Friday, March 20, 2009

Australia/New Zealand Mash-Up


I'm still exploring the massive continent of Australia. Fortunately I've had it condensed down to book form in 'Landbrige: Contemporary Australian Poetry' (1999, Freemantl Arts Centre Press) which was kindly lent to me by Chris. It is a fantastic book. I've read/skimmed through about a third of it and almost all the poets in there are interesting/original in their own way. Who knew? So far I particularly like Ken Bolton (who I already know about), Pam Brown (she has that gift or matching disparate images/language) and a prose poet called Joanne Burns who has a interesting style and suprising narrative (if you could call it that). I'm writing these down so I will remember them. The anthology is edited by John Kinsella, so I'm getting a greater sense of respect for him also.

All the poets have an opening section to say what their 'project' is. I can feel their pain. Ken Bolton wrote:
I don't think I have a project, beyond attempting to be interesting...I am also attracted to the aesthetics of the arbitrary and surprise.
Yes! Yes! That is exactly how I feel. The first and foremost responsibility of my work is to those things. I don't really care or even know sometimes what my work is about as long as it is really fucking good. As long as I am excited by reading and writing it.

On that note...I wrote a silly poem today without much direction and perhaps excitement. Maybe I can do a mash-up at some point of it and something to make something more meaningful out of it? 

I've never tried that before I don't think. I probably should. I have plenty of things that will never see the sunlight in their present form. That is not to say they are completely without worth. Who was it who said one of the great delights of poetry is to have to competing ideas/words next to each other and it somehow be true?

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