A Journal of Australian & International Cultural Reviews, News and Criticism.
In the writing, poems swirl, hiccup, rove, lose beginnings, endings, words morph to new words, and sometimes the whole thing is shelved. But eventually, if a poem wants to land, it lands. A poem is finished, they say, when it could only be your poem and these poems with their ampersands could only be Chris’s.
If I could sit here and just read every poem in this anthology to you, I would. The work in these pages is brilliant, heartbreaking, nourishing, tender, wise, funny, philosophical and they explore vast worlds
Michael Witts was born in Wales and now lives in Sydney. He has been publishing poetry since the early 1970s. He was a founding editor of DODO magazine and the Fling poetry series. His three volumes of poetry are Sirens, South and Dumb Music.
kerry rawlinson is a mental nomad. She left Zambia decades ago to explore and landed in Canada. Fast forward: she’s still barefoot, tiptoeing through dislocation & belonging. Awards: Glittery Literary and Edinburgh International flash contest winner; notable poem Best Canadian Poetry; Pushcart nomination; Honorable mention Proverse Press & Fish Poetry contests; finalist for others, e.g. Canterbury Festival; Room; Poetry Society and Palette. Recent work in Prism Review; Duality; Pedestal; O:JA&L; Grain; Epoch; Event Poetry; Prairie Fire, and more. When not challenging established norms, kerry kayaks and drinks too much (tea).
No poet appears out of context, in fact, most poets write in response to or against the many poets who have come before them, as well as the poets that they may share a connection with in contemporary. Johnson’s poetry is no different, in the sense that her eco-poetics and position as a writer keenly aware of the power and fragility of the natural world is borne out of her close reading of other poets and writers.
And to Ecstasy satisfies a standard I have for good poetry, which may not be unique to me. This is that it should encourage, and sustain, re-reading. I don’t tend to come to novels with the expectation that they hold my interest so well – word by word, and line by line – that I need to re-read every one. But I want poetry to resist my initial attempts at grasping it
With poetry of cinematic quality, the poet tells the story of Rebecca Lieberman who was only fourteen with not much life experience or schooling, but she had strength of character and a skill, she knew how to read the fortune in tea leaves. A skill that helped her to survive.
It is a sad, but very special honour to be launching this beautiful Flying Islands book: Jill McKeowen’s posthumously published first collection of poetry, Sunday Morning, Here.
Boyd McMillan makes artworks in drawing, painting and sculpture with a focus on the landscape and its elements. The work is often the result or the development of drawing on site and it may grow from ink drawing to acrylic on canvas or to metal and acrylic sculpture.
Rochford Street Review 