poetry

2016 Reading Challenge

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Taken from the Modern Mrs Darcy website I took up the following challenge for 2016 and here is my completed list:

A book published this year:
Harry Potter and The Cursed Child by JK Rowling

A book you can finish in a day:
Alone by Beverley Farmer

A book you’ve been meaning to read:
The Hollow of the Hand by PJ Harvey

A book recommended by your local librarian or book seller:
Girl in the Dark by Anna Lyndsey

A book you should have read in school:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A book chosen for you by your spouse, partner, sibling, child, or BFF:
Imajica by Clive Barker

A book published before your were born:
Aesop’s Fables by Aesop

A book that was banned at some point:
The Flowers of Evil by Charles Boudelaire

A book you previously abandoned:
The Unruly Passions of Eugenie R by Carole De Santi

A book you own but have never read:
Ordeal by Linda Lovelace

A book that intimidates you:
When the Wattles Bloom Again by Shirley W Wencke

A book you’ve already read at least once:
The Complete Words of Edgar Allan Poe

See You Next Tuesday

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See You Next Tuesday 

Never-mind untruths meaning why

Actuality a passive aggressive error

Spit upon your venomous sly

Cult of the abhorrent phrenic wearer

—

Reaking of uneducated contempt

Willingly forgotten and buried en-mass

Bad behavior you aren’t exempt

Carnivorous bark justified lack of class

—

Unrepentant as coffin bearer

Bride to the death throws

Always siding with internal terror

Backhanded lamb skinned clothes

—

Image-less facade will fade and crack

Cackling before compassionless mask

Aberrated head placed upon the rack

Stolen lips and forged task

—

Guilt trips heavily taxed

Resent razor blade tongue

Heart fence wrapped and waxed

The dance is done we’re stung

—

The song, the verse, the key

Gemini spilled lies granted

I am free – but you will never be

Your place with me transplanted

(C) T. Georgitsis 2016

Quotes on Poetry

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My favorite quotes on poetry by a poet and teacher:

“you enjoy language without knowing what it means”

“poetry has to resist finite meaning”

“poetry has to be a little obscene and honest”

“I want to be bewitched when I read poetry”

– Dr Ali Alizadeh, 2016

 

What Inspires Me: The Cure

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This week I went and saw one of my favorite bands of all time – The Cure.

I discovered this band as a teen and truth be told it was the poetic lyrical genius of Robert Smith who engaged and enamored me.

To me he’s like a modern day Gothic romantic and his words are dark yet illuminating.

One of my favorites, is the title song from the album “Disintegration”:

Disintegration

oh i miss the kiss of treachery the shameless
kiss of vanity the soft and the black and the
velvety up tight against the side of me and
mouth and eyes and heart all bleed and run in
thickening streams of greed as bit by bit it
starts the need to just let go my party piece

oh i miss the kiss of treachery the aching kiss
before i feed the stench of a love for a younger
meat and the sound that it makes when it cuts
in deep the holding up on bended knees the
addiction of duplicities as bit by bit it starts
the need to just let go my party piece

but i never said i would stay to the end so i
leave you with babies and hoping for frequency
screaming like this in the hope of the secrecy
screaming me over and over and over i leave
you with photographs pictures of trickery
stains on the carpet and stains on the scenery
songs about happiness murmured in dreams
when we both us knew how the ending would
be…

so it’s all come back round to breaking apart
again breking apart like i’m made up of glass
again making it up behind my back again
holding my breath for the fear of sleep again
holding it up behind my head again cut in deep
to the heart of the bone again round and round
and round and it’s coming apart again over and
over and over

now that i know that i’m breaking to pieces i’ll
pull out my heart and i’ll feed it to anyone
crying for sympathy crocodile cry for the love
of the crowd and the three cheers from
everyone dropping through sky through the
glass of the roof through the roof of your mouth
through the mouth of your eye through the eye
of the needle it’s easier for me to get closer to
heaven than ever feel whole again

i never said i would stay to the end i knew i
would leave you with babies and everything
screaming like this in the hole of sincerity
screaming me over and over and over i leave
you with photographs pictues of trickery
stains on the carpet and stains on the memory
songs about happiness murmured in dreams when we both
of us knew how the end always is…

how the end always is…

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Melbourne Writers Festival 2016

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The Melbourne Writers Festival is happening in Melbourne, Australia next month.

Victoria’s premier annual literary event. The Festival connects writers and stories to celebrate a world of literature, explore universal ideas, and inspire a global community of readers.

 

The Festival invites thought-provoking discussion at events exploring the hottest topical issues. For those who prefer to focus on life’s pleasures, there’ll be events for foodies, travelers and connoisseurs of culture. We’ll also invite adventurous readers to join like-minded lovers of literature for a range of relaxed social activities in unexpected places.

For all sessions and workshops check out their website here:

Melbourne Writers Festival

 

 

What Inspires Me: Old Photos

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Have you ever looked through your family’s old photo albums or gone to a market or antique store and seen old photos for sale?

These photos can be very useful for character development or inspiration in your fictional stories.

You can use them for historical fiction as well as flashbacks within your contemporary story.

So next time you come across some old photos – look again as they might inspire you to write something which never crossed your mind.

 

 

A Poem: Dropping Anchor

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Dropping Anchor

Shifting seas
Drifting aimlessly
Uncontrolled rudder
Moving where taken
Monsters subdued below in darkness
Quiet whilst dreaming of disobedience
Spotting the shore
Commanding the wheel
Steering towards safety
Monsters wake and cause a storm
Keep going or drop anchor

(C) T. Altman 2016

 

 

 

What Inspires Me: So You Want To Be A Writer – Poem by Charles Bukowski

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if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

Emerging Writers Festival

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The Emerging Writers Festival is happening in Melbourne, Australia next month.

The Emerging Writers’ Festival is a not-for-profit organisation whose foundations are built on supporting emerging writers. They are a place where creativity and innovation is celebrated, where new talent is nurtured and where diverse voices from across Australia are represented.

For all sessions and workshops check out their website here:

Emerging Writers Festival