Poetry

Once in a while, I can't sleep. So, I'm up really late at night reading or writing to get myself tired enough to get to sleep. A lot of the time, whatever I write normally is just detail stuff on a book or a poem and it's something that's been bothering me since last week - silly really.

However, there are times I get in and write a poem. I think it's the silence of the unit complex, or the way my brain works when I haven't slept for a few nights. But I kick out a very cool poem or two before I turn out the light.

The problem is that I sometimes I misplace the books I have written the poems in for a few months; and then suddenly find them! And that's always like finding a piece of treasure when that happens, because I sit down and read what I've written from that sleepless night to find I've written either a lovely piece of writing, or something I wouldn't bother showing anyone!

Last night, I was working on my book about books and came up to the part where I wanted to talk about poetry. However, I didn't know how long I've been writing poetry for and had to dig around the office to find it all. Strangely, I've lost a few books. I know they're somewhere around the office; so seeing I don't throw out any of my work (which makes me a paper collector too), I'm sure to find all of my poetry at some point soon. 

So, do you write poetry? If so, what kind of work do you write? I'm a concise poet - a writer of word pictures, small poems which aren't too long, but strongly-worded. These are difficult to achieve, but I do enjoy getting in and doing them when I have the time because they're a challenge. I love to read sonnets, ballads and funny poetry (Pam Ayres is one who makes me laugh). Until my next post, happy reading.

A Little Poetry

I've been writing poetry lately, and reading it as well. So, I thought to collect a few blogs some of you might be interested in here:

Tuesday Poem

Poems and Poetics

The two above are blogs where people have written their hearts and souls out on the screen for everyone to read, love and enjoy. And I've read a few of the poems before posting them here. They're lovely.

The next one is about how and why people write poetry. It goes into the intricacies of that particular way of expressing ourselves and gives us a better understanding of poets - from a few points of view. 

The Music In It 

I know I've done poetry blogs before, but just listing a tonne of them here... but this time, it's about quality, instead of quantity. I hope you've all enjoyed the few I've found here. Happy reading.

Can You Pronounce This Poem?

I spotted this on Facebook and thought this little - err big - poem would be a great challenge for us readers and writers out there who think our English is spot on.

I gave it try and stuffed it up twice... 

A Poem About Pronounciation 

Happy reading.

Favourite Poets

I enjoy poetry.  I enjoy writing it too. The best time to write it - I find - is late at night when I can't sleep.  But sometimes, even then, I can't get any words out.  It's then I begin to think about my favourite poets in the dark there while the rest of the unit complex is sleeping and the stars drift past overhead.
I have a small collection of poetry books.  Some of them I've written myself, while others are of poets who have made themselves famous; but they all vary in differing ways.  From Jim Morrison's two famous books, to Triple J's anthology 'Word Up', I have found that I have loved to collect various and different styles of poetry and verse.  And here's a few titles I have in my collection:

'Wilderness: Volume 1' by Jim Morrison
'The American Night: Volume 2' by Jim Morrison
'The Works' by Pam Ayres
'Some of Me Poetry' by Pam Ayres
'Some More of Me Poetry' by Pam Ayres
'Complete Poems of Edgar Alan Poe'
'Remix: Poems Ancient & Modern' by Ross Clark
'Heart Gifts' from Helen Steiner Rice - First Edition
'Moment to Moment' by Rod McKuen
'Fields of Wonder' by Rod McKuen
'Caught in Quiet' by Rod McKuen

There's some poetry here I've read - like the works of Jim Morrison, Poe and Pam Ayres - and then there's works I haven't - and I do wish to get around to those other books as they sound and look wonderful.  
So, which poetry books do you have in your collections?  And which have you read that aren't in your collections?  I'd love know who influences you in your day-to-day life and which ones are your favourites.  For me, it's got to be Edgar Allan Poe and Wordsworth... yes, the classics for me.  But then, I do love what Jim Morrison had to write; even though he may have destroyed a lot of his work before anyone got to see it.  Until my next post, happy reading.             

Jane Cortez Passes Away

Prominent performance artist and poet, Jane Cortez, has been lost from the literary world just week from hear failure, on 28th, December, aged 78.  I have only just read this on ninemsn.com.au.  So, seeing I don't know too much about her, I'll leave the news link to tell us more.

Jane Cortez 

Jane Cortez and Her Publications 

The Home Festival Scores!

On Saturday, I was out all day at the Home Festival here in Brisbane to show my Altered Book and an artistic view of what my book collection meant to me.  Well, the day went off well!  The weather was perfect with blue skies, the sun out nice and bright and a gorgeous cool sea breeze to keep the whole day from keeping us from getting too hot.

The stalls were varied from organic foods to doing your own screen-printing to second-hand books (which I didn't seen until the end of the day).  But there was a jumble sale near our Pop-Up Museum which I had a look at with my niece, Riley, and I found myself a first edition of a poetry book by Helen Steiner Rice which was printed in 1968; and I paid only $2.00 for it!  What a lovely little book it is!  

And to add to my collection, one of my friends and artists - Doug Cartwright - found a 5-book set of gothic romance for me for $5.00.  He told me that when he saw it he knew it was very much me.  So, he bought it for me.  How cool is that?  I was so happy to see it as I've been eyeing it off at QBD and can't afford the $30 price tag attached to it; and now I've got it for so much less!

I found other things at the jumble sale - but they weren't books - to add to my other collections and they really made my day.  So, what have you found at jumble or garage or yard sales recently that you thought was a great find recently?  Was it found at a big festival - like mine was - or at a local market?  Do tell.  Until my next post, happy reading!

New People

Yesterday, I was at a pool party and I came across new people I hadn't met before.  It's always great to meet new people as you never know when you're going to run into a new writer or poet at these functions.  And this is exactly what happened!  I was introduced to Anna Dean and we chatted about writing and what kinds we do.  I found out she write poetry and she told me about her blog; which I just found this afternoon (as I've only been home an hour or so) and it's lovely.  So, here's the link.  And I'll be adding her to the blog roll as well for you all to keep up-to-date with her work as she updates her blog.

Anna Dean Poetry 

Poetry Prose

Since high school, I've written poetry to get out the bottled up feelings of being trapped as a teenager.  After high school, I found myself writing books; however whenever I finished writing a book, it was poetry I found myself settling back into to relax; whether it was writing it or reading it, it was something I found helped me find the next idea for my next book.

So, for all you poets out there - inspiring poets and lovers of poetic prose - I've thought to find some links to blogs and sites for you to delve into over this time of the year.  

Enjoy!

Poets Who Blog

Blogs by Writers & Poets

Poets.org

Scottish Poets & Authors

Canadian Poets

New European Poets Blog

The Great European Poets

Old Australian Poetry

Modern Australian Poetry

Walks in the Wheat-Fields by Richard Jefferies

A rather thin book which was sent to me through the mail I put off reading it until this time of the year; I thought I'd have more time.  However, I'm busier than ever, and yet still found time to sit in the warm sun out the front of my townhouse and read it.

This thin, old book has been published with the thought in mind where you can take the reader on the journey through anything from the migration of Rooks to their roosting grounds to the woods at twilight.  All these pieces are around fourteen pages long and are in intricate detail; which took me a little while to become accustomed to.  However, once I did, it was like being led by the hand into the writer's imagination and being shown their childhood hiding place. 

'The rustling sound of these thousands upon thousands of wings beating the air with slow steady stroke can hardly be compared to anything else in its weird oppressiveness, so to say:  it is a little like falling water, but may be best likened, perhaps, to a vast invisible broom sweeping the sky.  Every now and then a rook passes with ragged wing - several feathers gone, so that you can see daylight through it; sometimes the feathers are missing from the centre, leaving a great gap, so that it looks as if the bird has large wing on this side and on the other two narrow ones.  There is a rough resemblance between these and torn sails of some of the windmills which have become dark in colour from long exposure to the weather, and have been rent by storms of year.  Rooks can fly with gaps of astonishing size in their wings, and do not seem much incommoded by the loss - caused, doubtless, by a charge of shot in the rook-shooting, or by the small sharp splinters of flint with which the birdkeepers sometimes load their guns, not being allowed to use shot.'

Written in this way, these descriptions are much like paintings and leave a lasting impression on our mind's eye.  The above paragraph was one such part of the 'Rooks Returning to Roost' which stuck in my mind personally as I hadn't read this kind of book before. 

'Walks in the Wheat-Fields' has short descriptive prose originally written in the late 1800's.  If you're not into heavy description - without dialogue or plot - this may not be the book for you.  However thin this book may it, it is full of brilliant work of a great, fertile mind and he put his imagination to work in the best possible ways.  Well worth a read if you do find a copy. 

The Monkey's Mask by Dorothy Porter

There's been a murder of a young uni student.  She's a poet and her work spoke volumes about where her mind was at when it all went down.  Jill, the private detective Mickey's parents hired is down to earth, patient woman who sifts through the evidence the police seem to glean over as a school-girl crush.  During the investigation, things get strange as Jill becomes involved with Mickey's mother, Diane, and gets her nose into police files from other people she works with.  As time goes on, she begins to receive creepy phone messages on her answering machine spoken in a poetic way and the affair with Diane begins to wane.  However, this whole thing isn't over as Mickey's teacher - her mentor - is killed in a horrific car crash near Jill's home.  now she's a suspect (which doesn't last very long).  Just who killed Mickey?  In the most poetic and suspenseful book I've read in a long time, find out in 'The Monkey's Mask'.

I love reading this kind of book.  It got its hooks into me immediately and wouldn't let go; and I couldn't wait to get back to reading it when it came time to read again.  I loved this book in the wonderful way.  I will most definitely have to read more of Dorothy Porter's work.  This book is lesbian fiction; however, it's beautiful and sexy as well as gritty and gripping to the last poem.  Very much worth a read.

Dorothy Porter is one of Australia's most prominent authors and poets.  She wrote many collections and books over her fifty-four years and won The Book Age of the Year Award, Miles Franklin Award and the Christopher Brennan Award.  Dorothy was born in Sydney, Australia and passed away in 2008 in Melbourne of breast cancer.  I'm unable to find an official website for her; and so I'll still keep on looking for you to put onto the sidebar.   

The American Night - Volume 2 by Jim Morrison

The second book of Jim Morrison's poetry, lyrics and his Paris journal, this is another must-have for all those who have been following this legendary song-writer's life. I received this book along with the first one ('Wilderness') from a friends in the States; and I haven't parted with them. This one and the first have often given me pause to reflect on exactly what kind of person James Douglas Morrison was when he was alive; as I was born a few years after his untimely death.

Jim Morrison's life was varied and full - even though he lived to be only 27 years of age and died in Paris. 'The Doors' were his band and there was a lot of history between the guys he worked with. Danny Sugarman wrote a book called 'The Doors - Illustrated' and I have found this large book full of information, photographs, interviews and chronologically informative from beginning to the end of one of the most interesting lives I've ever come across. A lot of song-writers have poetry books, however, Jim Morrison's poetry will live on forever; just like his legendary voice and music with 'The Doors'.

Wilderness - The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison: Volume 1

I received this book from a penpal in the States years ago and have read parts of it over the years when I felt like grabbing some inspirational ideas to start off to start off my own work. This first book of Jim Morrison's works covers poetry between 1966 - 1970, places he's been, The Village Tapes and an index of first lines to poems. It's impressively written in his style with hand-written work across the page from typed-up material of the same poem (I think the publisher just wanted to show what his handwriting looked like) and photographs of the Lizard King himself.

Born 8th, December, 1943, Jim Morrison took on the Bohemian lifestyle and lived and slept where he could while attending UCLA as he was literally homeless. Jim was a voracious reader of books, he started a rock band with fellow student Ray Manzarek after he graduated they dubbed 'The Doors'. Their rock'n'roll music took on the world with their songs topping the charts. His lifestyle leaned on mysticism while engaging in drugs, alcohol and bizarre behavior leading to many legal confrontations with the law. However, Jim Morrison's health was in decline by his early 20's; so he took off to Paris with his long-time girlfriend. Jim Morrison (The Lizard King) died in Paris, France, on 3rd, July 1971 from a drug overdose and is now buried in the Famous Le Pere Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris; where it stood without a headstone for many years until the Paris government placed one there. It has been vandalised and been replaced a few times and now has night lighting and night guards with dogs present all the time. From what I've read on other sites about it, Jim's grave will soon be moved from its present site but I'm not sure where.

Word Up by Various Authors

This is an anthology of Australian poetry by young and upcoming poets from all over this great brown country of ours. And it was the brilliant idea of an off-beat radio station in the early 1990's to get us to put pen to paper; unless we were already doing that and we needed help getting noticed. Triple J is a radio station on the FM band that is run by the Australian Broadcasting Commission that plays new and upcoming bands and unearths new talent to bring them into the spotlight of the public eye. This book was what they were trying to do with poetry as well. I sent in some of my work to be included, however it wasn't accepted.

I bought this book as a contributor to it and was only a little disappointed to find that my work wasn't included. But the work that was is absolutely cool, amazing and brilliantly funny and colourful too! Go out and find this book. I bought mine at 'The ABC Shop' in Brisbane City; however, you're probably best to find this particular copy online.

Triple J started out in Sydney as 2JJ - or Double J in the mid-1970's. Since then, it's been unearthing new talent and bringing brilliant and pumping music to its listeners without fail. In my 20's I was an avid listener for some time and found that they were always up for new things. When some of my favourite announcers left, I changed stations, but I do sometimes have a listen to see what they're up to. Triple J is on the FM band of 107.7 and has lasted the test of time - as well as the generation gap.