Tim Jones's Blog, page 55
March 29, 2010
Tuesday Poem: Shostakovich In America
Shostakovich in America
1959, November. The plumed De Soto
hammers on, freshman driver
burning up the plains.
Freedom! The Kappa Gamma Beta boys
can never catch him now. They're back east
in the studio, where Ormandy
shrugs and starts recording.
Dmitri has better things to do. This is
his jazz age, his lost weekend.
An upstate college, denuded branches
scrawled across the moon. He nestles
in a co-ed's bed. Dreams
drag him back to the Kremlin:
always the bottle of Georgian wine,
always the black telephone.
March 23, 2010
Ada Lovelace Day Post: Nancy Adams, Botanist and Botanical Artist
Today, Wednesday 24 March, is Ada Lovelace Day. Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science.
Ada Lovelace, for those who don't know her, was the world's first computer programmer (true) and one half of a celebrated pair of crime-fighting superhero mathematicians (true in a less truthful way).
Ada Lovelace Day began in a celebration of women in technology, but has...
March 21, 2010
No Mining In New Zealand's National Parks!
I have just finished watching a programme about the immense lengths to which dedicated people have gone to protect vulnerable populations of native birds in New Zealand. That effort is both awe-inspiring and humbling.
It's also a painful contrast with the National-led Government's plans to open up New Zealand's National Parks and other high-value conservation lands to mining.
The very fact that National launched these plans - as parts of their efforts to turn us into a tiny, ersatz Australia - ...
March 17, 2010
Writing Past Each Other? Literary Translation and Community
I was sent information about this conference by the organisers, who asked me to pass it on to people who may be interested - and what better place to do that than this blog? In particular, the organisers are keen to publicise the call for papers, which closes on 31 March.
As someone with an interest in the translation of poetry, I am especially interested in the sessions they are planning on poetry and translation, which are being organised by poet Chris Price:
As a special feature of the...
March 14, 2010
Five Blogs I Like. Chapter 2: The Bloggening
Just over a month ago, I started an occasional series of blog posts under the heading "Five Blogs I Like". Now it's time for another instalment.
Janis Freegard's Weblog: Janis blogs about matters that generally relate to her very fine poetry and fiction. A recent article about Poetry and Gender in New Zealand Publishing was especially interesting.
Incidentally, Janis is the guest reader at the next Poetry Café in Wellington, on Sunday 21 March: 4pm – 6pm, Ballroom Cafe, cnr Adelaide Rd and...
March 10, 2010
The New Zealand Poetry Society's 2010 International Poetry Competition
The New Zealand Poetry Society's annual International Poetry Competition, Verse and Haiku, is under way, with Open and Junior Sections. The Junior Open and Junior Haiku sections are open to students who are 17 years of age or younger on 31st May 2010. Please visit our website at www.poetrysociety.org.nz for full competition details and to download the entry forms. Last year's results, including winning poems and judges' reports, are also on the website.
Entries must be received by 31 May...
March 7, 2010
New Order: Sections, Statistics And Sequencing A Collection
There are good things and bad things about being an author who works in more than one format. On the downside, it takes longer to get any individual project finished. But on the upside, when I'm feeling blocked on one piece of writing, I can always work on another.
This past week, having temporarily worn myself out on my novel revisions, I've been doing some more work on the poetry collection I'm putting together, which I'm calling Men Briefly Explained.
The sticking point, which it's taken me ...
March 3, 2010
An Interview With Robert McLean
Robert McLean was born at Bethany in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1974. He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 2004 with an MA in political science and art theory. He returned to complete an MFA in creative writing in 2008. His poems, translations and articles have been published in a variety of print and electronic periodicals and anthologies, both locally and overseas. His first collection For the Coalition Dead was published by Kilmog Press in 2009.Robert, I think of you as...
February 28, 2010
Autumn Poetry Readings in Christchurch: Another Great Lineup
Even a streaming cold could not stop me having a great time reading in the 2009 Canterbury Poets Collective Autumn Reading Series. The 2010 lineup has now been announced, and it includes some of my favourite poets. If you live in or near Christchurch, I urge you to get along to one or more of these sessions.
Canterbury Poets present - Poetry in Performance
20th Anniversary Autumn Readings 2010
Open microphone and guest readers
Win a $20 MCB voucher - audience vote for the Best Open Mike Poet...
February 24, 2010
Science Fiction Author Haiku
Although I'm the co-editor of a science fiction poetry anthology, I have a great deal to learn about the many intersections of poetry and science fiction.
Scott Green, a past president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, sent me a review copy of his ebook anthology Private Worlds: A Revised Atlas, which contains short poems - mainly haiku - about science fiction, fantasy and horror writers and performers. Some of these poems appealed to me more than others, and Scott has kindly allowed ...
