Monday, April 28, 2008

such a wish


"I suppose I had always hoped that, through an act of will and the effort of practice, I might be someone else, might alter my personality and even my appearance; that I might in fact create myself, but instead I found myself trapped in the very character which made such a thought possible and such a wish mine."

...

"Only fragments are accurate."

- from My Life by Lyn Hejinian.

Friday, April 25, 2008

3WBC


A recording of my readings on local radio station 3WBC is now available for download (as two mp3 files) from here.

To download the files, click on the orange 'DOWNLOAD FILE' buttons at the bottom of the page (you may have to scroll down to see them).

In the first part I read Drive-thru and Vipassana; in the second part I read stem and Self-portrait (with wires, city & no clothes).

Thanks again to host Barry Ponchard for having me on his show, and to Monica for doing such a great job with the recording!



Wednesday, April 23, 2008

radio... live transmission...


I'll be reading some poems on radio this Friday (25th of April), sometime between 12:30 and 1:30pm AEST. I'll be appearing on Barry Ponchard's weekly show on 3WBC, which features upbeat jazz and live readings by local writers.

If you're in Melbourne, set your dial to 94.1FM. Otherwise you can stream the station live at http://www.3wbc.org.au.

For those who miss it, I'll endeavour to get a recording and make it available here.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

rain (2008)


1.
no one takes his leaflets –
why? because it’s raining?

2.
this weather
is a lot of information

3.
tense as glass this morning
as he sits to meditate


4.
subtle sensations of vipassana:
isolated showers

5.
his hand will not destroy
even the smallest creatures

6.
someone jokes
that his hand lacks teeth

7.
his apartment
becomes moths


8.
this rain

is unintentional

9.
naked he stands,
a book in each hand

10.
smiling,
shaping to accept
he enters the rain


Recent gigs


I've been 'coming out of the woodwork' recently, and heading out to a few gigs.

A few weeks back I went along to hear Elizabeth Campbell, Petra White and Claire Gaskin (and others) reading at Fed Square for International Women's Day. That was a treat - they're all excellent poets.

And a couple of weeks ago I went down to the Dan O'Connell on a Saturday afternoon for the first time in... like... years, to celebrate the birthday of Carmen Main, who was also one of the featured poets. By her own admission her poetry has come along in leaps and bounds in recent times, and she's definitely one to watch for the future. I really enjoyed her set, which mainly consisted of love poems that were lyrical but direct (very contemporary). I got in on the open mic, reading apology and I will not carry.

And just two nights ago I was at the Boroondara Soirée, which happens every two months in the Hawthorn Town Hall's art gallery space. Matt Hetherington is the regular MC, and guests on this particular night were musician Ned Collette and the one and only Emilie Zoey Baker, one of Melbourne's very best performance poets. I enjoyed their respective sets, and the open mic threw up a few surprises too. I read Vipassana.

So yeah... I'm planning to head to some more gigs over the coming weeks, so who knows, we may cross paths. Next stop the Spinning Room...

5K


This blog recently clocked up 5000 visitors.


Thanks for reading...!

As always I'll try to keep up my end of the bargain, but I'm struggling to find the time to post/write poems at the moment, what with work and teaching commitments. I might manage a couple more posts today, though.

- Stu