pied hill prawns

Month of Poetry – Smoko

piedhillprawns — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:17:14 +0000

I have been participating in writing a poem a day for the month of January and so far have only missed yesterday due to a heavy schedule of work. Here is one of the poems from last week.

Smoko

$1.50 and no line at the vending
machine. He holds $3.20 and a funny
line to try on the denim skirt
who drives the smoko van.

From out of the lunch room
in the warehouse, “Who punched
my bus-kits?”
“Just hair brew!”

Under a shade cloth
a weld of cheese is squeezed,
drips from stained hands
on to overalls
that used to be navy blue.

Silver hair unfolds
a white salad
sandwich, bows
his head, the same
smile he wears every day
for the last thirty years.

Month of Poetry #5 – haiku

piedhillprawns — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:47:09 +0000

white petal guppies take a look

Watch Daddy watch – MoP#4

piedhillprawns — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:55:18 +0000

Watch Daddy watch
Each stone is a badge,
selected for smoothness,

its ability to belly skip,
hop when it ought to sink
though the side arm

technique and flick
off the finger
is a stretch

beyond their looped
plop. No, not like that, watch this one
watch this one Daddy.

MoP #3

piedhillprawns — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:20:16 +0000

I don’t mean
to alarm
everyone without
good cause
but the diary
I bought and used
all last year (accurate
every day) ends
this Sunday.

Now the pallet’s gone

piedhillprawns — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:26:21 +0000

I drive through low areas
and ask for reminders of last
year; the string line

lick on the concrete wall,
acacias point wildly at the sky,
in the frame of a power line tower

a pallet’s splintered fingers
hold a galvanised beam. Australian
hardwood fixed with four inch nails, lifted

last January by a swollen river. CHEP?
LOSCAM? Its name painted over
in Oxley Creek brown. Maybe Brisbane

Market Corporation were forced
to take it down, or the Museum
wanted a souvenir, maybe a local

needed the
$20 deposit
you get when you return them.

Resolutions

piedhillprawns — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 03:04:54 +0000

Humpty Dumpty sat on a couch
in the cafe, last day of the year, in a slouch.
He ordered his usual coffee and toast
Tomorrow! I’ll sit on a wall or a post.

Happy New Years everyone!
I’m participating in Month of Poetry and hope to write a poem a day for the month of January so check back often to see if they get better or if I fall off the wall.

Daisy haiku

piedhillprawns — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:18:24 +0000

the bees buzz buzily
I wonder if they’re making honey
for me

My niece has been reading my haiku and decided to have a crack at it herself. She is 9 years old and lives in northern NSW.

up, take a breath and down again, kick!
gliding through the water

dragon-fly dances
the flowers giggle

Cool ku Daisy.

ginko – a haiku walk

piedhillprawns — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:44:08 +0000

walking in thongs
along the track
every stick slithers

For the months of October and November I’ve been writing haiku with a group of poets in different locations in Brisbane. Here’s a few of mine and a link to some of the other ku by the group.

longevity bench
the old man
smokes a packet

white stains
by the ice cream stall
sacred ibis

Here are the links to some of the ginko haiku over at Another Lost Shark. Kurilpa Bridge City Botanic Gardens Brunswick St Southbank Mt Gravatt Mountain

Stuff going on (and a fishing poem)

piedhillprawns — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 11:50:17 +0000

clouds swirl
the brisbane eye turns
with the tide

I’ve been a Pied Hill Prawn. Not all business, some pleasure, and holidays. More on that later. Speedpoet’s went well. I think. I wasn’t in the audience so hard to say. I had a ball anyway. It was fun reading my poems and the haiku/senryu set with Sheish was sweet. Sheish played harmonica between each ku. A cleansing of the palate between images. Loved it. Thanks for those who came out especially to support and there were those Speedpoet’s regulars in the audience who were very encouraging. Cheers.

I’ve been participating in Ginko walks for the past few Sundays. It’s put on by the Queensland Writers Centre and lead by haiku poet Graham Nunn of Another Lost Shark. Check out this link to the group’s haiku from Kurilpa Bridge. Hop around Graham’s recent posts to see some anxious poetry about waiting for their baby to decide to head out.

Here is a poem from my recent time with the family down at the Tweed Coast.

Fishing
(with children)

The car park is a long piece of gravel
feet are light and the nylon line

must be cast for them. Patience catches
nothing half way through a tide

that encouraging nibble
would be nice. Their fish is given up

for casting stones into the river. Heavy
sinkers are found at the bottom

of the box. Another hour of biting
complaints and the car park is a long piece of gravel.

Speedpoets November 6th

piedhillprawns — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:49:54 +0000

This Sunday 6th November I’ll be performing at Speedpoets as a feature poet. Yeeewww! The always encouraging Graham Nunn of Another Lost Shark gave me an invitation and I’m really excited about stepping up to read a handful of my poems. It’ll be the longest set I’ve performed. I’ll also be reading haiku and senryu as part of the set (with a little harmonica help on the side from Sheish Money). Can’t wait!

Also performing on Sunday is The Stress of Leisure with an old friend Pascal Burton (poet, artist, musician) and Ian from their recent residency at the Brisbane Powerhouse, AND a new friend (who for some reason insists on calling me Dustin) Michael Cohen who is the other local feature poet performing his humorous poetry.

There is also the open mic, free zines, entry is a gold coin so hope to see you there for the final Speedpoets for 2011 at Brew, Lower Burnett Lane, Brisbane City 2pm.

