Ruby Street

And here's a curiosity. The Copyright Agency has a program called Reading Australia, and as part of it they released their 'Top 200 Australian Literary Titles'. And my name appears not once but twice. First, for an older book of mine, Broken/Open , and then as co-editor with Michael Farrell, of Out of the Box . The full list is available on the Agency's website. Lot's of classic and contemporary Australian titles to consider.

Michael Farrell has just posted some comments on a couple of my poems on the Jacket2 site . He points out that some recent poems, such as these two, 'Leaving It To the Sky', from Dark Bright Doors , and 'Misinterpretations/ or the Dark Grey Outline' , recently published in Overland , are, in his words, more 'aggressive' and 'rawer, rougher, more "live" '. I hadn't thought of the newer poems in those terms, exactly. And another reviewer has pointed out the 'violence' in some of my work, overall . But it's apparent that Michael has noticed a newer mode in my work, that there are things 'up with which I will not put' any longer. A new assertiveness, rather than the previous assertiveness (which is there, if you look). He says: "It's a broader, more assertive platform for Jones's brand of projective verse, and one that bodes well for a midcareer future." Parts of the poem, 'Misinterpretations ......

Michael Farrell has a new book out, thempark , from Book Thug in Canada. Great cover and poetry that uses the poetry of John Ashbery as a kind of template. "... – Oprah to your left, Gitmo down that aisle, and over there, marzipan. “It’s an ipod world.” As his title implies, Farrell is caught between a themepark designed by Ashbery and a 'thempark' where the others live" says Michael Davidson.

I also caught up with Michael Farrell , who was up this way for the Critical Animals component of TINA (This Is Not Art) in Newcastle, and also was staying in Sydney. In fact, some of us toasted his birthday while he was here. Another Libran, like yours truly. Michael has a new book out, BREAK ME OUCH, which is a poetry comic book (or 'poetry cartoons', Michael says) in a neat A4 black and white format, funny, zany, cool. He put it together himself with the help of 3 Deep , but I can't find a direct link to it on their site. I'm sure Michael would direct you to where you could get copies.