Some scenes from Andrew's Autobiography (first drafts all)
The opening scene is an Australian soldier, 1943, in the thick and steamy jungles of New Guinea, in a clearing, in a jeep with two fuzzy-wuzzies, as he called them, with him. You can’t see it in this photo but he is wearing long shorts. You can see an open army fatigue shirt, a rifle slung slantwise over his shoulder, a .303 most probably, maybe – although it isn’t likely – the rifle I learnt to

Old Singer Sewing Machine - by Max Richards
This snap of an old black one is handsome,but Mother's was prettier, with flowers -my hands touched her feet working the treadledriving the big lower wheel turningwith its loop, a thin strip of leather,sending its turning up to the small wheel.Singer, I'd say to myself, while the musicalhum of it speeded up then slowed.The shiny flat rectangle the needle entered,that slid open and shut - under

'Taxidermy' by AMANDA JOY
I can hold my tongue/ and thenwe make so much use of rocks/ and then who first thought to break them down into their elements / when did we start tothink we are stardustsequence of events/ and thenwhat can be made from a heartwithout a body or vice versa/ and then / when I asked you to take my placeyou asked if I was here to stay I wasn’t sure if I was forgotten

Winter Trees Cough Like Old Men
Winter trees cough like old menabout death's white nightmareswhile the rain talks in Latin.They cough about the sobbing tragicash, they bind valises for leaving,they darken—and in the chillof frost from the sun, the lungsbristle to see coffins hiddenin the dry capes of kings.Eugenio Montejotranslated from the Spanish by Kirk NessetThe Paris ReviewFall 2008Tune in to http://poems.com/ for a poem a

2009 Spilt Ink OOTA Poetry Competition - Short List
I had the privilege recently to judge the OOTA 2009 Poetry Competition, named Split Ink. Here is the short list of finalists from which three prize winners have been selected and will be announced at a Gala Evening on Thursday, November 12th, at X-Wray Cafe, Essex Street, Fremantle. Congratulations to the following poets -Annamaria Weldon- Light and dark flow togetherCecily Scutt - Laboratory