Blog
Welcome to the Busybird blog, where you can find helpful articles, updates, industry news and more. Make sure you stay up to date by signing up to our newsletter below.
On the Tenth Day pre-Christmas, this author said to me … (Broede Carmody)
December 22, 2012So, we’re still alive until the next Doomsday prediction. You know what that means – more reflections!
Only three to go. This one is from Broede Carmody, on his poem ‘Waterbed’.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
***
For me, poetry is about wrestling with the inertia of words. It’s about blood-beat. Building up, stripping down, making layers. Falling through yourself and coming out the other side.
For this reason the first drafts of my poems are clumsy, like sleepwalking. I keep multiple notebooks and my poems often grow out of a single line that I’ve jotted down and forgotten about for a while.
‘Waterbed’ was no different. The poem stemmed from the line ‘Ocean spray vodka against your skin’. I often write about nature, particularly water and sky, so the sea seemed like a logical setting as this is where these two elements combine most vividly. Perhaps I write about the ocean so much because I lived so far away from it as a kid.
The last stanza is a reference to Steph Bowe’s Girl Saves Boy. I reread the book just before writing the poem and one of the protagonists, Sacha, steals garden gnomes. I love how everyone has their own little quirks and habits – and for some reason I felt it necessary to build this into the poem.
***
Broede Carmody is currently the poetry editor at Voiceworks magazine.
On the Eve of Mayan Doomsday, this author said to me … (Petr Malapanis)
December 21, 2012On course an alternative would be to call this the Ninth Day pre-Christmas. A Christmas which may never come as of 10pm this evening (from Melbourne’s time zone, anyway).
At least the Mayans saved me some Christmas shopping.
The next (and perhaps last) reflection comes from Petr Malapanis, on his poem ‘Suck This’.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
***
To date, personal experiences of love, loss, birth and death informed my work. I have always used the writing of poetry to explore themes or issues that trouble me in some way. I guess my sexuality or personal experiences of sex was never something that gave me enough grief to warrant wordy representation or dissection.
Writing this particular piece has opened up a whole other world of material to draw from. It was only when I started playing with the idea of writing in another voice that I thought I might visit hitherto unexplored terrain and it became clear in the planning and editing of this piece, that all that hasn’t actually happened, but can be imagined,is fair game too. Sometimes it is a single image or a sliver of an image, a half remembered smell or echo of a feeling that informs the whole piece.
The ability to bring to life such a personal and private moment in a way that I believe most women can relate to started with just such an echo; the discomfort of kneeling for too long, and noticing your sore knees when you are meant to be lost in the moment.
***
Petr Malapanis is a Greek-Australian writer with work published in anthologies including Set Free, Motherlode, Reflecting on Melbourne and Southern Sun, Aegean Light, as well as online.
On the Eighth Day pre-Christmas, this author said to me … (Beverley Lello)
December 20, 2012Today’s reflection comes from Beverley Lello – her short story ‘In the Web’ was shortlisted in page seventeen‘s 2012 Short Story Competition and published in Issue #10.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
***
I was inspired to write ‘In the Web’ after the bushfires in Victoria in 2009. I was in a very different place when Black Saturday occurred – Patagonia in southern Chile. The images appeared in a short news flash on a TV screen in a small cafe. The fires were in an area I knew well and had visited many times and those screen images of destruction and personal suffering stayed with me as I continued to travel.
In 2012 there were floods in Wagga Wagga and newspapers reported that a certain type of ground spider cocooned trees in thick webs to create places of refuge. This became an image of survival and reconstruction.
I like working this way; taking two or three things not normally linked and weaving them together in a story. I chose the first person voice for my main character, a young girl, because I wanted to capture that self-centred stage of life when the world is only partially understood and often misinterpreted. Like all children she asks questions to make sense of a confusing world but after the fire she no longer asks because a particular question might elicit an answer she doesn’t want to hear.
The web is both a symbol of reconstruction and a way of connecting the girl to her parents and to her environment. Together they are her whole world.
I’ve been writing short fiction, both plays and stories, for a few years – since retiring from teaching – and have found that writing frequently and a certain amount of persistence have been rewarded with ten stories now published, several competition wins and several plays performed.
