Morning Becomes Electric

The South Coast Writers Centre's Poetry Appreciation Group looked at the poetry of Bruce Dawe in our meeting this month. One of the poems that we read and discussed was his 'Morning Becomes Electric'.

The imagery within this poem is amazing and at first appears quite eclectic.

The poem includes metaphors of nature and the hustle of morning traffic, beginning:

Another day
roars up at you out of the east
in an expressway of birds gargling their first
antiseptic song, where clouds are
bumper-to-bumper all the way back to the horizon.

As well as the similes of traffic and nature there is an image of car fumes reminding the speaker of the smell of a friend being cremated. This image made many in our group feel slightly uncomfortable and led to a lengthy discussion about the appropriateness of the image within the context of this poem. The lines that I am referring to run as follows:

― the odour of stalled vehicles
wickedly pleasant like an old burning friend,
still whispering to you from the incinerator.

The poem then ends with images of the home, of preparing breakfast and opening the door to door-to-door salesmen:

...its armies, its smoke, its door-to-door salesmen,
... giving you an argument of sorts
before you have even assembled your priorities,
properly unrolled your magic toast
or stepped into the wide eyes of your egg.

For me, this poem is exploring a few things: firstly, and most obviously, the repetitiveness and predictiveness of the everyday; as well as, change and adjustment.

The first of these I don't believe needs any further explanation, the lines from the poem above clearly illustrate the humdrum nature of the everyday that Dawe's has captured.

As for my assertion that the poem is exploring change and adjustment, I feel that Dawe is drawing out the changes that we experience within the everyday. I say 'we' because Dawe addresses "you" or us as readers throughout the poem. That change may be gradual, for example where there was once herds of cattle meandering between fields there may now be a busy road, where during peak hour, cars "bank-up". As the physical landscape changes so to do we, as living organisms. The adjustment or acceptance of the loss of a friend can also be gradual, as we are reminded of a passed friend in the "odour of stalled vehicles".

This poem is satirical, as are many of Dawe's poems, the comments on change and the lack of control that we have over the everyday that can be found within the poem include an element of shock value, as well as a questioning of if and why we would want to have such a tight control over the everyday. The traffic scene of the first two stanzas is crowded and we are all just hanging on, with the gulls, waiting for something newsworthy to occur. Even as we are pulled back into the house in the third stanza, we are still holding on for something more exciting than the 'everdayness' of the door-to-door salesmen. The magic realism of the last two lines, where we are 'unrolling' our toast and 'stepping into' our eggs, is a final illustration of the ridiculousness of the everyday.

To purchase this Bruce Dawe's collection Sometimes Gladness, which this poem can be found in, click here or here. Copies of Sometimes Gladness can also be found cheap at second hand stores.

Books I have read - White Turtle by Merlinda Bobis

White Turtle is a magical, humorous, sensuous and emotional collection of short stories by Merlinda Bobis. Many of the stories contain an element of magic realism and offer either narratives or snap shots of social commentary.

The first narrative in the collection, 'An Earnest Parable', has been marinated in mouthwatering descriptions of food and language and all the things that a tongue can sense. This fantastic story offers a unique take on multiculturalism as the residents of Bessel Street taste the food and language of their neighbours through their communal tongue.

The butcher was not one to waste time. Immediately, he laid his soft, pink flesh, moist with the previous owner's steak and peppercorns, inside his mouth (1).

The delicious description of food, combined with magic realism, can also be found in Bobis' story 'The Kissing'. I hope to one day write as well as Bobis does, to capture the taste of food, to entice the senses and to create clever twists, similar to what can be found in this short story.

'Fruit Stall', the second story, is a comment on the kinds of prejudice that Filipino women, living in Australia, post the mail-order-bride trend, experience. The main character of this story hides her cultural identity, ashamed of the connotations that follow. Bobis has a way of constructing social commentary that can be at times embarrassing, but is never the less delicious to read. 'Fruit Stall' is fast paced and soaked with a dry humour:

He reminded me of the pet monkey we had when I was young. My father gave it away, because it would wake up the whole house in the middle of the night with its crazed monkey-sounds. Jake did the same, chattering away about his great big white banana getting bigger and harder... (7).

Another story that explores migration is 'Border Lover'. The descriptions of flying and of family in this story reminds me of Sophie Cunningham's Geography.

The third short story, 'Fish-Hair Woman' is a harrowing magic realism tale about a young Filipino woman who dredges the river near her village everyday, to pull out the bodies of young men. This story and the fifth story of the collection, 'Storm', are emotional tales, that deal with very raw and traumatic themes. Both stories fit within the magic realism genre, entwining superstition, Filipino mythology and real life themes of war, death, love, fear and rape.

