John Foulcher
John Foulcher has written eleven books of poetry, most recently 101 Poems (Pitt Street Poetry 2015), a selection from his previous books, and A Casual Penance (Pitt Street Poetry 2017). His work has appeared in Australian magazines and anthologies for more than thirty-five years, and he has received and been shortlisted for many awards. Poems from his first book, Light Pressure (Angus&Robertson 1983), were set for study on the New South Wales Higher School Certificate syllabus for ten years. In 2010–11 he was the Literature Board’s resident at the Keesing Studio in Paris. He divides his time between Canberra and an old Catholic church which he is renovating near the town of Braidwood in New South Wales. His books can be purchased from pittstreetpoetry.com.
Holly and Will
1972
John Foulcher ... (read more)
Mark, Pauline and Me
1970
John Foulcher ... (read more)
Paris Evening
13 November 2015
It is Friday, around five. He isstrolling on the rue Voltaire, flâneurfor the young century. The afternoon is crumbling,
the trees are shutting down for winter,leaves pirouetting to the streetand cracking like small bones beneath his feet.
All around him, the streetlights are coming on,canisters of empire, recalling dayswhen endings were clamorous.
He stops at ... (read more)
The Poetry Exam
The hall begins to fill. The students sit.She sets her papers neatly on the deskand rolls the lines around her mouth, flitsfrom word to word, moves her lips. The rest
is left to memory. The tests are stackedfor passing out on perfect, icy linesof tables set in single file, tables packedaway when half-right answers whine
and plead for one mark more. She’s workedfor this. She kn ... (read more)