’s writing career lasted only five years, his influence stretches across the arts, from Picasso to Bob Dylan, who, when introduced to his writing, said that ‘the bells went off’.
Mr Tambourine Man alludes to Le Bateau Ivre (Drunken Boat), often considered Rimbaud’s best work. 
Rimbaud stopped writing at 21, eventually becoming a trader in Ethiopia, but still people come to pay homage. We were, in a way, also doing that.

Friday, October 28, 2016

SPRING IN THE VALLEY - SUNDAY 10AM

Spring in the Valley Brunch
10am start, 30th October
 
An invitation to
Viable Human Mob
SPRiNG in Valley – BRUNCH
 
the FiNALE
tHaT'z iT!!!
 
To all who are keen to come along & have a Heepy, Great Time.
the Artist's, the Poet's, the Art's Appreciator's, the Audience...
those who are Hungry & those who would just like something OK to Eat...
if your keen for a pretty decent Conversation, With "Not-Bad" People,
this is the place to Be...
 
to all Who Like Coin Filled & Cashed Up Pockets,
& then Like to empty them By Giving to Awesome Causes,
this is a Must...
 
to the Helper's, past & present
THANKS...
 
To all who have been before,
"Trust You Had a Good Time"
 
SPRiNG in Valley - BRUNCH,,, in it'z 11th & Finale Year.
 
Still only $15 (proceeds to Starlight Children’s Foundation)
For information : Neil 0422148956 or Helen 0431035540 for info
 

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

IMPOSSIBLE PRELUDES Launch This FRIDAY

Sydney Launch
Date/Time:  Friday 28 October, 6 pm for a 6.30 pm start
Venue: Gleebooks Upstairs, 49 Glebe Point Road.
To be launched by David Brooks.
RSVP Gleebooks, please click here.
 
Perth Launch
Date/Time: Thursday 10 November, 6 pm
Venue: Centre for Stories, 100 Aberdeen Street, Northbridge, 6003.
To be launched by Dennis Haskell.
'Impossible Preludes is the book of a master poet contemplating older age and the world as it is now; what is lost, what is being lost, and how to accommodate these things in one’s life. The classic markers of Taylor’s poetry are all fully evident in this work: lucidity, wit, glimpses into the natural and made world and the bringing together of these in sensitive but robust dialogue, literary allusion, and an easeful, confident control of the line. This generous book opens a new phase in Taylor’s poetics: the wistful, contemplative and celebratory, quite often against the odds.’ John Kinsella
Please join us at one of these launches and spread the word amongst your networks. Click here to purchase your copy of Impossible Preludes

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Ron Pretty Poetry Prize 2016 Extended


Ron
 

Many thanks to all the poets who have entered to date.

Over the past two months, the Five Islands Press website and Ron Pretty Poetry Prize entry page have been down at least twice. This is fixed now. But the Press wants to offer poets more time to enter the prize.
...
We are extending the prize until 22 November 2016.

With this new deadline, the long list will now be announced on 21 January 2017
The short list will be announced on 31 January 2017
The prize winner will be announced at an event on 3 March 2017

First Prize: $5000
Second Prize: $1500
Third Prize: $750
Judge: Ron Pretty

The prize will be awarded to a single poem of up to 30 lines, and is open to anyone over the age of 18 years, including overseas applicants.

Entry fee is $25 for the first poem and $10 for subsequent poems. There are no limits on entries.

Online submissions only. Enter at: http://fiveislandspress.com/ron-pretty-poetry-prize

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

'IMPOSSIBLE PRELUDES' by Andrew Taylor

Sydney Launch
Date/Time:  Friday 28 October, 6 pm for a 6.30 pm start
Venue: Gleebooks Upstairs, 49 Glebe Point Road.
To be launched by David Brooks.
RSVP Gleebooks, please click here.
Perth Launch
Date/Time: Thursday 10 November, 6 pm
Venue: Centre for Stories, 100 Aberdeen Street, Northbridge, 6003.
To be launched by Dennis Haskell.
'Impossible Preludes is the book of a master poet contemplating older age and the world as it is now; what is lost, what is being lost, and how to accommodate these things in one’s life. The classic markers of Taylor’s poetry are all fully evident in this work: lucidity, wit, glimpses into the natural and made world and the bringing together of these in sensitive but robust dialogue, literary allusion, and an easeful, confident control of the line. This generous book opens a new phase in Taylor’s poetics: the wistful, contemplative and celebratory, quite often against the odds.’ John Kinsella
Please join us at one of these launches and spread the word amongst your networks. Click here to purchase your copy of Impossible Preludes

