ode to vegemite - becca kellaway

Becca Kellaway actually lives in Melbourne at the moment. But she rocked Sappho Books a couple of weeks ago and here is a suitably nationalistic number for youse all...


Ode To Vegemite
A tribute to Keats

O! Vegemite.
That molten onyx,
Oozing over the rough
Crumbling toast.
As my stainèd teeth
Rip into your skin,
As my blackened tongue
Pierces your sticky centre.
O! Vegemite.
Oh, oh Vegemite.
As peristalsis
Takes its tangy toll.
As you slither down my oesophagus,
Whole.
O! Vegemite.
O! Sweet choking Vegemite.
Soothe the acids of my gut.
Writhe inside my big fat pot.
O! Vegemite
O! Vegemite.

Photo souce: misscaro

poetry of politics

Friday September 28: 'Poetry of Politics' session @ Politics In The Pub from 7pm (time TBC) on Friday 28th September, The Gaelic Club, Devonshire Street Surry Hills.

live poets society - kate maclurcan & ben ezra - sept 26

Wednesday September 26: Live Poets Society Reading: Guests KATE MACLURCAN (singer/songwriter), and Poet-musician in Hip-Hop and Spoken Word BEN EZRA, with Open Section. Readings the fourth Wednesday of the month at the Don Bank Museum North Sydney, 7.30 - 10.30pm. $7 admission includes supper and drinks. Details, 9896 6956 or 0422 263 373 or dannylivepoets@yahoo.com.au

brett whitely gallery - rob riel - sept 23

September 23: Brett Whiteley Studio Reading: Rob Riel, poet, editor, publisher (Picaro Press), and readings from the Scanlon Prize for Indigenous Poetry winner.

Readings fourth Sunday of the month from 2pm, 2 Raper Street Surry Hills. Free entry. Guest Poet and Open Mic. Enquiries Brook Emery 0410 406 149

sept 9th - poetry reading @ friend in hand

September 9 Sunday Reading: 2 - 6pm: Friend In Hand Pub, Glebe: As part of National Poetry Week: Readings by Philip Hammiel, Pam Brown, Angela Stretch, Ivy Ireland, Nick Powell.

sappho books / pulp - kate fagan - sept 12

Poetry UnLimited Press (PULP) is delighted to invite you and your friends to our next Poetry Reading:
Wednesday September 12 *
7pm - 9pm
Sappho Books & Cafe
51 Glebe Pt Road
Glebe
Ph 9552 4498

This month's Guest Poet Kate Fagan is a Sydney writer, editor and musician whose work includes The Long Moment (Salt UK 2002), the chapbooks return to a new physics (Vagabond 2002) and Thought’s Kilometre (Tolling Elves 2003), and the upcoming CD of readings Cellular Time (Stem Recordings, UK). Kate edited US online journal How2 (2002-2006; ) and wrote her PhD thesis on US poet Lyn Hejinian. Her debut solo album Diamond Wheel (2006) was co-produced with country/bluegrass veteran Rod McCormack and won the 2006 National Film & Sound Archive Award for Best Folk Album.

Don't forget - after the Guest Poet's Reading, you get a turn to read your own poetry in our Open Mic Competition, in front of a supportive poetry-loving audience.

(* The $2 entry fee includes a raffle ticket).

tender muse - 22 september

Grief is the connecting tissue...

...Elegies for friends, lovers and those who have become strangers

tender muse by Shé Hawke and Carolyn van Langenberg

will be launched by Anna Gibbs at
The Feminist Bookshop
Shop 9
Orange Grove Plaza
Balmain Road
LilyfieldSaturday

22 September - 4.00 for 4.30pm

RSVP: The Feminist Bookshop
email Gail
Ph: 02 9810 2666
Fax: 02 9818 5745

Published by Picaro Press

WordinHand! - Tuesday September 4th

International Poetry Slam - Sunday 2nd Sept

Tuesday 21st August: Word Jammin'

this ain't no spelling B!
this ain't no competition!

this month we're keyed up for a Sydney poet who embellishes the conventions of poetry through video poems and performance. a poet who merges various forms of music in hip-hop and jazz to enhance her poetry. the mix is challenging and hypnotic. we'll be tapping our fingers to: LULL... to find out more tap on her name

also on the page is another poet who blends poetry and music MUSA
Musicians this month include: Ashley Chatto on guitar and piano, Marc Van Voornun on guitar, Ben Eadie on drums and Regatz on tenor saxophone

WJ #4 has been type-set
are you in line this time?
+ open mic
Bar Me 154 Brougham Street, (cnr of William Street), Kings Cross
drs open 7.30pm Tue, 21 August 2007
$10.00 - $20.00 pizza meal deal
for more info please contact angela stretch mobile: 0434 898 578, eme: info@wordjammin.com
this event is promoted by word of mouth, lashings of jam, cream and sticky spoken speak.

Wednesday August 22 Live Poets Society Reading: 'Yesterday's Warning'

Wednesday August 22nd

Live Poets' Society presents YESTERDAY'S WARNING: Poets and musicians responding to Climate Change +Global Warming, featuring singer/guitarist Paul Buckberry - at Don Bank, 6 Napier St North Sydney.

