States of Poetry
States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'C.O.U.N.T.R.Y' by Michael Farrell
You feel this way, kind of free when you lie down
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States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'Fancy' by Michael Farrell
I was riding a shark through Cork, just for the exercise of course
It might seem quaint but rather it was
Gorgeous, like an early morning courtyard
Imagine the dialogue. AC/DC confronts shark
shark repeats
shadow prime minister's
Gaffe
You guys are the white Australian Uluru. Fancy, say ...
States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'New Dr Williams' by Michael Farrell
Who are you? You hear the song, the
Good line along with the others in the
Hair salon. That place for standing in; for< ...
States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'Rich Tune' by Michael Farrell
Strawberries: a mania of strawberries on a
Turntable
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States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'The Distances' by Michael Farrell
Like a teacup in a snowstorm I
Find you and break you. A sentry reptile, I advise you
To return quietly to the campfire. You mistakenly took
My interest in theology for a strategy
States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'Australian awe: white guys on life and art before 1788' by A. Frances Johnson
for Marcia Langton
The rock-art guide, combusting
in 43 degrees, back to image.
His sloppy dreamtime
a melted ice-cream,
far from refrigerated sublime.
Gwion rock art from the 'Tassel era' is happy art,
though contentiously attributed and dated, he says,
authoritative white sweater in white sweater.
States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'Diary of an Anti-elegist' by A. Frances Johnson
1.
Even poetry dements in the end; fatal attractions to dank earth
and ash albums don't fool or buy time. Poetry cherry-picks
memory for its own ends; yet that's a medicated narcissism for
some. Earnest elegies are often rejected by dogs and children.
Listen to them howl. Voting for life outside of ritual.
I'm on your side; I'm with the hounds and the kids. I won ...
States of Poetry 2016 - South Australia | 'Gilbert Place - Cafe Boulevard' by Ken Bolton
for Lee Harwood
Softly solarised and parallel
two lines echo each other, glow slightly,
in a space that is nowhere
#
  ...
States of Poetry 2016 - South Australia | 'Shorts' by Aidan Coleman
Octopus
Quick across the twilight road,
the eight legs of the cat.
Flood
Water corrects the earth
to flatness, patching fields with sky.
Alarm
Little boat of red figures, adrift between two days.
Window
The creek slides through the rain's eyelashes.
States of Poetry 2016 - South Australia | 'What Do I Owe Them?' by Ken Bolton
Should the unique serve to typify?
Have they been ill-used? To what purpose?
Asian Couple
The Asian couple.
I am inclined to think Chinese –
mostly on the basis of size,
but not Japanese (the ...