Monday, October 17, 2016

2016 Prime Minister's Literary Awards

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Arts Minister Senator Mitch Fifield have announced the shortlists for the 2016 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards!

Thirty books have been recognised across the six award categories.
Check out the website for the full list of shortlisted authors, books and judges’ comments https://www.arts.gov.au/pm-literary-awards .

Poetry

Saturday, October 15, 2016

TIM WINTON'S The Boy Behind the Curtain

 
The Boy Behind the Curtain is a beautiful object, with clear space around many of its chapters, as if you might want to pause, or ease them apart to hand on to your friends. And it opens up space around Winton’s other works, not in terms of delineating direct lines from him to his characters or his plots, but via the living and mutable concordance that shimmers between a writer’s life, their passions and their interests, and the stories they go on to make. He “rose to adulthood on a tide of story,” as he writes in Twice on Sundays, and he made it his business to write. About working for places like Ningaloo. About people like Oriel Lamb in Cloudstreet, or Ort Flack in That Eye, The Sky. About strange apparitions in Ireland. About all of this and more.

Read more at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/boy-behind-the-curtain-tim-winton-explores-his-place-in-the-world/news-story/6440478755cb9526ffc529cd38882e7a

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Poem by CARL SANDBURG

Lost

 
Carl Sandburg
                                     
Desolate and lone
All night long on the lake
Where fog trails and mist creeps,
The whistle of a boat
Calls and cries unendingly,
Like some lost child
In tears and trouble
Hunting the harbor’s breast
And the harbor’s eyes.
 
 

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

American Life in Poetry: Column 603 - by TED KOOSER

The workings of memory are something that every writer thinks a lot about, and in this poem Peter Everwine, a California poet we've featured before, looks very closely into those workings. His most recent book is Listening Long and Late, from the University of Pittsburgh Press. This poem is from Five Points, a distinguished quarterly journal.


A Small Story

When Mrs. McCausland comes to mind
she slips through a small gap in oblivion
and walks down her front steps, in her hand
a small red velvet pillow she tucks
under the head of Old Jim Schreiber,
who is lying dead-drunk against the curb
of busy Market Street. Then she turns,
labors up the steps and is gone . . .

A small story. Or rather, the memory
of a story I heard as a boy. The witnesses
are not to be found, the steps lead nowhere,
the pillow has collapsed into a thread of dust . . .
Do the dead come back only to remind us
they, too, were once among the living,
and that the story we make of our lives
is a mystery of luminous, but uncertain moments,
a shuffle of images we carry toward sleep—
Mrs. McCausland with her velvet pillow,
Old Jim at peace—a story, like a small
clearing in the woods at night, seen
from the windows of a passing train.


We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.Poem copyright ©2015 by Peter Everwine, “A Small Story,” from Five Points, (Vol. 17, no. 1, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Peter Everwine and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

Friday, October 07, 2016

Tim Winton at GLEEBOOKS

Gleebooks

October Gleaner 

Tim Winton graces the cover of our October Gleaner to celebrate the release of his powerful new memoir, 'The Boy Behind the Curtain".   If you aren't a member of the Gleeclub, or can't get into the shop to pick up a copy, you can browse the magazine and order all the titles online here.
 Tim's conversation with the wonderful Suzanne Leal this Sunday is completely booked out, but the book itself is now in stock at the special price of $39.99 (reduced from $45). 

Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Max Richards RIP

Dog refuses to leave side of dying Kiwi poet

 
A New Zealand-born poet and academic has died after being hit by a car while crossing the road in his new hometown of Seattle, Washington.