Another story that explores the theme of war and how it impacts on Filipino civilians, in small and isolated communities, is 'Before the Moon Rises'. Reading these stories by Bobis has opened my eyes to some of the history of the Philippines.  

'Colours', the fourth story in the collection, is written from a man's perspective. It tells of an unrequited love, of an obsession that the man has for his married neighbour. Again, this story is an example of Bobis' rich writing style. Bobis has a way of drawing me, as a reader, into her stories, dazzling me with her ability to stimulate my senses through her words. In this particular story the colours of the neighbours clothing are so vivid that I feel blinded, like the man:

My doctor said I needed dark glasses for protection. I ignored his advice. I didn't want the world to grow any darker. I wanted only to dream of yellow breasts. Perhaps, she was right about me being a sleazebag, but I couldn't help it. The shapes, which I could no longer see clearly, became more defined in an inkling of song the hue of mangoes, daffodils, jonquils, all yellow staring back at me (26-27).

Another magic realism story is 'Frock', which is full of rich imagery of a dress and a child' imagination:

Silvery fish on each breast. A trail of green turtles around the waist (145).

'Jar' is a brilliant story about sexual abuse and predatory behavior in the workplace. If only all women had the same defense as the woman in this story.

The story that the book has borrowed it's title from, 'White Turtle', describes the scene of a panel of writers speaking at a writers festival and how the other writers and the western audience respond to one of the panelists. Lola Bayson does not have a published book that people can purchase and have signed, her story is an oral tale:

The bespectacled writer was slightly impatient - but her act is a multicultural or indigenous arts event, definitely not for a writers' festival (42).

This realist sketch is thought provoking and a delight to read.

'Mac Do' and 'The Curse' explore illness and family relationships. Family is a recurring theme in Bobis' stories. The love, fear and pain felt by the characters of these two stories is moving and an illustration of Bobis' skill.

'Shoes' is a great story about family and poverty. The character development in this story is beautiful, as father and daughter walk along a hot road:

He takes off her shoes, bought especially for this outing. The soles of her feet are red, promising heat blisters. He examines the shoes, knocks at the soles (113).

Family and particularly the relationship between children and their parents is described in 'The Sadness Collector'. This story uses the power of a child's imagination to explore drunkenness and separation:

The lid clatters off the pot. Beneath her room, the kitchen is stirring again. Rica sits up in her bed - the big one has returned? (132).

Family and community are humorously explored in 'Pina and the Flying Cross', as well as the themes of World War II and the isolation of small communities. Similar themes are explored in 'Flores de Mayo'. Bobis' take on small, poor towns in the Philippine is unique and captivating.

Bobis experiments with the short story format in 'The Long Siesta as a Language Primer' and 'Triptych'. 'The Long Siesta...' is laid out like a series of dictionary definitions, each definition builds on the character, setting or action that has been introduced in the proceeding one. In this piece Bobis explores Filipino language and English, something that she does in a lot of her writing, giving a sense of authenticity to her themes of migration and culture.

Another experimentation with the standard short story format can be found in 'Dream Stories'. This story is constructed through three snap shots 'Corazon', 'Yellow' and 'The Death of Chopin Chopin'. This story is a touching exploration of love, constructed in a web of magic realism, where musical notes clutter a house.

'Triptych' tells of a love triangle. It is laid out in three columns, so that it can be read vertically or horizontally. This effect both visually and poetically represents the three points (characters) of the triangle. The unusual layout of the three tales, the triangle, is daring, but it works.

The raunchiest story of this collection is 'Splinter'. To orgasm as a stranger sucks a splinter out of the palm of your hand, while waiting at a train station, makes for a fun story.

The collection finishes on a humorous note, with 'The Wind Witch'. A story that contains magic, hope, dreams and fart jokes. It was great to finish with a fun story, but this by no means drowned or dulled the impact of the stories that contained more traumatic themes.

I hope that Bobis is more happy with what I have written here than the writer, Diaz, was in 'The Review'. The stories in this collection all live up to their "aspirations", they are amazing!

An excerpt from this book can be found here.

The book can be purchased from Spinifex Press here.

Another review of this collection can be found here.

For more information about Merlinda Bobis and her writing please check out her website here.

Books I have read - Geography by Sophie Cunningham

Geography is an erotic novel, which follows the journey of Australian resident Catherine. Catherine finds airplanes erotically stimulating. For her airplanes facilitate physical contact with the older academic Michael, whom she has obsessed over for years, who lives in the US. Michael and Catherine have had a long term raunchy affair that is predominantly conducted through fax and email. Airplanes and travel have also brought Catherine to the younger, attractive, lesbian Ruby.

“ … Beauvoir wrote about this … after she started sleeping with Sartre she became so obsessed that even getting on the tram became an erotic experience for her. I know how she felt, like everything around you is penetrating you … Everything turns into sex” (Cunningham 36).

