brisbane

Web Surfin’ Time

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It’s raining poems on the World Wide Web this week (and raining, well, actual rain in Brisbane). This is poor timing for me – our new unit’s NBN is glacial, so we’re struggling to read poems/load gifs while haunted by the smooth white-noise of 1997 modem sounds.

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I’m so glad to have a poem out today with Red Room Company called “Bramble Terrace” – one of my blueprint poems, about a now-demolished house in Red Hill. This was commissioned following the Red Room Poetry Fellowship short-listings, and it’s something I’ve been tinkering with for some time. I seem to have lost most of the the photos I took inside the house, unfortunately, but this was the mosaic in the bathroom:

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#brisbanalia #redhill #mosaic #demolished

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Earlier this week, the Australian Book Review published the Queensland wing of their States of Poetry anthology, now in its second year. Thank you Felicity Plunkett for your deft editing and for bringing us all – Anna Jacobson, Pascalle Burton, me, Sam Wagon Watson, David Stavanger and Liam Ferney – together.

This week, catch poets and writers from all over Australia from the comfort of your own bed at the Digital Writers Festival (if you aren’t reliving ’97 download speeds). Don’t miss Brisbabes Rae White, Rebecca Jessen, QUT Lit Salon (feat. Emily O’Grady, Rebecca Cheers, Mindy Gill, Annabelle de Paola, and more) – and download yourself a sick new zine while you’re there.

What’re you waiting for? Get On-Line!*

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*It took over an hour to upload these gifs… but Neopets still loads okay. 👌

Queensland Writers Fellowship

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I’m writing to you through the gentle fog of a well-earned hangover. I’m still in stunned disbelief, but I have the certificate now, and it says I won a Fellowship at the Queensland Literary Awards.

This is absolutely life-changing stuff. Let’s be real: I’m a postgrad student writing poetry in Australia. Making ends meet and saving energy for creative work is a challenge, especially in what has been a varied and strange year. But through 2017 (I guess I’m allowed to toot my own horn on today of all days?), I feel I’ve been writing bolder, sharper poetry – my best yet – and I’m so, so grateful (and relieved and amazed and flabbergasted) to receive a prize that both legitimises my work and buys me real time to write in 2018.

It’s especially wonderful to be recognised by the Queensland Literary Awards – Brisbane is the most consistent character in my writing. This prize means I’ll actually have the time and means to make the various daft paeans to my city I’ve been desperately wanting to: poetry travel guides to lost and uncanny Brisbanes across zines, collages and digital artefacts. I can finish my second manuscript. And I am going to find that damn Dragoncoaster.

Last night was also the night I felt like I finally “emerged” after several years of occupying a strange grey space between “emerging” and “established” writer. Thank you so much to the QWF judges for thinking of me as a grown-up, and thank you for helping me pay my rent and go to the dentist so I can write in a room of my own, with all my teeth.

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Congratulations to my fellow winners and finalists of this year’s Queensland Literary Awards. I hope you, too, are eating cheese jaffles in bed with your cat this morning. (Pictured above are my co-Fellows, Linda Neil and Mirandi Riwoe.)

Many, many thanks are due. Each of these thanks comes wrapped in a very sparkly ribbon, but if you hold it in your hand it is cool and has weight, like a river-stone:

  • The Queensland Literary Awards and State Library of Queensland;
  • Sarah Holland-Batt and Rohan Wilson, my champions and cheerleaders at QUT;
  • Francis, the best and most precious of all humans, whose voice got me (and gets me) through this year;
  • My loving parents, Kathy and Derek, who put Babette Cole’s Princess Smartypants in my young (probably sticky) hands;
  • Tamryn Bennett and the Red Room Poetry Company, who’ve always supported my work;
  • My long-time collaborator and beer pal, composer Timothy Tate – it has been a pleasure to share each success over 15 years of friendship;
  • Woolf Pack‘s Rebecca Cheers, Cordite‘s Kent MacCarter, and my Voiceworks Magazine editors and co-editors;
  • The QUT poetry crew, with special congratulations to my fellow Fellow, Mirandi Riwoe, Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Award winner Mindy Gill, and finalists Emily O’Grady and Anna Jacobson (who was also shortlisted in the Emerging Writer Manuscript Award);
  • Sally, for the impromptu writing residency in your home (and perfect NY woods) earlier this year;
  • Kentucky Route Zero and Cardboard Computer, for expanding and challenging the way I think about poetry and space (and working-title inspiration); and
  • Every friend, support person and cat who has believed in me. You keep me afloat.

Here, as a reminder to myself forever, are the judge’s comments:

It was the ambition and design of Zenobia Frost’s proposed poetry collection A Museum of Dwellings that impressed the judges. The collection aims to examine some of the most pressing concerns in our relationship with space and place in the 21st Century, including psychogeography, travel, urban development and displacement, and this with a very Queensland focus. Frost’s poetry is both elegant and philosophically sophisticated and the panel agreed she is likely to produce a work of lasting significance.