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Poetry News from HARRIET the Poetry Blog

National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry Announced

By Harriet Staff
Screen Shot 2016-09-13 at 11.15.43 AM

Today, the New Yorker takes a look at the longlist in the poetry category for the National Book Awards. The list is a mix of established poets and emerging poets, with Donika Kelly and Solmaz Sharif’s first books appearing in 2016. Now for that list:
Daniel Borzutzky, The Performance of Becoming Human (Brooklyn Arts Press)
Rita Dove, Collected Poems 1974 – 2004 (W. W. Norton & Company)
Peter Gizzi, Archeophonics (Wesleyan University Press)
Donald Hall, The Selected Poems of Donald Hall (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Jay Hopler, The Abridged History of Rainfall (McSweeney’s)
Donika Kelly, Bestiary (Graywolf Press)
Jane Mead, World of Made and Unmade (Alice James Books)
Solmaz Sharif, Look (Graywolf Press)
Monica Youn, Blackacre (Graywolf Press)
Kevin Young, Blue Laws (Alfred A. Knopf)

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

POETRY COMPETITIONS

Ron Pretty Poetry Prize
  
Submissions for the 2016 Ron Pretty Poetry Prize are now open!

First Prize: $5000
Second Prize: $1500
Third Prize: $750


The prize will be awarded to a single poem of up to 30 lines, and is open to anyone over the age of 18 years, including overseas applicants.
Entry fee is $25 for the first poem and $10 for subsequent poems. There are no limits on entries. Online submissions only.
Judge: Ron Pretty
Opening Date: 15 July 2016
Closing Date: 22 November 2016

The long list will now be announced on 21 January 2017
The short list will be announced on 31 January 2017
The prize winner will be announced at an event on 3 March 2017


Enquiries should be directed to: submissions@fiveislandspress.com.
Read more: http://fiveislandspress.com/ron-pretty-poetry-prize
 
 
Sonnet Writing Competition now open!
This year is the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, and like other Shakespeare lovers worldwide, the Shakespeare Club of Western Australia plans a celebration of the bard's life.

 

We are going to commemorate with a sonnet-writing competition for adults and secondary school students, open to would-be writers and experienced poets alike.


 Adult Category: The Competition is open to any Australian Resident (excepting members of the Shakespeare Club of WA): 1st Prize: $300; 2nd Prize: $200; 3rd Prize: $100
Entrants will be invited to attend the Awards Ceremony in Perth.

Competition Rules

1.   Sonnet entries must be accompanied by an Entry Form and must be submitted by post to Shakespeare Club of WA, PO Box 100, Mt Hawthorn, WA 6915. 

2.    In the Student Category there is an entry fee of $5 per sonnet entry. In the Adult Category the entry fee is $10 per sonnet entry. Payment may be made by cheque, Money Order or by Bank Transfer. Entries received without payment will be excluded from the Competition. Entry fees are not refundable.
3.    Entrants may submit more than one but no more than three sonnet entries. Each entry must be on a separate sheet of paper and must not include any information that might identify the entrant.

 4.    Deadline: All entries must be received by September 23, 2016. r Entries received after that date will not be accepted.
5.    The identity of entrants will not be known by the Panel of Judges. The decision of the Panel of Judges will be final. The n the Prizes are awarded.
6.   The Composition Guidelines form part of the Competition Rules. By entering the Competition, entrants agree to the Competition Rules.
7.   The Shakespeare Club of Western Australia reserves the right to publish any entry. Winners will be announced online at: www.perthshakespeareclub.blogspot.com.au.Prizewinners agree to allow their names to be published; at the Awards Ceremony photographs may be taken for publication.