 I have to disagree with Gillian Dooley's assertion that "the sequence of events can be difficult to follow, and there is no beauty or transcendence to counteract the irritation the reader feels at having to re-read pages in an attempt to work out where and when this is all happening. It’s an ambitious book, Cunningham has failed to create a narrative that is either effective or engaging." Geography does jump between the past relationship with Michael and the blossoming relationship with Ruby, as well as Catherine's memories of her childhood, but I did not find this difficult to follow and in fact found that this helped to further pull myself, as a reader, into the story. I enjoyed vicariously exploring sexuality through Catherine's relationships and admired Cunningham's ability to allow Catherine to develop as a character, to better understand herself as a character, through her sexual relationships.

Thank you Sophie Cunningham for allowing me to travel with Catherine to the US and South East Asia these Summer holidays.

For a more comprehensive review of this book check out Julie Proudfoot's comments here.

To read an extract of the book visit Cunningham's website here.

Cunningham's novel can be purchased from amazon.

Books I have read - The People Smuggler by Robin de Crespigny

I have read some amazing novels, short stories and poems so far this summer including The People Smuggler by Robin de Crespigny. This incredibly moving biography should be on everyone's must-read-list.

Ali Al Jenabi's story is an important one, particularly in-light of current political discussions surrounding how to manage asylum seekers in Australia. Crespigny's writing style and dedication to Jenabi's story is clear in the way that she captures the voice of Jenabi and the fear, sorrow, uncertainty, hope, joy and love that has been part of his journey.

There are sections within this book that are shocking and painful to read. When Jenabi first arrives in Sydney, in 2003, he is forced to strip in-front of multiple police officers and an interpreter: "...they force me to undress, then they hold me down while one of them puts on a latex glove..." (294). Another, more horrifying, event happens when Jenabi is in Villawood Detention Centre, in 2007: "...I hear screaming... It looks like a woman is being held down by four guards while two others supervise. Then one kneels next to her. Suddenly the screaming fades, she stops struggling and they drag her away" (328). After witnessing this terror Jenabi finds that asylum seekers who are refused refugee status are often deported in the early hours of the morning to avoid media attention: "The men are handcuffed and the women are forcibly injected with tranquillisers..." (328).

I hope that all Australians are made familiar with Jenabi's story and learn from it empathy for asylum seekers who flee nightmarish situations, such as Jenabi and his family have fled, as well as the humanity of so called 'boat people'.

The People Smuggler is available from various book stores, including Penguin and Amazon.

For a more detailed review of this book please check out the ABC Unleased.

Seeking the Sun: Australian Poetry 2012

I came home from work on Thursday to find a copy of the Central Coast Poet Inc.'s anthology Seeking the Sun: Australian Poetry 2012. I flipped the anthology open and scanned through the poets included, there were some great writers represented. Amazingly my name was in there. The anthology includes my poem 'Retirement and a Goat', which I submitted to the Henry Kendall Poetry Award. Thank you to David Musgrave and the team at Central Coast Poets Inc. for including my poem in this collection.

The anthology can be purchased from http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeking-Sun-Australian-Poetry-2012/dp/1466425369.

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year everyone.

Zwischenräume - Spaces of Convergence

Check out the films of Ken Challenor, Di Barkas and myself reading our ekphrastic poems at the Zwischenräume - Spaces of Convergence exhibition.

Thanks to Adam Carr for all his hard work in getting these online and to Garry Jones for filming on the day.

http://southcoastwriters.org.au/article/event-2012-zwishenraume.php


My poem can also be read in a previous post here.

Unfolding

The Nan Tien Institute, SCWC (South Coast Writers Centre) and IAVA (Illawarra Association for the Visual Arts) invite SCWC poets to be part of a unique collaboration at this upcoming event. ‘Unfolding’ is an art exhibition that gives local artists and writers the opportunity to reflect on living in the ‘Asian Century’. The ‘Asian Century’ follows on from an American Century in the 20th century and a British Century during the 1800s, with concepts that allude to trans-cultural experiences across the globe, economically, politically, and philosophically. Two winning entrants will have the opportunity to perform before a huge audience, as the opening is part of the official Nan Tien Institute’s Graduation Day, for which some 4000 visitors are expected. In addition, the poems will be published in a colour catalogue. 

It was a joy and a challenge to respond to the theme 'living and working in the Asian Century'. Thank you to the Nan Tien Institute, SCWC and IAVA for the opportunity to submit a poem for this exhibition and for excepting my piece. 

To read my poem 'Conversing' please purchase the catalogue from IAVA or you can purchase it from the SCWC at  Gleniffer Brae (Wollongong Conservatorium of Music), 5 Robsons Rd (Corner of Robsons Rd and Murphys Avenue), Keiraville.