Poetics
Poems are allowed to be and say whatever they like in whatever form that pleases them. New forms, ignoring or elaborating on previous forms is ok, traditional forms are ok. Poems written in smoke on the wind are ok. It is ok to have a poem on the page, on the voice, or in any other medium. Make it mean.
what if i meant war
what if i meant war
just war
what if just
wasn't just
enough
what if the break and shatter
was the thing
the unblessed sliver
of glass underfoot
what if the blood
was red but not enough
what if the sky was shallow
and is what it is
an illusion of blue
what if there were children
who can't tell
milk from blood
what if fires burn you
and the water drowns you
and your lungs fight your own skin
what if all that expunging
is not ever enough
[Assumed rejected from Best Australian Poems because it disappeared into the aether without trace]
this day
you
having been
immortal
all your life
now
learn how to die
it
is hard to know
what is important
words
or loving
words
you have given
yourself to
you
their subject
they want
respect
they
clang empty
without darlings
in truth
you’ve written
for a few
and they are unaware
but
having thrown the ball
you'd hoped for bounce
being
immortal
the wait
could be long
the loving far away
once
horizons did not mean
much
learning to die
you learn this:
the breadth
of the day
its fall and fill
[Heartily ignored by Best Australian Poems]
How to find home
First, when you come to a place,
look to the sky, wonder about that.
Later, make sure to inspect the creeks and rivers.
See how all the waters cut the land
their slopes and irritations.
Are there fish and frogs?
See if the trees and grasses
accept you, caress your shoulders,
cheerfully slap your legs.
Is there silence
in the ploughed paddock
or is there rift shriek and crackle as you walk?
Watch out for roads, after noticing
the other things. Do they ache
or curve towards your Rome?
[Ignored by Best Australian Poems but in a different year]
Seven aspects of shadow
1. First there is locus
without which the shadow
cannot fall.
There is:
1. edge
because without it there is nothing
2. shadow
by virtue of itself
3. stone
because hardness is a virtue
4. water
for mutability as shadows need
5. story
because without story there is no place to be
6. tempo
because the temporal visits always
7. light
because it defines the dark
2. Then self
because it is necessary to have
a viewer to see a shade
and so:
1. head
because this is the presumption
2. joy
because this defines life more than pity
3. glyph
because without a code there is no meaning
4. mutability
because to shift is to define the edges
5. heart
because this is what needs to be understood
6. reflection
as if there is life in water
7. name
to distinguish all that is around the self
3. And intransigent space
for this you need time
and so:
1. interrelation
because without it space does not exist
2. terror
for vastness and scale to measure with
3. vibration
because it is the language of matter
4. infinity
because we do not truly understand the edge
5. pace
because movement and space are the same
6. memory
to relate all things
7. time
because utterly
4. Forgetfulness
because all cannot be recalled
or it would shame us.
Therefore:
1. taste
to remind us that not all can be recalled
2. humour
because it carries an echo in it
3. solitude
because there is no reason to remember
4. sex
because it is better to forget and begin newly
5. ocean
because it cannot forget and reminds us
6. calamity
is remembering all the darkness too
7. blue
because it shelters and protects us in the day
5. And the aspects of pain
because there is much but
it is evanescent though eternal.
So,
1. hearing
because this is the medium of news
2. birth
for the women
3. music
to cry out
4. regard
because to ignore is to be proudly mad
5. wound
because it is evidence
6. space
because it must be located
7. generosity
because the other has impinged
6. And, seven aspects of persons
because we define what we are
and the world
though madly.
1. dimension
because without it we disappear
2. gravity
because this is our home
3. gesture
because to move in time is heartfelt
4. thought
because we cannot do otherwise and we are lonely
5. creation
because we cannot decide
6. silence
to separate us off from our minds
7. pause
hoping to charm away eternal fright
7. And of living things in total
because this is all we know
1. flow
because this seems living to us
2. reason
because we think we can
3. limit
because edges fill space and define it
4. scent
gives shape to the air and so to us
5. sky
because it is not us and is illusory
6. locus
because this is faith, to have a place
7. hum
because all the world trembles
[Newcastle Poetry Prize (what was I thinking – cumulative, no narrative!)]
The gentle book
only exists as a single copy in stitched red felt.
[Much stroked and fondled and adored in the Transparencies exhibition at Word X Image but did not sell]