 

 

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Australian S/Story Festival - in Northbridge, WA


The three-day festival will offer over twenty-five paid and free events, showcasing not only the traditional written form but also storytelling in the oral and recorded forms.  A total of thirty local and national writers, will be participating in the event, along with Parashar Kulkarni, who recently became the first Indian writer to win the prestigious Commonwealth Short Story Prize for his story, ‘Cow and Company.'
Key events include, 'In Conversation' sessions with prominent writers such as Ryan O’Neill (VIC), Ellen van Neerven (QLD), Cate Kennedy (VIC), Paddy O’Reilly (VIC), Fiona McFarlane (NSW) and Isabelle Li (NSW), publishing advice with three independent publishing houses, the launch of Westerly: New Creative issue, a collaboration between local storytellers and raconteurs - Barefaced Stories, Magnolias Late Night Live and Ships In The Night, a celebration of five years of the Margaret River Short Story Competition and a street reading walk of Northbridge.
Host organisation, Centre for Stories in Northbridge will be the Festival's main venue, with activities also scheduled at the State Library and Northbridge Piazza which will showcase an Indigenous Yarning Session, featuring prominent personalities from Warakurna, a remote community of Western Australia situated 330km from Uluru. Cate Kennedy, one of Australia’s most celebrated short story writers, will give the opening address. Professor Kim Scott, twice winner of the Miles Franklin Award will deliver the closing address.
Australian Short Story Festival Patron highly acclaimed author, Gail Jones, has described the event as “an audacious, intelligent and very welcome initiative at a time when the short story as a form is enormously popular with both emerging and established writers”.
The Australian Short Festival has received funding from the Department of Culture and Arts, Copyright Agency and the City of Perth.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Issa Haiku

she keeps the nest
nice and neat...
widow bird


Issa 1821

.小奇麗にしてくらす也やもめ鳥
kogirei [ni] shite kurasu nari yamome tori



Though Issa is known for humor in haiku, this one tugs at the heart strings ... hard.

http://haikuguy.com/

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Sonnet Competition now open

From the Shakespeare Club of Western Australia:

SONNET COMPETITION

 

This year is the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, and like other Shakespeare lovers worldwide, the Shakespeare Club of Western Australia plans a celebration of the bard's life.

 

We are going to commemorate with a sonnet-writing competition for adults and secondary school students, open to would-be writers and experienced poets alike.

 

Competition Rules: Click here! 

 

Adult Entry Form:  Click here!

 

Student Entry Form: Click here!

Sonnet competition again

Our sonnet competition has received some very good entries - but not enough of them! While we are delighted with the standard of the entries, we do hope more people can be encouraged to send in their sonnets.

Originally, we barred members of the Club from entering, but entry numbers to date suggest that perhaps most of the people who write sonnets are already members of The Shakespeare Club of Western Australia! Therefore, the Committee has decided to open the competition to members of the Club. Members are advised that they must not enter under their own names, but use a nom-de-plume, so that the judging can take place on a level playing field.

So come on, members! Pay homage to our beloved bard by putting pen to paper. Or, rather, fingers to keyboard!

From the Captain of the Modern Poetics course (FREE)

My profuse apologies. I promise to be a better proofreader! The problem with open enrollment has NOW been fixed.—Al
Dear andrew burke:
For a day or so, those who tried to enroll in ModPo a few days after the start of the course were told that enrollments were closed. This was an error in the system. It's now been fixed. ModPo is always open!
Anyone can enroll in ModPo any time.
Tell your friends. Tell your family. Share ModPo with loved ones, colleagues, neighbors!
Give them this URL:
Al
Go to course

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

A small poem in Honour of Merv Lilley's passing at 96


IN MEMORY OF MERV

Merv’s riding down
for his cremation. He wouldn’t
miss it for all the sugar cane
in Queensland. All the family
will be there and people
he only half recognises. Will
the undertaker ladies have
a hitching rail and safe storage
for his saddle-bags? They’re new,
you know. They were on
Merv’s last shopping list: 'I need
pack saddle with a couple of splitbags –
also a .22 rifle to shoot whatever...'
All the cane fires of Queensland
couldn’t burn Merv’s rage out
but now all his energy goes
up in smoke in one last blaze.

Don’t call the wallopers or

the fireys. Merv’s just going out

in one last blaze of glory.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Dog Wisdom


Issa Spring Haiku

even the turtle
wants feathers...
the geese depart


- Issa 1820

.すつぽんも羽ほしげ也帰る雁
suppon mo hane hoshige nari kae[ru] kari


Shinji Ogawa points out that kaeru in this context can be translated as "return" or "leave." Since this is a spring haiku, the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

http://haikuguy.com/issa/