Calling all poets and miusicians to have your say! We've heard plenty from scientists, environmentalits, sceptics, 'flat earth'ers, fossil-fuel floggers, businessmen, Hollywood and the Rock Archive Firmament, not to mention Tim Flannery and the odd politician. Now is the time for The Artist to make a contribution!

Doors open 7.30 pm and $7 admission includes supper and liquid refreshment.
Please bring a copy of your poem/song - the night will be recorded for possible cd/book release.
Any further details: Danny Gardner 9896 6956 or 0422 263 373 or dannylivepoets@yahoo.com.au

embassies - matthew da silva

Another poem / image combo - this time from Matthew Da Silva - enjoy...

Embassies

Of light are the stars of frogs
Where street vendors
Release their pigeons, and dust
Has its time in among the follicles.
We keep one side to the light and one
We keep neglected lest the ghosts realise
That beyond the dark tree
Lies just a convenience store.


(Image: Matthew Da Silva - click to see full-size)

last ferry - carol jenkins

Carol Jenkins has provided both poem and image for us today.

Last Ferry

Late, inside this windowed room, the moon gone,
the Lady Wakehurst contends with each reflected
beam of light – the glass widows of bulbs
thrown about the dark, and like a ballroom
swaying from drink and dance, each of her
lit windows, arrive, aligned and shipshape,
suspended, see-sawing above the table,
as she travels the triangle between
this room, Manly and the Quay

(Image: Carol Jenkins - click to enlarge)

desire - michelle cahill

Michelle Cahill's debut anthology The Accidental Cage was published at the end of 2006. Many thanks to Michelle for this evocative item.

Desire

The leafless arms of coral trees
leave their blood orange claws raw
like spring sculptures in copper wire.
Black swans simmer on the marsh lake.
When I touch you it rains desire.
Cats walking the street at night.
Your scent petals yield like broken
wisteria scattering their promise.

This poem first appeared in ‘four W’

Photo source: Max East

Poetry Without Borders

Poetry Without Borders

National Poetry Week Event

Sunday 2 September

Be part of a poetry reading with Chris Wallace Crabbe, Ouyang Yu, Judith Beveridge and Boey Kim Cheng Poetry Without Borders reading celebrates our cultural diversity during National Poetry Week. The proposed date will be 2/9/07 at 1.30 for 2pm and the venue will Customs House Library. If you feel inspired by this theme send us your expressions of interest. We are looking for another 5 poets or so to complete the line-up. Submit 3-5 poems with a short bio to the Poets Union, PO Box 91 Balmain NSW 2041 or email to poetsunion@optusnet.com.au by August 10 Please include all contact details including your email address.

This event is sponsored by:

Poets Union
Mascara Poetry Zine
City of Sydney

walking a desert track - danny gardner

Danny Gardner from Live Poets Society has taken time out from fixing his Norton and provided us with this little gem:

Walking a Desert Track

You hear voices...from the birds...
the movement of the smallest plants,
the wind through different delicate
textures of leaves;
the exaggerated eye of sky...
You hear voices. Do you hear voices?
Or are you just making up your own anew -
walking though time before language.

(c) Danny Gardner



Photo Source: Ti.mo

Who cares most about Sydney poetry?

So Google Analytics tells me that most of our site visitors come from...

Melbourne

specks - james campbell

James Campbell can be identified at Sydney poetry readings by his ever-present beenie hat. This is an excerpt of a poem that is almost certain to get us banned by filtering software up and down the land.

From Specks by James Campbell

If you’re a speck why you’ll feel fine,
for we’ve no need to prove to anyone
How fucking great we are,
no legend in a lifetime,
cos specks don’t have expectations,
We just enjoy the view,
and snuggle up against another speck,
Together we might be a nug of gold,
or then again,
a lump of shite.

Or maybe I’d be a speck of cum upon her breast,
now that’s my idea of heaven,
She’d touch me to excite herself,
I’d hear her moaning, fingers roaming
Down beyond where I could see,
shit I’d be aching,
and she’d be sweating,
Me, your little speck,
I’d go wherever,
do whatever,
baby

Photo Source: bikeracer

ten things to wear forever - bill tibben

So our first actual poem on the blog is by the charismatic & beautiful Bill Tibben and it's short & sweet (just the way we like them round here).

ten things to wear forever

( a ‘meditation’ on the
front cover splash
of a fashion magazine )

the front cover
of the fashion magazine
blared a feature article
‘ten things to wear forever’

… what might mine be?

my skin
my scars
my breeding
and civility
my sins
my innocence
my fears
and confidences
my wrinkles
and my ring

Photo source: CWalker

Brett Whiteley Studio Reading: Marcella Polain

August 26th Brett Whiteley Studio Reading: Marcella Polain, poetry editor of Westerly, winner of the Anne Elder Award.

Readings held fourth Sunday of the month from 2pm, 2 Raper Street Surry Hills. $7/$5 concession for featured Guest and Open Mic. Enquiries Brook Emery 0410 406 149.