Wednesday, March 30, 2016

SOLO (instant poem)

no/yes
I write today a solo
after reading poems
of music about music

left hand/right hand
some refer the sound
to architecture

some the notes
as cold as glass
a child's hand

creates
in no tradition
freely as

a roofless imagination
a zen pianist plays
ruined pianos

letting all the weathers in
good news/bad news
letting the music out

to the laws of chance
gravitational waves
whispering a capella


- Andrew Burke

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Early Autumn - poem


 you could almost call it
        contrary
to have this so bright
        doona cover
on
     when we are speaking of
autumn     but we need the doona on
and that speaks volumes
     of change of season

leaves of yellow among green
    
     our old dog walks
freely now    as the cool air
     helps her breathe
                                 no panting
                                 up our stairs
short though they may be
cool     with just a touch
of rain     may the Murray River
     flow freely    grey clouds
reflected as birds squabble in the trees
          leaves collect in the roadside gutters
the street cleaner's whirling brushes
pile them up     until the scoop truck
      cleans up the township
only in mid autumn
      the coffee drinkers move
inside the cafes on Main Street
      school girls wear long skirts
boys in their jackets
      the school bus has new wipers
on its windshield    new  season
      brings with it new rules
autumn is a-coming in
      merrily sing cool-cool


- Andrew Burke

Friday, March 25, 2016

The 2016 PRUFROCK PARTY!

Cover Photo

Monday, March 21, 2016

burke: SENRYU #

editing horror stories
I wipe the blood
off my toga

POETS! BIG PRIZES TO WIN!

The Newcastle Poetry Prizeis Australia's most prestigious poetry prize 
2016 is the 35th year of the prize

Write


A poem, or suite of poems, up to 200 lines

Win
First prize: $15 000
Second prize: $5 000
Third prize: $1 000
Local Award: $500
Harri Jones Memorial Prize (for a poet <35 font="" years="">
Hunter Writers Centre members' award: $200 

Closes midnight Friday 17th June
 
READ IT ALL AT

Monday, March 14, 2016

POEMS IN FLIGHT -

burke: POEMS IN FLIGHT #
pulling up poems
out of the atmosphere

choosing three
to send away

like homing pigeons
yet hoping (like Noah?)

they find land
and don't return

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Unusual moon photo

 
The moon passed between ‪NASA‬’s Deep Space Climate Observatory and the Earth, allowing the satellite to capture this rare image of the moon’s far side in full sunlight.
As the moon is tidally locked to the Earth and doesn’t rotate, we only ever see the one face from the Earth.
Awesome shot!
So basically this is the moon’s ass!

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Today's li'l poem

burke: PAPER TALES #
The closely typed and printed pages of
an academic draft lie in the basket

screwed up and thrown higgledy-piggledy
screaming of frustration and anger.

Beneath lies the flat and restrained
text of a child's self-penned story

first draft in her own hand. I pour
my breakfast tea and ponder how

a recycling basket can say so much,
little sculptures expressing the mood

of their sculptor, how the paper
speaks of the trees it came from.

Tuesday, March 08, 2016

THE BULL ANT AND LANGUAGE

the creation of the world is

not complete until the world comes
to exist within the work of art.






This is said in
the context of
an article about
the textuality
of Mallarme -

Are we fulfilling this
quest in our daily
poems? Putting
the fourteen ducks
on the golf course
green here in words
without harming
a feather. Or
picking up that
bull ant again
as my wife did
just now to put him
out in the margin.
And why do I write
'him' and not 'her'?
Is it because of
the potential Violence
of a red sizable ant?
Language dangles
questions the more
we play with it. But
I shall always love
words in the syntax
of music, even with
a sting in the tail.



Monday, March 07, 2016

Thursday, March 03, 2016

Issa haiku

festival--
cormorants asleep in a row
on holiday


-Issa 1821

.御祭や鵜も寝並んで骨休
o-matsuri ya u mo ne narande honeyasumi


Japanese fishermen use cormorants. Tied to a tether, these sea birds dive for fish that they are forced to disgorge. In this haiku, the birds enjoy the day off.

http://haikuguy.com/issa/