22 September 2009

Go wandering with JAAM 27

This isn't a real blog post - this is just to say that JAAM 27, gorgeous thing that it is, is in the process of being released to the world. And you can read more about it in the media release I just posted over on the JAAM website: http://jaam.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/go-wandering-with-jaam-27/.

12 September 2009

I read at the Poetry Society

And, this is my 200th post, so I wanted to do something a bit special with it – which is to announce that I’m going to be the guest reader at the October meeting of the Poetry Society! I’m very excited about this and I hope you will be able to come.

It's going to be on Monday 19 October, 7.30 pm, upstairs at The Thistle Inn, 3 Mulgrave St.

I’m going to read a mixture of new stuff and poems from My Iron Spine. All going well, I'm going to spice it up a bit with a little bit of multi-media, as I did at the reading I did in Palmerston North in May.

This will be the second time I've been a guest reader at the Poetry Society. The first time was long, long ago - more than a decade ago - when I was guest reader with Ingrid Horrocks and Paul Wolffram. We were new, young poets. It was very exciting to have people take us seriously. But then, I'm always excited to be taken seriously.

Lewis Scott at Poetry Society

African-American-New-Zealand jazz poet L E Scott is the guest reader at this month's poetry society meeting. He's always a great performer.

Monday 21 September, 7.30pm
Upstairs at The Thistle Inn, 3 Mulgrave Street

The meeting will open, as always, with an open mic. Entry: $2.

02 September 2009

Stuff to know about: Fantastic Voyages - Writing Speculative Fiction

And the next night you could go to:
That's probably all the info you need to know, but there's more here on Tim Jones's blog: http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com/2009/08/fantastic-voyages-writing-speculative.html

Stuff to know about: Blackmail Press 25 and Wellington launch

Blackmail Press 25: The Rebel Issue, edited by Sarah Barnett and Bill Nelson, went live today. I'm fortunate enough to have had a couple of poems selected: 'The happiness of Mary Shelley' and 'Jesus Christ, Saviour'.

Mary Shelley was a bit of a rebel, especially in her younger days. I wrote this poem for My Iron Spine, and it was in there until the very last, when I decided it wasn't quite right and that the book would benefit from being a bit shorter. It was a hard decision, as I'm very fond of it. I'm glad it's found a home, and I hope I'll find a collection for it to fit into some time.

'Jesus Christ, Saviour' is actually about the actor Klaus Kinski rather than Jesus Christ himself, though both were rebels in their own ways. It's my response to watching a documentary of Klaus Kinski doing his performance peice called 'Jesus Christ, Saviour' in 1971 - it was pretty intense and pretty amazing.

I'm delighted to be in the issue with many fabulous folks, including Harvey Molloy, (with his poem 'Closer' - I've seen an earlier version of this, and I really think Harvey has nailed it with this version), Siobhan Harvey, Kate Camp, Janet Freegard and many others. Special mention goes to Marcel Currin, whose two short prose peices had me shreiking with laughter on my quick nose through.

And, as promised in the title, Harvey Molloy organised a Wellington launch for Blackmail Press 25. Details below:

01 September 2009

Stuff to know about: Enamel submissions close soon

Submissions for the second issue of Enamel close at the end of September.

I'm sure that, like me, you'll submit only just before the deadline. Check out the submission guidelines here: http://enamelmag.blogspot.com/2009/03/submission-guidelines.html.

The first issue was lovely - definitely the best-looking first issue of a literary mag I ever saw. I'm looking forward to the second already.

Stuff to know about: Poets for Princess Ashika

Poets for Princess Ashika: Love, Loss and the Sea

Fundraiser for the victims of the Princess Ashika Ferry Disaster in Tonga featuring Poets Karlo Mila, Apirana Taylor, David Geary and Glenn Colquhoun, and Te Roopu Kapa Haka o Paekakariki

2 pm Saturday, 5 September at Paekakariki Memorial Hall, The Parade (next to Campbell Park),

Koha entry. Afternoon tea. Bring some biccies if you can! Gold coin raffle.

For more info: http://nzlive.com/en/nzlivecom/poets-for-princess-ashika-love-loss-and-the-sea