Closer in BMP 25
My poem 'Closer' will be appearing in the upcoming issue of Blackmail Press. This is my third publication in BMP: it's great to be in the next issue as BMP is online, available to all, and has a wide range of new and established voices from diverse backgrounds.'Closer' was difficult to write and I have many versions of the poem. I started the first version over three and half years ago, long before the movie Control brought Ian Curtis' death back into popular culture. If I look very far back, then a piece published in Salient in 1980/1981 called 'The division of joy' is also linked to the poem (although they are in other ways poles apart). I know it can be tiresome to talk about one's own writing, I generally avoid it, but I've noticed a slight shift since Moonshot in some of my poems in that they have voices that are not quite my own and which I find 'unsettling' (or is that too dramatic, too strong?) When you read 'Closer' you will probably wonder what I'm going on about. Thanks to the editors Sarah Jane Barnett and Bill Nelson for noticing one little tweak that really helped the poem.
Source: NZEPC
Have you seen the Phantom Billstickers Poetry posters around town? I went walking with my son Rohan in Newtown and we saw a Tusiata Avia's 'Cheek' and Michael White's 'There was a time' on Riddiford Street and I loved them. I mean, how great is that to see poetry in the street? I got this rush of excitement from them, like good music; they looked so immediate and lively. I'm playing Avia's 'My Dog' to some students tomorrow--I'm playing them about four NZ poets. When I really love a poem I feel that in some way that I own it; I think that's common with what we love. That's why it's good for the poems to be out on the street; they are our poems written by these poets.
If you feel inspired to write then the Bravado poetry competition is on and the deadline is the end of August.
The Voyagers anthology continues to get press coverage with a good piece in this weekend's Dominion Post on the anthology. Tim Jones has good coverage of this and news of the yearly Montana Book Awards gripes. I do feel that the $100 fee for publishers to enter books for the poetry competition is skewering the award nominations. However, on reflection, it's not such a hefty fee and it's up to the small presses to tell Booksellers NZ, who are reviewing the awards, if they feel shut out. I'd like to know if the University Presses ask their poets to fork out for their own entry fees. University Presses do a lot to support and encourage poetry in NZ but the Montana nominations do give the impression that the only good poetry comes from a university press when other vibrant presses also publish good work.
It's late and time to turn in. Not long now until the new Minuit CD comes out.
posted by harvey molloy @ 7:46 PM
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