CHARCOAL CLUB
Melbourne Festival 28.10.04
When the show began, with Richard J Frankland's focus on family, my first thought was how a single white gay man might find entry into the performance. There were several openings …
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CHARCOAL CLUB
Melbourne Festival 28.10.04
When the show began, with Richard J Frankland's focus on family, my first thought was how a single white gay man might find entry into the performance. There were several openings …
Continue reading
James Stuart reviews Words and Things (Patrick Jones, ed.) in our Submerged issue. The review is part of a larger article commissioned by Cordite, available in PDF format.
The article itself features images from Words and Things, plus a selection of images from other sites/books. In the interests of accessibility we have made two versions of the article available – one (larger) for printing, and another (smaller) for reading on screen.
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION (PDF, 2.7M) Download
SCREEN-FRIENDLY VERSION (PDF, 600kb) DownloadPrinting & viewing instructions: This file is best printed as a double-sided document. If you're not going to print the document at all, then you should probably read it in Acrobat Reader (free) using the View-Continuous Facing option. If you're going to print it and then throw it out, please recycle.
Image by Marie Sierra, from Words and Things.
Just now, I'm weary of the fractured, playful, tense world of the post-modern, post-language poets, the pomopomopomopony. 15 years back I was delighted to play with my mind in that way, to play with my politics in that way, to play with my ideas of language and literature in that way. But increasingly for me there seems to be a gap, a hollow, another path to follow. Some texts of the disenfranchised want for anchors.
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Her, leaving, as the Acid hits by Benito Di Fonzo
Independence Jones, 2004
The first thing that struck me when reading 'Her, leaving, as the Acid hits' was that it embodied, like the muse of the story, a lament of an era long gone. Di Fonzo has successfully recreated the zeitgeist of the pre-gentrification time of cosy inner city dwellings before real estate went up and the well worn homes that gave these areas their character went down to make way for sterile, so-called architecturally designed apartments.
minorphysics by Paul Mitchell
IP, 2003
The first comparative poet who came to mind as I was reading this collection was Bruce Dawe, who shares 's alternating ocker flippancy and grave sensitivity. Like Dawe, Mitchell finds beauty and solace in the most seemingly mundane of subjects. His poems have a tendency to oscillate between sensory osmosis and abstract observation.
The Year Nothing by Paul Hardacre
HeadworX, 2003
If one name stands out as a hero and influence among the present generation of Australian poets it's Michael Dransfield. B. R. Dionysius has dedicated a poem to him. Jayne Fenton Keane has penned an adequate parody of one of his most recognisable works and Jaya Savige claims that discovering Dransfield's work prompted him to pursue writing instead of law. There is also John Kinsella's recent retrospective of Dransfield's work. However, Paul Hardacre in his first volume The Year Nothing, is perhaps closest not only in style but also in intent.
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Gateway to the Sphinx by Tony Page
Five Islands Press, 2004
The Schism
Writing a book of poems about abstract scientific theories is a high-wire act. The danger is that those who comprehend the science may not appreciate the poetry and those who dig the poems may not comprehend the science. Writing a review on this little gem was somewhat daunting, too. To begin with, a succinct review forming an introduction to the work has already been written by one Phillip Adams, whose intellect and eloquence I admire greatly.
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Love is the New Hate by Sean M. Whelan
Hit & Miss Publications, 2003
In reading Sean Whelan's Love is the New Hate, I was invited on a journey into the hinterlands of evasive emotion, decorated by the wreckage of cryptic personal revelations. Whelan's ten poems combine a strong narrative orientation with a casual conversational cadence to pull us into his native terrain. As we become conspiratorial conscripts exploring the bounds of his uncertain subjectivity, it becomes obvious that Whelan has a real talent for enigmatic juxtaposition.
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Struggle & radiance: ten commentaries by Jill Jones
Wild Honey Press, 2003
As I sat reading Struggle and Radiance in my local laundromat and occasionally looked out at the pub or the tendrils of exhaust fumes across the road, I found there was plenty that was unapologetically radiant in these poems and the word ‘struggle' in the title suggested an unnecessary weight or polarity to this collection.
Trio by John Tranter
Salt Publishing, 2003
Salt Publishing's decision to republish three 1970s collections by John Tranter under the title Trio nicely bookends the army of books no doubt already occupying the home library shelves of his most ardent and serious fans. In reality, this collection appears because the individual collections within are no longer in print; though I venture to believe that Trio marks the point at which Tranter is pausing for sandwiches and thermos coffee — the fork in the road.
Museum of space by Peter Boyle
University of Queensland Press, 2004
Peter Boyle strikes me as a poet who likes the air, much as Peter Minter likes water; Robert Adamson, leaves; Jordie Albiston, defined/confined spaces; John Tranter, lines or, rather, the lineage of the cursive. Boyle most reminds me of Robert Adamson with his gentle, probing style, his yearning approach to all that should be desirable–an understanding of ourselves in space and time, wherein we point all our limitations. In this context, Boyle holds his place very well as a watchful observer of the world (e.g. the wind, sunlight, birds, music, reflections, waves) and other writers (e.g. Rilke, Saint-John Perse, Jabès).
