Davey Dreamnation

Further to my post from a couple of weeks ago about Time Out Amsterdam, I can now proudly say that I’m a published author here in the Netherlands! Not just once, but three times! Bam!

Issue 1, edited by Stephen McLaughlin and Jim Carpenter purports to be a 3,785 page anthology of new poetry, published in PDF format under the for godot imprint. The front cover of the anthology lists, in miniature print, the names of all contributors. These names have also been posted on Ron Silliman’s blog, so I [...]

In a nice piece of synchronicity, UK poetry website Metaroar has posted an article by Angela Meyer in which Jill Jones (who testimonialised my book), Paul Hardacre (who is publishing my book) and myself (who, ehm, wrote my book) are interviewed on the subject of our poetic practices and other burning issues including nationalism, the [...]

My chapbook Abendland (pictured left, details) has been reviewed by Philly poet Adam Fieled on his excellent blog. Check out the review here. As far as I can tell, this is the first time my work has ever been reviewed, anywhere. I only have a couple of copies of the book left, but I hope [...]

I’m not usually one to go for publicity, prferring instead to slave anonymously over my poetry, honing my arcane craft in the desloate silence of my eyrie, but when I got a call from uber-poet and drop-dead spunk alicia sometimes asking if I’d like to come and talk to her writing students at Chisholm TAFE [...]

there’s a boy leaving home on
the train - i can see him see his
mother on the platform trying
not to cry - the boy knows no
restraint too young to hold it
in he’s bawling - for a moment
he is me & i can feel that sad
old fear of separation grown
into stoicism followed by pure
obliviousness - you grow [...]

all the concessions have finally closed
the luggage tags likewise now unravel -
i’ve spent the night in an airport alone
even the cleaners have all gone home …
out on the tarmacs the rain is a canvas
the planes are invisible up in the sky
at every counter the shutters have risen
only perfumes of the flight crews linger
the terminal’s redevelopment [...]

i thought i smelt bad on the outside!
now with this insufferable goon solo
hacking my insides away only to reveal
this succubus (this blonde boy tintin
i will revise the absolute truth of that
observation - phew! not a good start
i’ll say - & how he’ll go on to blow up
the death star (well that’s anybody’s
guess … whistle, snow-soaked [...]

two intersecting lines radiate strings of heart beats in four times double the directions secreting small agents into the surrounding streets & lanes transfers of desire stilt-legged voyages hour-burst rambles freshly-bottled smell of the underground random splices of muzac shred the dark corners of an interruption clock’s soundless alarm men follow women towards escalators triggered [...]

look up to the sky and phone me … don’t leave home without photographing it … never wake up when the stars are text messaging … just hang up when the delay starts messing with your head … all your italian credit is dead … gone to the great numeral zero in the magnetic strip [...]

in abendland our eyes only reflect
the windows of real estate agencies
couples roam there; small dogs shit
wherever they like; everyone has a
slightly bulging belly in abendland
& guitar music is de rigeur; words
like de rigeur are never used; rivers
flow & wood are pictures hung up in
galleries frequented on sundays &
feastdays only; post offices never
close; old audio cassettes [...]

i hear lady vader’s footsteps
clang on the stainless steel
gangway; i look busy attending
to my knobs & flashing buttons
but the dark side is so strong
in this one that i am forced
to switch on an emergency power
generator - red lights bleed
across my console & i swivel
in my chrome-plated bauhaus /
ikea captain’s chair to face
her wrath should it [...]

took a photograph of sunday night
then blew it all onto a wall in paint
something stirs in the brittle light -
almost like your first vacation’s
abrupt denoument; studio sounds
erupt into white (the power’s down)
this wasn’t scripted neither were
your forearms’ shudders - closing
in on abstract stalks that make a
silhouette in green a single figure
walks on your microscopic moon
but [...]

Sleeping through the pouring rain
Filling up the lakes and rivers she
Came to my dark dream bed &
Read me stories from a strange
Book (turned the pages like a
Grave & held me close under the
Nightlights smoking marijuana in
My mind - trucks speed onto
Autobahns while phone booths
Hold the sodden homeless pity
Breathes all through the fog but
Sometimes life just doesn’t [...]