CONTRIBUTORS

Lee Kofman

Lee Kofman, the bilingual author of three fiction books (in Hebrew), emigrated from Russia to Israel in 1985, and to Australia in 2000. Since 2002 her short fiction, non-fiction and poetry in English appeared in Australia, Scotland, UK and USA in Island, Griffith Review, Heat, Westerley, Antipodes and more. She is the recipient of the Australian Council grant 2004, the Varuna Eric Dark Flagship Fellowship 2005, Emerging Writer-in-Residence in Katharine Susanna Pritchard Writers Centre 2007. She holds MA of Creative Writing (University of Melbourne) and teaches creative writing at various community settings.

The Allure of History | Зов истории

A fugitive of history like me, he nevertheless discusses it with enthusiasm in the back room of a café – a vestige amongst the plastic chic of Acland Street, where the walls are impressionistic paintings stained yellow and green. Aging …

Posted in SPOONBENDING | Tagged

Erotica

again a soft-focus filter between us and i forgot where i was beginning our descent into barbarism: in ease of darkness he peeled back the sheet and slid his hands between shadows and flickers of saints. patiently. the crescent curve …

Posted in 36: MADE | Tagged

Trimmed Wings

From my father I got Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Joplin. I found them shrunk with the cold, dusted on his writing desk underneath old newspapers, bills, blunt pencils, inkless pens, accounts of unrealised genius and corpses of cockroaches. He …

Posted in 35: CUSTOM | Tagged

Visotsky in The Men’s Gallery

I heard some Russian poets have been recently resurrected. Visotsky ended up being resurrected in Melbourne, in a bar called The Men's Gallery. Naturally, he asked for vodka. The young bartender with the fountain of spiky hair enquired whether he …

Posted in 28: INNOCENCE | Tagged

Sylvia in the Psych Ward

Writes poetry about her cat Because she has no one else to write about Tends to stray dogs Because humans bite Feeds a bird Barks at her doctor: No more medications! They're made of animal fat

Posted in 28: INNOCENCE | Tagged

Suggestions for a Girls’ School Curriculum

It should be taught how not to choose your lovers. Lesson number one: beware of men who go days without kissing you with their tongue, saying they have intimacy problems. Then they kiss you for hours, wounding your lips, wearing …

Posted in 28: INNOCENCE | Tagged

In a Shower

Nowadays, when I do not make love, I often lose my body. In a shower my gaze slips. I feel shy noticing I have a pink, fleshy arse.

Posted in 28: INNOCENCE | Tagged

Every Woman Needs a Jewish Husband

Look at my mother. She has this talent for dismissing hundreds of years of desire. She lifts her hand, dripping fat and kindness. Shakespeare, Schmakespeare, she says. What this Julia really needs is to find a faithful, Jewish husband.

Posted in 28: INNOCENCE | Tagged