Cordite Poetry Review

The Cordite Poetry Review published my poem, Devouring the (Un)Happy Years. I wrote the first draft on a train from Manchester to London in 2013. It is about my Grandad.

This is #49.0 of Cordite, the Obsolete issue. Guest editor Tracy Ryan has this to say about the theme of obsolete, ‘However much we theorise or make into metaphor the obsolete and its near relations – waste, the redundant, the superseded – there is a real-world politics around them that cannot be rarefied away or rendered abstruse.’

The poem refers to the Battle at Krojanty, a World War Two cavalry charge against infantry.

Cordite 44: Gondwanaland

I grew up liking maps, liking continents, liking supercontinents, and fossils. So anything connected to Gondwana, aka Gondwanaland, is to me pretty awesome. 

'Oldest' Gondwana land creature discovered

Having my first ever poem in Cordite be in Cordite 44: GONDWANALAND feels pretty cool.

Her French Toast, the poem I have in this issue, draws together a couple of inspirations for me. 

A friend who was on a ship called USS Blue Ridge, and I know it’s not a submarine.

USS Blue Ridge

Listening to music from DVA for the game Botanicula, and there is a submarine in there. 

And sitting in the upstairs food court of the Canberra Centre wanting to be underwater at Newcastle beach.

This is the song I most listened to while I wrote the earliest drafts of the poem.

SpeedPoets on 1 September

I will be featuring at Brisbane’s SpeedPoets alongside poet Trudie Murrell.

SpeedPoets is a long-running Brisbane poetry gig with a large open mic section. The event is hosted by Graham Nunn (who has five books and a CD of poetry published). So I am looking forward to hearing lots of words.

filamentous bacteriophage M13

I have not read Trudie Murrell’s poems before, but I found one published in Cordite 39: Jackpot! and there is an interview of her at Another Lost Shark, along with a second poem; read all those words then travel to Brisbane in a vehicle powered by the M13 bacteriophage so you can listen to the poets at SpeedPoets on 1 September 2012.