ABC Radio National recently broacast a two-part series on “Australian Haiku”. Described as “A detailed exploration of this burgeoning poetic form with some of Australia’s leading practitioners”, the series was produced by Ron Sims for Radio National’s Poetica program.

     Twenty-six of Andrew’s haiku, along with excerpts of an interview he did with Ron Simms, were included in the series.

     “Australian Haiku – Part 1″ was broadcast on Saturday 21 June and again on Thursday 26 June. “Australian Haiku – Part 2″ was broacast on Saturday 28 June and again on Thursday 3 July. Both parts of “Australian Haiku” can be heard on the ABC’s website at: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/poetica/.

Andrew’s fantasy novel, With My Knife, has gone into an eighth print run. Omnibus Books (an imprint of Scholastic Australia) reissued the book at the end of May 2008.

     With My Knife is the first novel in the trilogy, The Chronicles of Klarin. The other two novels (which have also gone into additional print runs) are: Dragonfox and The Red Dragon.

Picaro Press has undertaken to published a new edition of Andrew’s 1987 poetry collection, Waking and Always.

     Apart from minor revisions to several poems, the new edition will be the same in content as the original edition.

     The new edition of Waking and Always will be published in Picaro Press’s Art Box Series.

     According to the publisher, “The Art Box Series aims to provide low-cost access to significant Australian poetry titles which, for whatever reason, are no longer generally available to the public.”

     Advance orders for Waking and Always can be placed through this website (download an order form) or through the publisher’s website at: www.picaropress.com. RRP $15.00.

 

Andrew is among 12 leading Western Australian poets to have his work represented on large free-standing panels by the City of South Perth in its new Poetry Park.

     The impetus for the Poetry Park came from Dr Ken Spillman, who conceived of it as a way to acknowledge and acclaim the work of Western Austalian poets.

     The dozen poets whose work was chosen for the panels lining the “Walk of Honour” in the park are all winners of the WA Premier’s Book Awards. Andrew won the Award in 1982 and 1985.

     Situated in the Neil McDougal Park, Como, the Poetry Park was opened by the Mayor of the City of South Perth on Thursday 15th May 2008.

     The poem printed on Andrew’s panel in the Poetry Park is “Happiness”, which is taken from his award-winning collection, Between Glances (William Heinemann Australia, 1993). It reads:

 

Happiness

A small green bird is hopping
up the grey trunk of a river gum.
The tree leans toward the water.
A duck floats on its reflection.

The climbing bird knocks a fleck
of bark into the water. The duck
inspects it then paddles away.
The Chinese poet Tu Fu wrote,

“After the laws of their being
all creatures pursue happiness.”
Watching the birds, the dragon-
flies, it occurs to me that Fu

is quite wrong. Apart from man,
all creatures simply are happy.
No duck ends the day with regret.
We alone aspire to something

Other. And we alone fall short.

 

© Andrew Lansdown

Published in May 2008
on a two-meter high free-standing panel
in the South Perth Poetry Park
(situated in the Neil McDougal Park, Como, WA)

 

See DOWNLOADS (top of page) for a PDF of the full-size panel bearing the poem.