Michael Farrell

Michael Farrell reviews 'Near Believing: Selected monologues and narratives 1967–2021' by Alan Wearne

November 2022, no. 448 • 25 October 2022

The near-religious title of Alan Wearne’s new selection of poems, Near Believing, gives an impression of bathos and deprecation, while nevertheless undermining structures of belief, as represented in the book; at times this belief is explicitly Christian, but can also be seen more generally as belief in others, or in the suburban way of life. It is, then, while modest-seeming, highly ambitious ... (read more)

Michael Farrell reviews 'Near Believing: Selected monologues and narratives 1967–2021' by Alan Wearne

Online Exclusives • 29 September 2022

The near-religious title of Alan Wearne’s new selection of poems, Near Believing, gives an impression of bathos and deprecation, while nevertheless undermining structures of belief, as represented in the book; at times this belief is explicitly Christian, but can also be seen more generally as belief in others, or in the suburban way of life. It is, then, while modest-seeming, highly ambitious ... (read more)

'dream aboriginal family at buckingham palace', a poem by Michael Farrell

March 2010, no. 319 • 12 August 2022

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‘“Is You Is …” V “Passionfruit”’, a poem by Michael Farrell

December 2021, no. 438 • 24 November 2021

We bring the horses back to their own fields because we likeTo see them among purple hay as if they signify black seedsA hoof can break any kind of feeling along a dramatic stretchThe gate is where I go to then proclaim my woes to his streetAnd ask him pointed questions like I’m in the Roman SenateImagine me among the morning glory wretched ’n’ botheredBut I should listen to my cornflake box ... (read more)

Michael Farrell reviews 'Shorter Lives' by John A. Scott

August 2020, no. 423 • 27 July 2020

John A. Scott’s Shorter Lives is written at an intersection between experimental fiction, biography, and poetry. It inherits aspects of earlier works, such as preoccupations with sex and France. As the title indicates, it narrates mini-biographies of famous writers – Arthur Rimbaud, Virginia Stephen (Woolf), André Breton, and Mina Loy – and one painter – Pablo Picasso – with interludes ... (read more)

'Advantages of Stopovers', a new poem by Michael Farrell

September 2019, no. 414 • 27 August 2019

Writing a line, as if from bed, on a lovely, handmadeorgan based on Gerald Murnane, the Goroke novelistlast seen pouring a glass of amber silk and swayingimperceptibly enough to be called coincidental to HotChocolate. I would not be the writer I am if I forebore tomention the snowy peaks outside, being an analogy ofactual peaks. You see me out there gesturing at theiranti-poetic line, my hand perh ... (read more)

'Syllabic Patterning' by Michael Farrell

August 2018, no. 403 • 26 July 2018

He went down to the shed to look for a chooka particular one he’d seen earlier that morningone he realised he’d never seen before, andthat seemed to have disappeared. It was brownwith white markings, distinctive, like wallpaper ... (read more)

'Liked In Prison' by Michael Farrell

June-July 2017, no. 392 • 29 May 2017

Walking the streets, reading his booksin the cafés and bars, this was his over-riding question: would he be liked inprison? He was not particularly bad, or good, orgraceful, or skeptical. He reckoned hebelonged to the median when it came tothe smokers of Lwów: but would he beliked in prison? ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'The Distances' by Michael Farrell

States of Poetry Victoria - Series One • 22 February 2016

Like a teacup in a snowstorm IFind you and break you. A sentry reptile, I advise youTo return quietly to the campfire. You mistakenly tookMy interest in theology for a strategy ________________________________   Flip to a towel, flip toSheets of pasta in an emu's stomach. Sheep merely fluffing the  Horizon   _______   Technology is increasingly feminine. The diction ofSayin ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'Rich Tune' by Michael Farrell

States of Poetry Victoria - Series One • 22 February 2016

 Strawberries: a mania of strawberries on a   Turntable    ________    Drifting off in pineconesOf thought, feeling the wind refractYour backside. Eggs down a rabbit hole _________________________________ Voices like coconut milk in a car ___________________________ Writing the ball past the line. CloudsDrop on your face: noIt’s snow. The crane stopsAt ... (read more)