Blog
Reminder
“In a world where death is at our shoulder every hour,” says Gant “even the smallest act of creativity is a marvellous, courageous thing.”
— Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness, Anthony Neilson
The Next Big Thing
Recently, Melissa Ashley tagged me in The Next Big Thing — a kind of interview-chain for writers, asking ten questions Continue reading
Seeya, 2012
It has been a mixed year, but somehow we packed a lot into it. Like a small bottle overfilled with the makings of gingerbeer; if we shake it up too much tonight, the whole year might burst out and overflow into 2011 and ’13. (2011 deserves everything it gets, but I’d like 2013 to have a shot at a fresh start, thank you.)
In 2012, I’ve travelled more than ever: overseas once, and interstate three times (to Vic., NSW, and SA) and all around Queensland with the QPF Regional Roadshow. At Varuna, in November, I finished an 80-page poetry manuscript (I hope you’ll see it soon) and sent dozens of new and edited poems Continue reading
Varuna-ings
This weekend I’ll be on stage at Raw Poet Roar (Saturday, Dec. 1) at The Box in West End. Darkwing Dubs has organised a massive line-up of features, so it’s going to be intense like 70% chocolate. Om nom nom. See you there?
Time has slipped away again, and the week I spent at Varuna occupies a dreamspace between Continue reading
September gigs: Brisbane and Melbourne
September, festival season, is always my favourite time in Brisbane. The Spiegeltent has appeared by the river; the Lantern Walk illuminates South Bank; and I’m completely immersed in wonderful Brisbane Festival art. Whether for OffStreet Press or in poetry, I’ve been writing up a storm. (It’s nearly rainy season Continue reading
QPF Roadshow Round-Up
The dust has settled in Central Queensland, and the good people of Bundy, Gladdy and Rocky have survived the onslaught of poets. The Queensland Poetry Festival was a blast last-last weekend (24–26 August, 2012) at The Judith Wright Centre, but we touring poets didn’t skip a beat. We arrived in Bundaberg on Monday, 27 August, to give the first of our regional workshops.
I had the pleasure of travelling nationally with the Arts Queensland Touring Poets Program in 2009, but this is the first regional outing for QPF. I joined performance poets Scott Sneddon (Darkwing Dubs) and Steve Smart (from Melbourne), and QPF’s lovely Talina McKenzie Continue reading
Poets on the Road
Delight! After Queensland Poetry Festival weekend in August, I’m joining Darkwing Dubs and Steve Smart on the QPF Regional Roadshow. We’re stopping in on Bundaberg, Mackay and Rockhampton to give performances and workshops. I can’t wait. We get to go by plane and train! I’m picturing Platform 9 & 3/4, pumpkin juice, and an owl… I’ve always wanted to travel by train — and it’s high time I saw more of Queensland. See you soon, northerners!
All the workshops are free, and you can book in by emailing Talina at qldpoetry@gmail.com.
Here’s our itinerary:
Three Score Years in Verse
The Space, a very splendid UK arts publication, recently launched 60 Years in 60 Poems. I mention it here because it’s one of the coolest things I’ve found on The Internuts in recent times.
The design shows the potential for online publications to be delicious, even tactile things. The poems, as far as I can see, have been commissioned for the project, which has audio, text, visuals, and all sorts of buttons longing to be clicked.
I keep getting stuck in a loop of listening to poems, hypnotised by the spinning record design. Then, I read over the text of the poem, or read it aloud myself. It’s a wonderful platform for savouring words: the flavour of them, textures, sounds, and smells.
In “1962”, Brian Patten writes:
Words smelled of tulips and marigolds
Their fumes made sentences
That the bees stole for themselves
Midyear News
What a week.
Last Friday I finished my final exam for the degree I’ve been whittling away at for six years. In 2007, I started a BFA in “Creative Writing Production” at QUT (now “Creative and Professional Writing”). Chronic ill-health and wanderlust took their respective tolls, and I QUiT to work and travel, returning to study at UQ in 2009. Here I am with (almost) a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature/Writing. BAs in English might be a dime a dozen, but mine was hard-won and it is surreal to finally be finished.
What none of us expected this week was for Rave Magazine to meet its doom. The news devastated Rave staff and contributors. Whenever I remember suddenly what I’ve lost — in losing Rave — it feels like a kick to the chest. We loved this magazine, and as a publication I loved it for its integrity, high editorial standards and commitment to the arts. I can only hope I’ll get to work with and for such excellent people (Chris Harms and Jody Macgregor especially) again one day.
Thanks to Rave, Brisbane’s performing and visual arts have — frankly — taught me more than any degree could have. I have fallen so deeply in love with Brisbane and its mettlesome artists. Rave leaves a big hole in our hearts, and all I can do now is try to find new ways to stay in touch with communities that have been so good to me. (If you have any ideas on how a new publication should support Brisbane arts, let me know!) We’re all very grateful for the kind messages flooding Rave inboxes. At the very least, I will have the arts listings out somewhere on time next Tuesday. I’ve already started them.
None of us knew till after Issue #1047 went to print on Tuesday that it would be Rave’s last. It was surreal (again) to troop down to Civic Video (another dying breed — the Rosalie one survived the floods, and is the only video store left near me) to complete rituals: pick up Rave, rent a terrible movie, buy chocolate/samosas/chocolate samosas. Seeing this humble pile of deathbed Raves undid me all over again.
That’s enough melancholy for now. I have to trust that a whole aviary of phoenixes are currently gestating in the ashes of what Queensland has recently lost and might soon lose. Keep your fighting trousers pressed and close to hand.
Zenobia Frost 