Studio, No. 156, 2022, contains three of Andrew’s poems—”When They Came”, “Barking Geckos” and “The Bamboo Project”.
Two poems in Seagift
The inaugural issue of Seagift 2022 contains two poems by Andrew—”The Homecoming” and “A Game of Anything”.
To quote the magazine Introduction, “Seagift is … a beginning. It is an inaugural collection of poems, non-fiction, and fiction curated by members of the Creative Writing team at Sheridan Institute of Higher Education.” The members of the curating/editorial team are: Melinda Tognini, T. C. Shelley and Miriam Wei Wei Lo.
Although Andrew was/is not part of the editorial team, he is an adjunct lecturer in Creative Writing at Sheridan Institute.
The text of Andrew’s poem, “A Game of Anything”, is reproduced below:
A Game of Anything
I am watching two little girls
like ducklings totteringin line behind their mother—
only, they are making a gameof the going, taking care
with wing-flappings for balanceto keep in the lanky shadow
she is casting on the asphaltas she trundles her trolly
in the late afternoon sunlightthrough the shopping-centre carpark.
© Andrew Lansdown
two poems in inScribe
Two of Andrew’s Poems—”Kimberly Hand” and “Meditations On Impermanence”—have been published in inScribe: Journal of Creative Writing, No. 4, August 2022.
“Meditations On Impermanence” is a set of four tanka. “Kimberly Hand”, reproduced below, consists of two stanzas, each with a syllabic structure like a tanka.
Kimberley Hand
Stencilled on stone
in spattered orange ochre—
a hand that once held
a flint knife and a fire stick,
a war club and a child’s hand.It was, I suppose,
a hunter’s hand, this outline
in ochre spatter:
I suppose, too, none can tell
if he meant to wave farewell.© Andrew Lansdown
Poem in The Mozzie
Volume 30, Issue 6 (January 2023) of The Mozzie contains a poem by Andrew. The poem, “After the Fishermen”, consists two tanka. The second, subtitled “Spillage” is reproduced below.
2. Spillage
Pluck a red petal
from a gerbera, string it
with other petals …
Now look at the gills spilling
from the severed salmon head …
© Andrew Lansdown
Three Poems in Studio
Three of Andrew’s poems have been published in Studio, Number 153, 2021. The poems are “A Game of Anything”, “Restraint” and “Bamboo Triptych”. The same issue of Studio contained a review by Ian Keast of Andrew’s latest poetry collection, Abundance: New & Selected Poems. (Read the review here.)
Nine poems in Seven issues of The Mozzie
Andrew had nine poems in seven issues of The Mozzie in 2022:
Volume 29, Issue 7, January 2022 — “Breakdown”
Volume 29, Issue 10, May 2022 — “Ukrainian Villanelle” (text of poem posted on August 12, 2022)
Volume 30, Issue 1, July 2022 — “She”
Volume 30, Issue 2, August 2022 — “Little Things” and “The Dunking Birds”
Volume 30, Issue 3, August 2022 — “Times of Fox-Dread”
Volume 30, Issue 4, October 2022 — “Petal Poems, Kyoto”
Volume 30, Issue 5, December 2022 — “Ninth Month”
“Ninth Month”, a light-hearted, imagist tanka, is reproduced below:
Ninth Month
A cement mixer—
the shape, of course, but even
the way while sleeping
she would toss about and turn
to keep our child on the churn.© Andrew Lansdown
Two Poems in Quadrant
The October 2022 issue of Quadrant contains two of Andrew’s poems—”Concerning Austerity and Creativity” and “The Daylight Fox”. Each poem is a two-tanka set.
Poem in StylusLit
The online journal StylusLit has published Andrew’s poem, “About Emptiness”. Appearing in Issue 12 (September 2022), the poem is a set of three haiku on a common theme.
As stated on the journal’s website, “StylusLit is an Australian, bi-annual online literary journal, which publishes poetry, short stories, creative non-fiction, novel excerpts, interviews and reviews.”
“About Emptiness” is reproduced below. You can also read it on the StylusLit website here.
Andrew to read at Perth Poetry Club on 1st September
Perth Poetry Club has invited Andrew to read on Saturday, 1st of September.
Andrew will give two readings: One will feature poetry from his latest book, Abundance: New and Selected Poems; the other will feature the poems of William Hart-Smith.
Perth Poetry Club meets every Saturday at 2.00-4.00 pm at the Moon Café, 325 Williams Street, Northbridge.
If unable to attend Andrew’s reading in person at the Moon Café, you can watch via Zoom. Learn how to connect to the Zoom meeting from the club’s website here.
Poem in The Mozzie
The Mozzie has published a poem by Andrew in its May 2022 issue (Volume 29, Issue 10). A bitter lament at the plight of the Ukrainians at the hands of the Russians, it is reproduced below:
Ukrainian Villanelle
How we admire them as we watch them die,
the brave beaten unbowed people of Kyiv,
how they lift our spirits and make us sigh.We applaud as they refuse to comply
with the demand that they lie down to live
and we admire them as we watch them die.A kid lifts a Kalashnikov to his eye,
a pensioner arms himself with a shiv—
how they lift our spirits and make us sigh!A husband lingers on a last goodbye
a mother howls a hurt she cannot forgive—
how we admire them as we watch them die.Who’ll answer tyranny, and how and why?
Let them—they’ve valour enough to give.
How they lift our spirits and make us sigh.Cowering behind Covid masks, we cry
with all the pretentiousness of a spiv
how we admire them as we watch them die,
how they lift our spirits and make us sigh!© Andrew Lansdown
Feature image: Homoatrox, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons