Blue Giraffe – Submissions Closing End of Feb

The submission period for Tasmanian poet Peter Macrow’s Blue Giraffe closes at the end of the month.

To submit, simply send 3-5 poems as word doc (old fashioned version, not doc x) to petermacrow@hotmail.com

Aside from verse, Peter also writes powerful haiku, and has done so for quite a few years.  Stay tuned for a review of his latest chapbook ‘Spring Rain.’

a haiku

_

_____________summer night
_____________a red seahorse
_____________in the clouds

_

_

opposite windows

of course the swan
snatches all the grace from our words.
locked in a car
parked
against the walkway,
and staring at dull, black waves as
seaweed colonises sand

the clock winds
down another lunch break
and we’re looking
out opposite windows

mine frames a boy with an ice-cream,
and he’s really happy with it
but his brother watches on
as if missing something.

Karrinyup Writers’ Club 25th Anniversary Poetry & SS Comp 2010

The Karrinyup Writers’ Club Inc is celebrating its 25th Anniversary and we have launched a nation-wide writing competition.  It has two sections – fiction and poetry – with a first prize of $300 in each sections.

For entry forms, contact: Ph: 08 9344 1757 or email: rogans1@bigpond.com

CLOSING DATE: 21ST MAY 2010
CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
Short Story: maximum 2000 words – Open theme.
Poetry: maximum 60 lines – Open theme.

First Prize – both sections $300; Second Prize – both sections $150; Third Prize – both sections $75

Full details

Link-Poem Experiment pt.1

the concerto

opens up the world
and spills a beehive
of colour
into the mind

.

(there should be bit of a theme with the links, at least I certainly tried)

The post below includes some discussion, while over at Alec’s blog is the first of our experiments, and at Mark’s blog is the second (so far!)

hyperlinks in poems: portrait of the artist as a sea pig at dawn

I move slowly
the way I imagine
a sea pig might
move across sand
if there was ever
an upheaval
big enough to heave
one up some one
thousand metres
to the surface
then stickingpink
to everything
the way a new band-aid
collects every scrap
of dust the moment
you drop it.

.

.

Now I’m sure this question has been asked, but it’s too late now for me to trawl around the net and look, as I’m asking it in the next sentence. What do you think about hyperlinks in a poem?

They do bear some likeness to footnotes or ‘in text’ references used in print media, but the internet allows us to go a step further I think. A slightly comical poem like the one above, might benefit from the hyperlink ‘in text’ which then actually becomes part of the poem. For mine, you could probably chuck one in the title too, linking to the James Joyce novel that the name is a (poor) parody of.

Perhaps it could be quite effective when used in the same informative way, but for a poem of  more substance than mine, something with social, emotional or political substance perhaps, like Ferlinghetti’s Tyrannus Nix? for one?

Or would all those hyperlinks just destroy the flow? Would they cement/or close off meanings in a poem?

Would love to hear what you think!

I move slowly

the way I image

a sea pig might

move across sand

if there was ever

an upheaval

big enough to heave

one up some one

thousand metres

to the surface

then sticking

pink to everything

the way a new bandaid

collects every scrap

of dust the moment

you drop it.

Miscellaneous Press – Australian Blog Writing Vol.1

Got a pleasant surprise via e-mail the other day – one of my pieces ‘Capture‘ will be featured in Miscellaneous Press – Australian Blog Writing Vol.1, alongside quality bloggers like Alec Patric, Maxine Clarke and Mark William Jackson to name but three.

Thanks to Karen Andrews & Kim Fleming for such a great idea and for their dedication to blog writing.

Stillness – Audio

Once again the wonderful Jeremy Balius (editor of Black Rider Press) has sent me a link to an audio poem of mine, this is a new one called ‘Stillness.’

stillness – audio

Thank you, Jeremy!

(Once again, crank the volume a little as I didn’t master the recording)

Submit to a Comment Box Poem (again!)

Here’s a link to the details for the first call – and below you can see the finished project.

So for a bit more fun, I thought it’d be good to try another one, and open the second comment box poem

Comment Box Poem #1

at last frost is only an echo,
where a hoary hand
once brushed tombstones
and pinched buds, jasmine
now crosses the yard
(a)

darkness disperses
as God’s curtain parts
a scurrying of shadows
revealing the light
where reflections shine
(c)

but too far.
God’s hand retreats
leaving the vacuity of heavens
exposed for deserted souls to
question
(m)

regret’s futility compared
to constellations constant
ambulations
(p)

caught in a child’s hand,
the whirl of a catseye
tumbling into the drain
winking out
in the black.
(a)

it was always going to end
like this
blacked out
vomit and piss
pulse
pulse
pulse?
(cc)

.

Thanks to everyone who jumped in to the first comment box poem! After a long delay (sorry) here’s the text, though it doesn’t read as smoothly as it could with the links where I’ve put them, I’ll try and adjust it soon.