on 10/2/01 10:54 AM, [log in to unmask] at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Which doesn't, thankfully, define Australian poetry, although anyone who
> can remember that Round the Boree Log anthology can there see the
> mechanisms of imperialism singing loud and clear - anyone who wants to
> look at Australian poetry _has_ to deal with nationalism, because it's
> been such a constructing factor - one reason for say the almost complete
> disappearance of women like Lesbia Harford and Anna Wickham from the
> poetic canon until the Penguin book of Australian Women Poets came out.
Hi Alison,
Just happened to be re-reading yesterday David Herkt's wonderfully
scurrilous Satires and thought it OK to quote a few relevant lines (it's a
long poem, 10 pages or so, so this should be well within the 10 per cent for
fair comment limit).
Bit of context: Herkt is a New Zealander who lived in Australia for some
years (now back in NZ editing, I believe, the Auckland Express, a well-known
g&l paper). The Satires was a co-winner of a major Australian poetry award
in 1989 but some references in it had to be deleted due to potential legal
action. It was, as you might guess, about sex (and drugs) and poetry and
vanity and is prefaced by this from Martial '... lasciva est nobis pagina,
vita proba'. The 'black swan of trespass' reference is to the Ern Malley
affair (I assume I don't need to explain that as it has been much
canvassed).
'VIII
An Australian poet is a contradiction in terms
and 200 years of male poetry is a limp display;
no one enjoys faked masculinity, the real thing's bad enough,
and faked verse, if possible, is even worse.
There's only one memorable line in the corpus,
'... I am still
The black swan of trespass on alien waters'
from a poem forged by two forgotten poets
to humiliate a literary magazine in 1944. ...'
The rest of the stanza takes some well-known names in vain so I will refrain
from quoting it. And it *is* a satire, folks, written by a bloke, albeit
from across the Ditch.
Cheers,
Jill
P.S. The poem, if anyone is interested is in The Body of Man published by
Hazard Press in NZ, www.hazard.co.nz. they have published a few books of
poetry originating in Australia, including my first.
_________________________________
Jill Jones
50 Ruby Street
Marrickville NSW 2204
AUSTRALIA
[log in to unmask]
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones
