Tim Jones's Blog, page 30

IP (Interactive Publications) 2012 Reading Tour of NZ with Sugu Pillay and Karen Zelas

IP (Interactive
Publications) 2012 Reading Tour of Aotearoa/New Zealand




IP have just published two more collections by New Zealand poets: Flaubert's Drum by Sugu Pillay and Night's Glass Table by Karen Zelas - and, just as they did with Keith Westwater and myself last year, IP publisher and poet Dr David Reiter is touring the country with Karen and Sugu.




Here is the tour schedule:




Sugu Pillay, Karen Zelas, Dr David
Reiter







Dunedin




Monday 27th August: Circadian Rhythm Café, 72 St Andrew Street. 8pm.




Timaru




Tuesday 28th August. Timaru District Library. 12.30 pm.




Christchurch




Thursday 30th August. In Association with the Christchurch Writers Festival. 4.30pm The
Little Dome, Hagley Park, Christchurch.




Wellington




Sunday 2nd Sept. Poetry & Music at the Metro, Porirua. 4 pm.




Monday 3rd Sept. Wellington Central Library. 6.pm.




Auckland




Tuesday 4th Sept. Poetry Live at theThirsty Dog, 469 Karangahape Rd, Auckland.
7.30pm




Tauranga




Wednesday 5th Sept. Tauranga Campus, Waikato University, Durham Street, 6 pm.











You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

An Interview With Jan Hutchison

Jan Hutchison was born in Petone and educated at Victoria University and the New Zealand Library School. She has worked in the Justice
Department, spent time overseas, and been a librarian in Wellington,
Dunedin and Nelson.



Jan lives in Christchurch with Hamish and says
that poetry is a significant part of her life. She wrote constantly as a
child and she returned to writing poetry after her own children left
home. David Howard encouraged her and she joined the Poetry Collective
where she appreciated meeting others with similar interests. She belongs
to a poetry group which meets regularly and values its lively exchange
of views.



She writes for Amnesty International and at present is
improving her skills in Maori language.



Her poems are represented in many anthologies and publications and more
recently in Snorkel and Quadrant (Australia). Steele Roberts published
her three collections: The Long Sleep is Over, Days Among Trees, and The Happiness of Rain. Recently, she won first prize in The Takahe
International Poetry Competition, 2011.



Tim adds: The title poem The Happiness of Rain was my Tuesday Poem this week.




Jan, why did you choose "The Happiness
of Rain" as the title of your latest collection of poetry?



I chose the title The Happiness of Rain as I wanted one
which connected with New Zealand landscape and, despite the precarious
environment, would reveal joy in the present moment. I remembered, in
particular, a day I spent at Stewart Island and many visits to bush on the hills of Wellington. 













How is the collection organised? Is there a
unifying theme, or are there unifying themes, which run through it?




Much of the first part of the book is concerned with experiences in
Canterbury, and in particular, visits to Darfield and Banks Peninsula.
The second part of The Happiness of Rain includes poems which show the creativity of the human or animal spirit under adverse circumstances.



I don't write the poems in a systematic order but try to arrange a collection of poems - after I've finally completed them - in a way that allows them to engage with others on the page opposite or near by. Nor do I plan a particular poem.  I stop what I'm thinking and expecting
and stay present for the poem as long as it takes.



My poetry is an
expression of faith in the integrity of the senses and faith in the
imagination.  I want my poems to be connected with the natural world,
with myths and animals, dreams and erotic life. 




Do your three collections represent a
continuum, or will readers familiar with your first two collections notice a
different Jan Hutchison when they come to read The Happiness of
Rain?




I think The Happiness of Rain differs from the earlier books but I’d prefer others made their own comments.




Do you write in forms other than poetry, or
do you concentrate solely on poetry?




I write solely poetry.




This is probably a question you are getting
sick of – so please feel free not to answer! – but what has been the effect of
the last two years of earthquakes and disruption on both your own writing, and
on the poetry community in Canterbury?




The earthquakes have had a major effect on me and everyone I know.



I have three poems on our September and February quakes in the first
part of The Happiness of Rain. As well, I’ve included a found poem on
the telephone book which was written a few years earlier and published
in JAAM in 2007.




Which poets have been a strong influence on
your own poetry?




Nearly all my reading, one way or another, influences my
poetry. I think of stories collected by Grimm, and as well, many myths
and legends. I like poems in translation. I admire Chinese poems from
the T’ang Dynasty. I like work by Rilke, Anna Akhmatova, Mandelstam and
Chekhov. I’m influenced by poets such as Stevens and Elizabeth Bishop. I often read W. S. Merwin.



Others whom I read and reread are John Clare, Hardy, the later Yeats,
Edward Thomas, Charles Causley, Kathleen Jamie, Michael Longley, many
contemporary Irish poets - the list never ends. Poets in New Zealand who
spring to mind are Fiona Farrell, Michael Harlow, Cilla McQueen, Bill
Manhire, Jim Norcliffe, Gregory O’Brien, C.K. Stead and Brian Turner.




Finally, and if you don't mind me asking,
what are you working on at the moment?




I am working on another collection with the working title “Sand and River Time”.




Book
availability details



The Happiness of Rain can be ordered from book shops or from Steele Roberts' web site: www.SteeleRoberts.co.nzYou can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: The Happiness Of Rain, by Jan Hutchison

This lanky child runs along the shore

cooling her feet in tidal pools.



Wherever she treads in spring

grasses are more tender.



On sultry days, she rides a pony

inland

then with quick hand-slaps

divides its mane in two.



Sometimes she perches in forest

trees among pellucid ferns.



Their fronds are shining whorls

she tunes with her little finger

to any wayward wind.



Far down, the stream shimmers,

and the child sings a promise

to the weeks to come.



water   water

stars are winter’s flowers.



Credit Note: "The Happiness of Rain" is the title poem of Jan Hutchison's new collection, published by Steele Roberts. Watch out for my interview with Jan, which I'll be publishing here later this week.



The Tuesday Poem: You can check out the other Tuesday Poems for this week on the Tuesday Poem blog:- the hub poem at the centre of the page, and all the other poems to the left.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: Touchdown, and some Cool News

Touchdown



The engine ceased and silence fell.

We had made it. Nine months,

nine months in a metal womb

drinking recycled urine

eating recycled crap

watching our dosimeters glow.



I earned my place as captain. Sure,

there was the PR angle: Venus flies to Mars!

Great for the ratings, all that sort of thing.

But a dream born in girlhood

honed through years of preparation

had fitted me to take command.



"We're down," I said, "we're clear and down."

Fifteen minutes later

they would be cheering the news in Houston

but for now we had the planet to ourselves.

I looked at my companions. Dazed, exhausted,

but a spring of joy flowed in every one.



A human was about to step on Mars.  The moment

I had dreamt about had come. I crawled into the airlock.

I waited till it cycled. I stepped outside

and felt the Martian sun.

The cold air chilled me. The red light was eerie.

The great deed of my life was done.



Credit note: "Touchdown" was first published in my second poetry collection, All Blacks' Kitchen Gardens (HeadworX, 2007 - contact me if you'd like a copy), and republished in Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand, ed Mark Pirie and Tim Jones (2009). In All Blacks' Kitchen Gardens, it forms part of the "Red Stone" sequence about the colonisation of Mars.



The Cool News: I've just heard from IP, the publishers of Voyagers, that the Frankfurt Book Fair has requested Voyagers for its upcoming Books on New Zealand exhibition at the Fair. After all the hoops that other authors have had to jump through to get their books on display at the Fair, I feel just the tiniest smidgeon of guilt about this - but mainly, I feel very pleased!



A little bird tells me that, since the Voyagers concept worked so well in New Zealand, it might be repeated in a neighbouring country ... watch this space!



The Tuesday Poem: You can check out the other Tuesday Poems for this week on the Tuesday Poem blog:- the hub poem at the centre of the page, and all the other poems to the left.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Poetry Readings Coming Up In Palmerston North, Takaka And Nelson

Just before I get onto the news of forthcoming readings, I have had another book review published in Landfall Review Online:



Tim Jones reviews Hilary and David by Laura Solomon.



(I have a lot of trouble with links to Landfall Review Online, so if this link does not work, look for the review entitled "Friends on Facebook".)



Forthcoming Poetry Readings



August: Palmerston North



Keith Westwater and I read at the Ballroom Cafe in Wellington in June - our first joint reading since last year's book launch tour for Men Briefly Explained and Tongues of Ash - and next month we're heading to Palmerston North to read: Here are the details:



When: Wednesday 15 August, 6:00pm

Where: Palmerston North Central Library, Palmerston North



Here's the writeup from the Eventfinder site:



Wellington poets Tim Jones and Keith Westwater read from their new collections.



Keith Westwater's new book 'Tongues of Ash' won Interactive Publishing's Best First Book Award.

"There is a no-nonsense specificity about Keith's poems, a refusal to privilege the smooth over the roughnesses of human experience....the book begins with an annotated map of Wellington as a special insert - which has room for romantic and family love, weather, landscapes, rocks and history." - Jack Ross, poet and academic



Tim Jones's new book 'Men Briefly Explained' was described by writer Mary McCallum as:

"Tim Jones' new collection holds men up to the light with poems that are intimate and playful, smart and satirical. He focuses on the rituals and carapaces of men and the relevance of that gender in the future. Men Briefly Explained is an engaging and provocative read."



I've read once before in Palmerston North, and enjoyed it very much - I'm looking forward to reading there again.