Finally a ku:

quiet all year until now
jacarandas

purple envy

piedhillprawns — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:13:57 +0000

purple envy
for the neighbour’s tree
good sake though

jacaranda haiga

piedhillprawns — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 01:30:08 +0000

my japanese friend…

why you do not celebrate

the jacaranda?

I’m really excited, on Sunday afternoon I’ll be joining some friends under a backyard jacaranda with a few drinks to celebrate these few weeks of bloom before they litter the streets with purple muck mulch. I think there will be some Sake there too, just to link it to the cherry blossom festival. Yewww!

Salt

piedhillprawns — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:54:46 +0000

I lean on a pandanus
they kept as a souvenir

the boys
drive cars
in wet sand.

Before kids,

before rendered blocks
and squared lilly pillys,
the beach

and the road

700 metres
of casuarina, pandanus,
acacia and swamp weed.

Tonka truck labyrinth
thinned crowds
to just mates

and girlfriends. Surf
A-frames, sit
around night fires

behind the dunes
out of sight.

Visiting Gabrielle Bryden

piedhillprawns — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:56:03 +0000

Gabrielle Bryden invited her readers to send a poem in for National Poetry Week last week. Here’s the link to my piece ‘In need of a poem‘ and check out the other poems over there – a diverse bunch of work. Very enjoyable reading.

To the Avocado Who Swam the Good Fight

piedhillprawns — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 07:06:18 +0000

While sleeping, the river
crept into Rocklea
entered cucumber coldrooms
and banana gas chambers.

A waterproof Haas treading
the warehouse swamp for days
kept its head up like an instinct
sensing rest in an elbow of steel racking.

4000psi shuddering skeletons
a billion bees drumming the rest
of life to silence.

Through mist, dank light
a cold room wall
brought back to bone.

4000psi shuddering steel racking
stripped of pallets, flesh
of fruit and vegies steaming
in a pile of January sun.

Another avocado trapped above
my head, the forgotten dead
hanging just below high tide.

4000psi shuddering
this hanger back to 4 deg
in a few days, filling
with new fruit.

This is the poem I read at the Ekka and at the open mic at QPF recently. Let me know what you think. I’m still not completely settled on it. Happy National Poetry Week to all.

Queensland Poetry Festival – Spoken In One Strange Word

piedhillprawns — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:29:34 +0000

My head is still buzzing with their words. Cracking poets (and musicians) graced the stages of the Judith Wright Centre over last weekend. Here are a few of my highlights. Before I do, this is my 100th post, which is some kind of milestone and also means I’m a bit irregular at blogging but the QPF marks 1 year since I ran into the poetry community here in Brisbane. I’ve met amazing poets, ridden a steep learning curve about all things poetry and it felt like a bit of a celebration to read one of my poems at the Ekka recently. I also read at the open mic event at QPF last Sunday. Stoked is this Pied Hill Prawns. Anyway (some of) my highlights:

Max Ryan -It was great to see Max again and here him read from his work. I particularly enjoy Journey of The Beatles fan about a trip down to Sydney to see JohnPaulGeorgeRingo. Everytime I hear it I’m on that bus with all the anticipation. Check out an interview with Max over at Another Lost Shark

Aidan Coleman’s sharp images had me frozen in my chair and wanting to jump up and yell ‘Yeah!’ at the same time. He read some pieces from his first book Avenues and Runways and work from his new book Asymmetry to be released next year. The new work covers a particularly heavy period in life when Aidan had a stroke. One poem that stood out (and I hope I have the title correct) was A prayer for my right hand. I can’t wait for the release of Asymmetry. There is also an interview with Aidan over at Another Lost Shark – well worth the read and a good place to look out for Asymmetry.

It was great to meet Ashley Capes after some online contact over the past year. I really enjoyed him reading some of his haiku which just so happens to be on video over at his blog – check it out: Ashley Capes

Sawako Nakayasu wowed us with hamburgers and ant poems. Yes ant poems. Here’s a youtube reading of two ant poems. I hope she records some more or releases a cd with her book coming out soon.

There are so many other poet’s work I have bouncing around in my head including the political poems of Australian poet in residence Sandra Thibodeaux, Qld’s poet in residence Jacob Polley (loved hearing him read Smoke) and WA poet and celloist Kevin Gillam. I will never forget an impromptu performance by Marissa Allen and Kevin playing violin and cello to finish off Marissa’s reading.

I’ll post the poem I read at the Ekka and open mic soon. A flood poem I’ve taken some time to work on since January. In the mean time I have plenty of purchased poetry from the event I need to attend to. Cheers QPF

haiku

piedhillprawns — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:07:48 +0000

grevilleas
silent
a branch still shakes

digging up the street – senryu

piedhillprawns — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:56:00 +0000

digging up the street
yellow shovels
in the sandpit

an hour after patting down the earth

piedhillprawns — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:14:09 +0000

Trains on the floor of your room
it would have found you, brushed
itself against your leg, plopped
down in the middle of the track.

‘Mi-Yeow alive Daddy?’

You button your lip
hold deep breaths in your belly
and stare at the memory
of a bag in the ground.

Twenty minutes
on my lap
you hold back

my explanations. Look up
occasionally, ask my eyes for
a change in the situation.

Until Mummy walks in
and your whirring little mind
lets your heart burst
all your sadness.

Ladybird Apples

piedhillprawns — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 05:53:25 +0000

How should you ask?
Apple please Daddy
Hand a Royal Gala
from the fridge.
No Ladybird, Ladybird!

Do you mean Pink Lady?
Yup.
Snatch
Thank you

Tiggy Johnson has set me a challenge to write some children pieces. I don’t know if this is poetry but I couldn’t help write it.