You're right on both counts, Alison. I took those poems to the informal
workshop I vaguely run and the people there 'fell in love with him at first
sight', as it were.
On 14 March 2010 00:52, Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thanks for those, David. John is a marvellous and much under-estimated
> poet.
>
> xA
>
> On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 8:45 AM, David Bircumshaw
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > I was playing about converting the issues of the internet magazine I
> > did into .pdf and couldn't help but notice the Austalian poet John
> Anderson
> > again - here's three of his poems :
> >
> > *From” A Chide's Alphabet” Issue Two (2002, **ed. David Bircumshaw**)*
> >
> > *Three poems: John Anderson (1948*-*97)*
> >
> >
> >
> > *The Brachychiton (Kurrajong)*
> >
> >
> >
> > Study the leaves of the Brachychiton
> > And you will be ready for any turn in the conversation
> >
> > What holds true in a grove of Brachychitons
> > Holds true in wheatfields and oaks
> >
> > The kind of thought that I aspire to
> > Would not disturb one leaf of Brachychiton
> >
> > I am not self-conscious in the Brachychiton
> > Some are afraid in the Brachychiton
> > Brachychiton Brachychiton
> > Enter the Brachychitons
> >
> > After a while my thoughts fly
> > When I chant "The Brachychiton"
> > They sit down and most move around in the Brachychitons
> > I thought my jeans were Brachychitons
> > Nirvana Brachychiton. Brachychiton Das Cyclamens.
> > It is different each time in the Brachychitons
> >
> >
> >
> > *Abstract*
> >
> > The book will be a carefully organised mosaic of pieces.
> > The perspective will be constantly changing.
> > Faint perceptions, apprehensions, underlying patterns of events, will be
> > clustered
> > into their own archipelagoes, brought just to the surface of visibility.
> > There will be a critical combination of effects, carefully paced and
> staged.
> > I see the text as a painting of this land.
> > I see the cover as the first page of the text.
> > The choosing of the image will be a particularly delicate matter.
> > It will be a window into the writing.
> > The image will rise from the same vision, as though the text were seeping
> > through
> > and saturating the jacket.
> > My line will be there.
> > Each page will study itself.
> > One page will study another and so gain hermetic definition.
> > I'd like the title to breathe too.
> > To resonate with the depth and distance, the quietness of the image.
> > I will paint a forest set out like the night.
> >
> >
> >
> > *I saw how they laboured - their tremendous sadness*
> >
> > I saw how they laboured - their tremendous sadness
> >
> > waves are like the paws of a cat trying to climb up the wall, the earth,
> > but they keep slipping back
> >
> > as if the sea itself were drowning
> >
> >
> >
> > *Brachychiton* (*Kurrajong*, *Bottletree*) is a
> > genus<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genus>of 31
> > species <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species> of
> > trees<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree>and large
> > shrubs <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrub>, native to
> > Australia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia>(the centre of
> > diversity, with 30 species), and New
> > Guinea <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Guinea> (one species). Fossils
> from
> > New South Wales <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales> and New
> > Zealand are estimated to be 50 million years old, corresponding to the
> > Tertiary <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary>. The name
> *Brachychiton* is
> > derived from the Greek <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language> *
> > brachys*, short, and *chiton*, tunic, in referring to its loose
> > seed<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed>coats.
> >
> > --
> > David Bircumshaw
> > "A window./Big enough to hold screams/
> > You say are poems" - DMeltzer
> > Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> > http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
> > The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> > Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
> > twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave
> > blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
>
--
David Bircumshaw
"A window./Big enough to hold screams/
You say are poems" - DMeltzer
Website and A Chide's Alphabet
http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave
blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/
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