Philosophically sophisticated! Me!❣️

Here is a final important gif expressing my feelings today:

scully2bfollows2bher2bdreams

Exercise: windows

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April writing exercises on suburban Brisbane windows*

Reading “An Ordinary Evening at Hamilton” (Malouf, 1974): “The garden shifts / indoors, the house lets fall / its lamp light, opens / windows in the earth”.

 

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outside in

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Shrödinger’s verandah
the house seeding its elements
built-in and building out

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everything gone but the fingernails

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after the demolition
just the fingernails

a lightbulb inside
an avocado

I seesaw in the skylight
alien in rust and oil
not waving but wavering

* Except for that bloody “hamburger” window, which was in St Marys, Tasmania, next to a discrete window for “savs”.

Freiburg on My Mind

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FIVE SLEEPS TILL EUROPE!

Naturally, my immune system has sensed that I’m on holiday and gone on a holiday of its very own, leaving me with a pile of prescriptions to take overseas. Typical.

Aside from a hearty regime of being a doona spoonie and topping my PB on Theme Hospital, I have been writing. Lots. I’m very privileged to have the guidance (and inventive writing prompts) of poet Warsan Shire via her online workshops, so I’ve been challenging myself to write in new ways: to music, to films, or by recording furious rants onto my iPhone (thanks KP for that tip) and seeing what can be salvaged. Taking risks in poetry sometimes feels genuinely scary, which probably means the experiments are worth it even if the end results fizzle out. We shall see.

More excellent challenges ahead: two weeks in Freiburg for the Black Forest Writing Seminars (which I continually mix up with Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs), bookended by adventures in Munich, Naples, Sorrento, Rome and Berlin. Eeeeeeeee. One person in my life isn’t very impressed, though:

I have ArtStart to thank for these incredible opportunities. As a direct result of Brandis’ massive arts funding cuts and restrictions, ArtStart grants no longer exist. I want other people to have these opportunities too! If you’re bummed about the government’s stranglehold on arts funding, you can join the fight to Free the Arts.

I look forward to checking in from the University of Freiburg, where I’ll be taking Adrianne Kalfopoulou’s poetry workshops and Roxane Gay’s nonfiction workshops, and hopefully writing and writing and writing, eating a lot of spätzle, and flexing my high-school German. I’m travelling with a bestie and with the protection of this little Brisbane friend:

Tschüss!
Z.

CIRCUS REVIEW: Scotch and Soda

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Company 2’s Scotch and Soda began its life at Woodford — and that grassroots festival vibe stays with it, even confined to a theatre. The Judith Wright Centre again proves itself to be a chameleon space: Dan Black’s clever lighting design makes use of colourful string-lights to evoke the big top. Company 2 (known for Cantina) conjures an immersive speakeasy atmosphere in the round through simple design, costuming and music. In this case, the Crusty Suitcase Band binds the production together and takes it from great to unforgettable.

Scotch and Soda features circus staples — acrobalance, aerials and slapstick — but what sets Company 2 apart is that, while each performer is at the top of their game, there’s a larrikin sense of chaos and play. It reassured me (just in case I was wondering if I was having a great time or not) to see two of Limbo’s cast members (Danik Abishev and Heather Holliday)* in the audience, having a damn good time. If international circus talent of that magnitude loves your show, it’s definitely good stuff.

Scotch and Soda by Sean Young (SYC Studios)

Scotch and Soda photographed by Sean Young (SYC Studios)

Chelsea McGuffin (co-director), whose signature move is to tiptoe across wine bottles, could balance her way out of any dilemma; David Carberry, Daniel Catlow and Ben Walsh bring chemistry to adagio and vaulting; and Mozes is hilarious on roller-skates but gobsmacking on trapeze. But Scotch and Soda is more than spectacle: the Crusty Suitcase Band is a vital part of the performance, with weird sax breaks and percussion-offs definite highlights. They even play the plastic bag, to great effect.

The only time Scotch and Soda takes a dip in energy is during a sequence featuring budgerigars, whose unwillingness to play along is comic, but ultimately overlong — and it’s unclear how keen the budgies are to keep us company. (There was also a puppy at the start that didn’t reappear — alas!)

Company 2’s last production, She Would Walk the Sky (World Theatre Festival, in collaboration with Finegan Kruckemeyer), struggled with incorporating sluggish prose. In Scotch and Soda, the company returns to its strengths, and the result is sheer delight.

SCOTCH AND SODA played at Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts from 24 to 27 September, as part of Brisbane Festival. Company 2 returns to JWCoCA in November with Sediment.