Dark River by John Jenkins
Five Islands Press, 2001
In John Jenkins' eighth collection, Dark River, the question he asks the reader is, 'Are we apes or cobalt clouds?' Throughout the collection, a poetic narrator directs the reader towards a continual reassessment of science and aesthetics. Thus, this collection reminded me somewhat of the 17th-century Metaphysical poets because of its ability to implicate the reader within the poem. Jenkins directs his verse behind a persona who describes this wonderland to 'you', the reader.
New and Selected Poems by Ouyang Yu
Salt Publishing (UK), 2004
´Multiculturalism', when all has been said and (often very little) has been done about it, remains a difficult, even paradoxical, idea. It is an English-language term invented by, and used for the purposes of, the dominant Anglo-Celtic culture; yet it supposedly represents the reality of being from the ´minor' cultures that, at least in Australia, do not have English as a first language.
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Domain by Ian McBryde
Five Islands Press, 2004
In the media release for Ian McBryde's latest collection, Domain, Peter Porter states that World War II and the Holocaust — the content of McBryde's collection — have been “subjects defiant of poetry”. Here, I think, Porter is trying to make a claim for this collection's uniqueness. While this powerful book is in many ways unique, I find Porter's claim strangely ignorant: many poems have been written about this darkest period of history by, amongst others, some of the best known poets of the 20th Century such as Yevgeny Yevtushenko, WH Auden, Randall Jarrell, Primo Levy, Geoffrey Hill and Czeslaw Milosz.
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Shadow Selves by Deb Matthews-Zott
Ginninderra Press, 2003
Poetry about erotic desire is fraught with perils. Just look at some of the worst on thousands of teen websites and you'll get some idea of just how bad it can get! Contrast this with Shadow Selves, Deb Matthews-Zott's latest work, and the difference is striking, showing a sophistication that welds the physical to the intellectual. She achieves all this without resorting to anatomical diatribe. But it's still hot.
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Totem by Luke Davies
Allen and Unwin, 2004
The efficacy and strength of Luke Davies' Totem lie in its drawing on a long familiar tradition of mythological narratives as a vehicle for romantic verse-tellers – from Publius Ovidius Naso (known to us as Ovid), to Giovanni Boccaccio, to John Milton. Davies' tastes are eclectic; he even tries a poem in Jamaican English, such as it is generally recognised in reggae songs, in one in the series entitled '40 Love Poems' following his 'Totem Poem'.
Totem by Luke Davies
Allen and Unwin, 2004
I'll let you in on a secret: I think Luke Davies is in love.
OK. So it's not much of a secret. Still, while descriptions on the jacket refer to it in a variety of glowing terms (‘A sustained aria' — Peter Porter; ‘the great Australian long poem' — Judith Beveridge) what they basically elide is that ‘Totem Poem', and its 40 companion poems are pretty much all about love. And so we pass the microphone to Davies.
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rattapallax 10, Ram Devineni (ed)
NYC, 2004
I have to admit, I picked up issue 10 of rattapallax for 'The Age of MC SOLAAR' cover story. Although my French is still very limited, I have had quite a few tracks by the Senegal-born, Paris-bred, hip-hop superstar on high rotation for several years. Undoubtedly, his flow alone is dope enough for heads of any language.
When I arrive in a new territory, I sniff it out, find spots that I like and leave my own scent, which is what I did when I came to Cardiff. Cardiff's likeable in many ways: friendly peeps, a public transport system that actually works and enough stationery and book shops to keep a writer happy. But in one essential part, Cardiff has failed me.
Johanna Featherstone established The Red Room Company in 2003. Based in Sydney, Red Room creates, promotes and publishes new poetry by Australian writers in unusual ways. Paul Mitchell spoke to her recently about her work. Continue reading
Justin Heazlewood writes regularly for BMA and Voiceworks. He is, however, better known for his role as Triple J's “Bedroom Philosopher,” a character he continued to develop at the recent Melbourne Comedy Festival. Here he talks to Benny Walter about his comedy in depth.
“Domain is without exception the most difficult and challenging poetry collection I have ever tackled. It involved almost four years of steady research and writing. It had a profound effect on me, and caused many a night of uneasy sleep. I found myself quite overcome by a lot of the imagery and literature, which hung around me in a sad, invisible, cloying sort of way.” Ian McBryde talks about his latest collection of poetry.
The nets. the horses, the nets.
White noise carries too many messages.
Your diamonds are invisible, but hide them anyway.
The swings of the playground are aflame.
The best voice in the choir can belong to a monster.
Somewhere in Texas, farmhouses are burning.
Old women's tears weigh more than our planet.
The cliffs are much closer than we think.
Next door the drapes stay closed.
There are more than fourteen stations of the cross.
A blind girl senses air movement, wonders who has entered.
The nets. the horses, the nets.

Thatcherism was the name given to the tide of economic rationalism that swept through Britain in the 1980's. It was a series of often forceful policy reforms and social upheavals that transformed the nation economically, politically, socially and philosophically. Musically, the nation was mute. The original f&^k you of punk's first wave, which was quite often only ever protest for protests sake, had all but died. In its place the superficiality of New Wave and the introspection of Goth reigned supreme.
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