Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Poem For Sale

My Poem "hotel universo" (which appears below - in full) is currently for sale. The poem was auctioned last month at an unnamed literary location though failed to attract sufficient interest from bidders. I'm thinking the poem would suit a magazine or journal or somebody with a sense of humour. I expect it's worth about eighty-five dollars though I'm willing to negotiate on this. Also, if anyone's got anything they'd like to offer, we could do a swap. Or, I'm plain willing to buy your poems. Let me know what you've got. Get me here, or on 0404 802 776.


hotel universo

bowties or butterflies:
the sauce of your choice.

an umbrella collapses.
the chairs are inseparable.

-

this display a glass
bottomed gondola.

model train derailment
halfway into the mountain

-

like restless in ‘the
method of immersion’

la lingua madre
surfacing for breath.

-

bus stops pine needles carpet
the terra rossa tennis court.

imminent arrivals
text-to- destination.

-

grammatically she says
you cannot enter the walls -

stick figure stuck
in a stone cell to illustrate.

-

poems of place.
souvenir this that

his own little
piece of vesuvius.

-

up/down some
unsigned street in pistoia

reception deserts us returns.
digging deep for lost vocab.

-

and cinema centrale
settles it:

visiting mono-linguists
wilt in the provinces.

-

puccini’s composure
smoking centre square.

uncorrupted: unembalmed.
don’t hold your breath for sainthood.

-

most frequently
asked question.

what to feed the children:
death or fairytales.

-

makes two of us
out of a tower’s skinny staircase

the renaissance
spills into the backyard.

-

dialogue with
the hand-held guide.

tale of the twins
history and hearsay.

-

somewhere more specific
than piazza napoleone…

…hotel universo.
see you at two.

-

vatican declares
the way we worship

obscene wealth’s
‘a modern sin’.

-

albeit belated your –
“xmas high-rise haiku”:

inflatable santas
hung from the balconies/with care.

-

thank you gesture
the eyes of the mime.

could’ve/should’ve.
squeezed the accordion in.

-

almost a memory
that pillion rider’s

shirt-tail billow
ing into the past.

-

in your dreams!
a skybed absorbs local turbulence.

home to
culture shock.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Poets Paint Words II (II)







Some photos of Sydney poets Peter Minter and Astrid Lorange with Michael Farrell and the Peter Booth painting, Untitled.

Poets Paint Words II

Newcastle Regional Art Gallery is currently showing its second instalment of Poets Paint Words, an exhibition of painting and poetry. Nine poets were invited to respond to a painting from the collection and a couple of weeks ago the poets arrived in town to read their work. Lisa Slade and Peter Minter have done a great job curating the show and there's a real diversity of work on offer. Just to help out, I've put together some educational resources that any visiting school groups might like to use.