myall river

skipping south

drumming

over bridges


this side

of brooklyn


what’s left of the tin fleet

leans into paperbark


at this hour

our waves protected


successive coves

laid open like geodes


and a tide-line measured

i imagine in divisions


of soft/hard sand

parcels of damp weed


exit the F3 for the M2, 7

attract electronic toll


industrial has nothing

to do with making it


even with the nav-man

he was hopeless with directions


black slashes

in the trees


do i take the call

while at the wheel?


"keep an eye out

for the turn off


if you get to ulladulla

you’ve gone too far

the much-needed break

At the moment I'm enjoying a break from work - spending most days reading and lazing around of a morning before heading out a little later for a swim at Newcastle Beach. The weather (mainly grey) has been ideal for doing things outside - riding, swimming, walking. I've been writing whenever I can; I'm tidying up a couple of poems that have been lying around for a while and trying to push on with new ones. As far as work goes, I'll be going back to the same job this year - teaching English to high school students - but hope to take up an exchange teaching position in the UK for 2011. To readers, friends, family, all best for a great year, wherever you might be.

tuesday reading

beyond an invisible gauze 
literally steps from here
your focus   at that point 
everything the day offers -
 

young and grey a magpie 
kazoos in a patch of ‘garden’ 
the wet lawn like f troop by default
on nine signals a lengthy delay
  

in play   while thought lists 
that vapor trail of foot prints  
leading back to your reading -
so little one can do   one does it all
   

within the hour   no closer to what 
to call this our new cryptonymous decade 

newcastle baths

like a version (five)

For Xmas my niece bought me a cd called "like a version", a Triple J publication that puts together covers of well-known contemporary songs. In his introductory note to the album Robbie Buck, the Triple J radio host, describes the process as "ludicrously simple...offer an artist the chance to pay homage...then sit back and watch the magic unfold." I wouldn't argue the point that magic unfolds - it does, on quite a few of the tracks, but I'd suggest there's a lot more in it than the automatic process he reduces it to. It's interesting the choices the artists make (possibly but not necessarily ode or homage), there's a tension in the interpretation itself, in its distancing or sense of rapport or approximation, and in this context at least, technical considerations are foregrounded - most obviously, vocal range. The Kooks do MGMT (well), Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals do a great version of Under Pressure, and Bob Evans' version of Lily Allen's Not Fair asked me to rethink that song's comments on gender. And the album answered the question of who had done that fantastic version of Berlin Chair - the anonymous one I'd heard one day on the radio on my way to work...It's Holly Throsby.

late october new york