September: Takaka and Nelson



It's been many years since I have been to Nelson, and I have never been to Golden Bay, but I am planning to remedy both oversights in September. Though details are still to be confirmed, this is how things look at the moment:



Thurs 20 Sept, 7.30pm: Bay Lit Awards presentation ceremony, The Mussel Inn



Fri 21 Sept, 1pm: Reading at Takaka Memorial Library



Mon 24 Sept, 6 for 6.30pm: Reading at Nelson Live Poets, The Free House, 95 Collingwood Street



Watch this space for further details, Facebook and other events, etc. If you live in Palmerston North or the Top of the South, I hope we'll get the chance to meet at one of these events.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

IP Inside Track Consultations: Coming to NZ in August-September

News from Dr David Reiter of IP that he will be available for Inside Track Consultations for New Zealand authors during IP's next book tour of New Zealand from 27 August to 6 September. Here are the details:



Dr David Reiter, Publisher, IP (Interactive Publications) will be offering Inside Track Consultations (ITCs) to aspiring authors interested in publishing with IP. Regarded as Australia's most innovative independent publisher, IP has an expanding list of New Zealand authors, and publishes titles for adults and children in most genres in physical and digital editions. Your ITC can be for 30 minutes ($70) or an hour ($130), and he encourages you to send a sample of your work, plus a synopsis, in advance of the meeting. ITCs will be scheduled in concert with his tour of New Zealand from 27 Aug - 6 Sept, which will include stops in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland and Tauranga, to promote new work by Karen Zelas and Sugu Pillay, as well as his own. For further info, please send an Expression of Interest to him ASAP at reiter@ipoz.biz
You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: Hub Cap'n

I'm the editor for the hub Tuesday Poem this week - check out what I've chosen as this week's Tuesday Poem on the Tuesday Poem blog, and remember to check out all the other Tuesday Poems in the sidebar on the left, too.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: Flash Fiction: The Giant Space Iceberg

Then the giant spaceship hit the giant space iceberg. The passengers all rushed to the poop deck with their smart phones and their digital cameras. "Look," they said, "a giant space iceberg!"



"It's called a comet, dummy," said the other passengers.



The giant spaceship began to list dangerously. People ran around in the foreground, while other people ran around in the background. The lifeboats, suspended on giant space davits, listed dangerously too.



The well-drilled robot crew put the emergency plan into action. "Everyone to the lifeboats," they cried. "Robots and little robots first!"



After the robots were seated in the lifeboats, there was still room for some passengers.

"I am not sharing my lifeboat with a crew of mechanicals," protested one dowager. "They stink of machine oil."



So she didn't.



The lifeboats were launched. The remaining passengers aboard the giant spaceship looked a little anxiously at one another. Then they jumped.



The captain was the last to jump. He waited until the flash-frozen corpses were out of sight, then he got his spacesuit out of his locker, put it on, and jumped himself.



As luck would have it, he landed on the comet, the outer layers of which were now ablating severely. A chunk of ice the size of a fist broke off the comet and smashed through his faceplate. As the air poured out of his suit, the bacteria who had been inhabiting his body leapt onto the comet's surface and began to burrow inward.



“I wondered when you guys would turn up,” said the comet, and set a course for the third planet from the sun.



Tim says: Friday is National Flash Fiction day, so in honour of that, I have posted one of the flash fictions I've written recently, some of which have been published in the excellent Flash Fiction. (Not this one, though - this one is new.)



The Tuesday Poem: You can check out this week's flash fictions and poems at the Tuesday Poem blog.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: In A World Without Pity, A Town Without Fear

Come 8pm we're locked away




with cable porn, sport from distant shores,

and Evony.




High heels click

down summer-softened streets.

Treble voices flutter tired leaves.




The women are on the prowl

with no quarry but each other.

If I were free to leave




I would watch them hit the bars,

dolled up, in packs —

at least, that's how they used to be.




Debbie does Dallas, then Dannevirke.

In last night's game, Drogba shoots, and scores.

My fighter levels up from Level 2 to Level 3.




Time drips from the clock's tired hands

and slides to pool in the male-proof lock:

a simple trick with DNA.




She'll come home and maybe she'll want me.

If I could, I would take her now.
If I could, I would walk away.



Credit note: First published in Men Briefly Explained (IP, 2011).



Tim says: My first two collections, Boat People and All Blacks' Kitchen Gardens, both have a section of speculative poems - some specifically science fiction, and others that pose (and even attempt to answer) various "what-if" questions. This is a what-if poem from Men Briefly Explained: what if men were locked inside at night?



The Tuesday Poem: You can check out all the Tuesday Poems at the Tuesday Poem blog - the hub poem in the centre, and the other Tuesday Poets' work linked from the left.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tim and Keith Read at the Ballroom Cafe, Sunday 17 June

Join poets Tim Jones and Keith Westwater and viola player and singer Emma Kaloay for an afternoon of music and poetry from 4-6pm on Sunday 17 June at the Ballroom Cafe, cnr Riddford St and Adelaide Rd, Newtown, Wellington.



The session starts with an open mike, then Emma will play, then Tim and Keith will read. We'll have copies of our poetry collections available for sale.







If you are on Facebook, you can join the Facebook event. We hope to see you there!




You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.