review - and a mention

Barry Hill does the rounds with two recent Australian poetry anthologies. A mention of JJ amongst the other new and notable.

Comments

genevieve said…
Don't want to put you on the spot, Jill, as you are in both. But he was a little tough about the Black Inc selection.
26/01/2008, 15:42
Jill Jones said…
Not a problem, Genevieve.

The way I read it was Barry making a point about the way the Black Inc anthology was compiled, which is the editor's and/or publisher's prerogative, nuthin' to do with us chickens (don't know whose decision it was in this case to not ask for submissions, tho' I assume it was the editor's).

Anthologies are always difficult; you could argue the editor is always leaving something out. I'm often critical of them because of that, and have been criticised similarly when I was an editor. It must be hard to be 'representative (if, indeed, that's what an anthology should be) when essentially all you've got are the poems published in a year.

I was a bit miffed that the editor of Black Inc previous year (06) and then UQP 07 chose the same poem of mine, but them's the breaks. Still, you can mount fair criticism about what is left out so long as you pony up with reasons and examples. Do you think that the case wasn't made?

Thanks for stopping by.
26/01/2008, 16:10
derek said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
27/01/2008, 08:04
derek said…
i made a comment, but it was riddled with spelling mistakes.

i guess that what my comment was about: at least partially (as an editor) you have to be 'seen' to be doing the right thing. too many abr selections, & it will 'look' bad.

of course my opinion that abr isn't the venue for the greatest aus. poetry is neither here nor there.

but dammit, i will have my opinions...
27/01/2008, 08:11
Jill Jones said…
Sure. The 'being seen to be' is as important whenever you step into the public arena. (And as it is for reviewers as well.)

Or put another way, the process is as important as the product (urgh, that sounds a bit ugly).

In other words, someone's always looking at what you're doing.
27/01/2008, 10:34
Post a Comment

Popular Posts

vale Jackson Mac Low 1922-2004

Belatedly, wanting to acknowledge the passing of Jackson Mac Low last week. There's an obituary at The New York Times and here's more info on Mac Low . The poem below is from his series of Light Poems. 1ST LIGHT POEM: FOR IRIS -- 10 JUNE 1962 The light of a student-lamp sapphire light shimmer the light of a smoking-lamp Light from the Magellanic Clouds the light of a Nernst lamp the light of a naphtha-lamp light from meteorites Evanescent light ether the light of an electric lamp extra light Citrine light kineographic light the light of a Kitson lamp kindly light Ice light irradiation ignition altar light The light of a spotlight a sunbeam sunrise solar light Mustard-oil light ...
Read more

connecting poetry and TED

As well as taking part in events at the Sydney Writers Festival next week, I'll also be doing a quite different gig in Sydney on Saturday 22 May, at the Carriageworks. I will be part of some readings organised by The Red Room , at an event called TEDx, which is taking place in Sydney at CarriageWorks on Saturday 22 May 2010 and featuring, as the website claims, a selection of Australia's leading visionaries and storytellers showcasing their Ideas Worth Spreading LIVE to a group of thinkers ... as well as ONLINE to the world at large"." It's part of something called TED which is described as "a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design" . As for the poetry part it will include Johanna Featherstone from the Red Room making a presentation about the role of poetry in Australian society. To complement Johanna's talk will be rea...
Read more

making do

Every so often I have my hair 'done'. It's a luxury, a kind of time-out. Two hours or more to think and dream along different streams. A public kind of dreaming, especially on a Thursday evening, when it's crowded. I get to read fashion magazines. I am far from the type for these. I could not wear the clothes featured, nor put on the shoes or contemplate the make up nor the diet fantasies proposed and propelled along their pages. It is all wonderfully alien, yet territory for thinking. My hairdresser, Sam, gives me decent coffee, maybe a small Greek biscuit from the cake shop across the way. I don't talk much. The staff and other customers gossip around me and there's a lot of laughing and screeching. This is both comforting and friendly, but also exclusive. Or, as I realise, it's me who excludes. That I have nothing to say into this. But that isn't the point for me. This time, and I wonder if it will stick, I think of ways in which I might need to chang...
Read more