My inspiration comes from my own life, travelling, observations of the natural world and many years of reading for pleasure.
***
Beverley Lello has been writing seriously for four years. Several of her stories have won competitions: the Albury City Short Story Award and Stringybark Awards in 2011, and the Margaret River and Country Style competitions in 2012.
On the Seventh Day pre-Christmas, this author said to me … (Mary Stone)
December 19, 2012It’s official – Christmas is still too close.
Today’s reflection is Mary Stone’s thoughts on writing her poem ‘Sticky Note’. This one got a great reception at the launch when read by the author – don’t you want to see what the fuss is all about?
I know, I’m a shameless promoter. At least I’m consistent in being shameless about admitting that.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
***
I often pick up random bits and pieces from the ground – particularly discarded notes. I’m fascinated with both the range and delivery of their content: miffed missives between house-mates or the stuff people to buy, and the way they express and prioritise a simple shopping list. I’m also just as enthralled by their scribing methods: exquisite calligraphy (especially in another alphabet) to almost illegible scrawl.
My favourite pieces are those that are trampled on, mud spattered or tyre marked.
One day, whilst walking around aimlessly through Melbourne’s labyrinth of lost laneways, I found a screwed up sticky note that contained no content. I was mildly disappointed but it also reminded me of a recent blank text sent to me from my ex. Our breakup was fresh in my mind and my anger was still palpable at that stage. I had lunch and noted down a few random thoughts and ideas into my iPhone. One idea was to play around with the notion of a sticky note and link it to masturbation.
Upon reading my poem it might seem obvious who are the protagonist and antagonist – by virtue of pronoun placement (i.e. myself and my ex). However the roles can just as easily be reversed. Change the placement of some of the pronouns to reflect this and the finger pointing could be aimed at me. The accusative tone used could also have applied to both of us.
I loved messing with misinterpretation, since a blank note is, after all, just a blank note with no intention. Paranoia has its place when, uninvited, it plays unfair games in the Relationship Playground.
I loved writing this piece – it was wonderfully cathartic.
***
A poet and musician for several years, Mary Stone has recently delved into the spoken word arena. Mary, whose work has been described as visceral and sometimes puerile, can be seen working around Melbourne’s open-mic scene – occasionally foisting herself upon an unsuspecting audience.
On the Sixth Day pre-Christmas, this author said to me … (Bronwen Manger)
December 18, 2012Is it particularly alarming to everyone if I remind all and sundry that it’s now only a full week until Christmas? Because it’s pretty alarming to me.
If you’re short on literary stocking-stuffers, page seventeen might fit the bill if you order quick! The latest issue and selected back issues are available here.
Latest reflection from Issue #10 for our blogging good time is from Bronwen Manger, for her poem ‘Reine de Douleur’.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
***
I wrote ‘Reine de Douleur’ (Queen of Sorrow) as a response to the 1892 poster ‘Reine de Joie’ (Queen of Joy) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. For the uninitiated, this is a bright, bold poster in yellow, red, white, gold and black, which depicts a young lady passionately kissing a rather rotund older gentleman as they recline at a crockery-covered dining table, beside another dinner guest who seems studiously oblivious to their ardour. It is a zesty scene, brimming with opulence and intrigue! I penned ‘Reine de Douleur’ in an attempt to capture in words the unapologetic decadence of the poster; and also to infer the darker undercurrents of desperation that have funnelled the characters into this ‘fadeless embrace’.
Many lines of the poem are flagrantly demanding instructions, delivered from the standpoint of one who has had enough to eat and drink; yet is still unsatisfied, and at once confounded and compelled by hunger and thirst. Amidst the yearning for more; the celebration of indulgence; and the gleeful acceptance of duplicity, the poem also laments an otherwise grey, drab existence. Despite the title’s feminine leaning, it is up to the reader to decide whether ‘Reine de Douleur’ is written from the point of view of the lady, the gentleman, or both.
***
Bronwen Manger is a poet from the outer east of Melbourne. She has performed her work on television and radio, and her poems have appeared in journals, zines, anthologies and newspaper The Age. When Bronwen is not writing, she attends poetry readings around Melbourne and works as a research assistant.