*BTW, Strut and Fret’s LIMBO is completely astounding and I spent all my BrisFest dollars on seeing it twice.

 

WUNDERKAMMER: Less than one week to go

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Less than one week to go until WUNDERKAMMER: the co-launch of Curio and Salt and Bone. Kristin and I are doubly excited! And so relieved that Avid is taking care of everything.

If you’d like to come, please RSVP via Avid Reader (for free!). This ensures we have enough free wine and nibbles for everyone to get sufficiently jolly.

If you can’t make the Brisbane launch but would still like a copy of either book (or both!), here’s how:

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INTERVIEW: Fetish Fridays

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Fetish Fridays celebrate their second successful year of bringing kinky shenanigans to the Brisbane stage. This Friday, Brisbane Leather Pride’s vice president, Lucero, clues me in on next Friday’s big playdate.

ZENOBIA FROST: Last year’s Fetish Fridays series were a great success, blending performance and play. What has changed as the event’s concept has developed through 2014?
LUCERO: The success of last year’s Fetish Fridays meant that we didn’t want to change much about the events themselves. What we’ve done is have the events at three different venues including holding one on the Gold Coast to make them more accessible to those living outside of Brisbane.

ZF: FFs are developed in collaboration with Brisbane Leather Pride. How important has it been to create a wholly inclusive space?
L: Incredibly important. Part of the Brisbane Leather Pride mandate is to be inclusive of all genders, orientations, lifestyles, etc. We aim for these events to be entertaining, educational and sometimes challenging but we endeavour most of all in making them accessible to everyone.

ZF: What will make even newbies feel at home?
L: The Fetish Fridays events are a great introduction due to the performance nature of the events. Many kink related events are promoted solely as ‘play’ parties, which implies that you must be an active participant to attend. While I know from experience that this is not the case, it certainly can make people nervous about attending. What you will get with Fetish Fridays #3 is a night of entertainment that will show a newcomer to the scene some of the things possible in the kink world — a showcase if you will. The BLP committee members in attendance will also be available to answer any questions people may have.

BLPZF: Tell me about the performances planned for FF #3. What will be your highlights?
L: Redbear and his beautiful partner Namaiki are seasoned performers who will no doubt put on a very moving rope performance. Dolly de Ville is spectacular on pole and fresh from competing in Miss Pole Australia. Reigning ‘Miss Burleque Brisbane’ Magnolia Knife will add some sass, while you can expect something dark from self-proclaimed Old Guard Goths Rex and Ruby.
I will be doing a suspension piece with the amazing Nix, but the highlight — for me at least — will be Master Pierre, who has something very special indeed planned with his pup Jolt. I do not want to give the game away before the night, but Master Pierre’s show will be both entertaining and challenging.

ZF: Your speciality is rope — though it’s not your only area of expertise. How do you make rope-play performative?
L: Honestly? By having an amazing rope bottom, Nix, who does all the hard work and makes me look good. Match this with some theatre, great music and costuming, and I find it is possible to transform a fairly simple rope suspension into something that will take the audience on a journey. Like most performance-based art I truly believe it is about telling a story and having the audience engage.

ZF: Tell me about FF’s newest space. How will it transform from performance to play space?
L: For the final Fetish Friday of 2014 we have chosen a secret location in the heart of Milton. Due to the successful nature of the shows last year, the chosen venue was practically at capacity, so this year we picked a bigger venue with plenty of space.
As the performances come to a close the lighting will dim and the music will start to change the atmosphere of the venue into something of a more underground club feel. As with all kink events, it is the people that make the most prevalent changes and I would expect to see the kinky regulars to start playing almost straight away. Non-active participants are encouraged to stay, watch and ask questions or if they feel comfortable get involved in a safe environment under the watchful eyes of staff and dungeon monitors.

ZF: The event also has a charitable side. Tell me about FF’s support of the Queensland AIDS Council (QuAC).
L: Proceeds from the event will go to support Brisbane Leather Pride this year, as we have just applied to become incorporated after our Inaugural General Meeting in May. While BLP is a not-for-profit venture and all non-performers donate their time voluntarily, there are of course some costs involved. That said, we have a long running association with QuAC and so we donate all monies raised from the excellent raffles held at each Fetish Friday to them. So far, over the first two events, we have raised over $500 for QuAC.

ZF: What’s the number-one thing that makes Fetish Fridays a highlight of Brisbane’s kinky calendar?
L: The kink scene is by its very nature is a somewhat underground place and still taboo in many people’s minds. This is one of the few times that the kink-curious can meet with the experienced and ask real people real questions in a safe and well-managed space.

FETISH FRIDAYS #3 runs from 7pm – 2am on 5 September 2014 in Milton, with the show itself starting at 8pm. (The exact location is sent with your ticket confirmation, but it’s close to Milton train station.) Tickets $30.