Ruby Street: fear of fire

Friday, September 30, 2011

fear of fire

Sometimes at night
burning among cautions
so when you wake
sufficient clouds flame
you were floating in

what you haven’t done
seek to tongue and carry
remembered chora
heavy moon
will not let you sleep

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You can get a copy of Dark Bright Doors direct from Wakefield Press - and you can read a preview on their site.

"In 1992, Australian poet Jill Jones released a stunning debut collection of poems The Mask and the Jagged Star [...] Her latest collection of poems, Dark Bright Doors,, continues to explore the road less travelled. [...] Her poems can be violent. They are all haunted by the same brutal truths about love and hope and the wedges that age, distance and human frailty drive between them. Dark Bright Doors exudes wide-eyed angst and a sense of discovery that's hard to put across in prose." - Hamesh Wyatt, Otago Daily Times, 19 June, 2010

"Jill Jones’s sparse lyrics, most barely filling a page, are warm, wondrous and sensual. From [the] opening image it is clear that these poems will be dark, sinuous, unsettling and enigmatic. The volume does not disappoint. It gleams. ... This is not transparent poetry. It is intelligent and elusive as well as allusive ... Portraying a dysfunctional and disquieting dystopia, Jones’s poetry is both symptomatic of and diagnostic of this fallen realm we inhabit: the Twenty-First Century. ... Yet here and there are glimpses of tranquillity ... revelling in colour, form, plane, angle and light. I cannot speak highly enough of Jill Jones’s work. She is quite simply one of the best poets writing in Australia today, and her poetry deserves a wide audience – indeed, it demands to be read." - Alison Clifton, M/C Review

"... explores the landscapes of the self and how they interface with place and language. Like the title, the book is a confluence of light and dark."- The Northern Star, Mar 27, 2010

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Out of the Box: Contemporary Australian Gay and Lesbian Poets, eds, Michael Farrell and Jill Jones

Available now from Abebooks

"superb, ground-breaking ... Out of the Box makes a compelling case for considering the relationship between sexuality and poetic creativity." David McCooey, The Age, 20 Feb 2010

"This book has nothing to prove: it is an assured, open-handed gesture of creativity — entertaining, thought-provoking, full of mystery and revelation. The poetry world, and by extension our culture, might be enriched, enlivened and inspired by all these queer voices." Will Day, Eureka Street, 5 March 2010

"It seems to me that it is the best Australian anthology for some years now. ... The introductions by the editors, Michael Farrell and Jill Jones, are exemplary and the volume is beautifully designed ..." Laurie Duggan, Graveney Marsh, 23 Feb 2010

"... should provoke debate (among other things) about gay and lesbian identity and community, and about the relationship between poet and reader. ... a rich poetic lode" Gregory Kratzmann, Australian Book Review, April 2010

"Farrell and Jones do a fine job here, looking for surprising approaches from their poets. ... The standard of the poems is high, ... and there are few moments ... when one isn’t given something to enjoy, admire or chew over." Martin Duwell, Australian Poetry Review, 1 April 2010

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Jill Jones: Passages: Annotations: An e-book of poetry and process.

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Jill Jones: Broken/Open: Shortlisted - Kenneth Slessor Poetry Prize 2006; The Age Poetry Book of the Year 2005

Available now from Salt Publishing

"The result is poetry of unsettling mystery and beauty. ... [t]he art of this book lies in the precision with which it renders the glassiness of things, the shatterings, without having to say so - passionate and parodic at once, as cool as all get out."- Barry Hill, The Australian

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Jill Jones: Fold Unfold: Poems written in reference to paintings. In the Vagabond Press Rare Objects Series

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Jill Jones: Traverse: An e-chapbook of sonnets, published in The Drunken Boat

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Jill Jones: Breath, the hours: An e-chapbook collaboration with photographer Annette Willis, published in The Drunken Boat