One of Andrew’s poems has been included in the Australian Poetry Anthology, Volume 7, 2019. The poem, “Prank Call”, is also published in Andrew’s latest poetry collection, Distillations of Different Lands (Sunline Press).
Poem in The Mozzie
The Mozzie published Andrew’s poem “Sounds and Wrens” in its Vol. 27, No. 5 issue. This poem consists of two tanka and it is also published in Andrew’s latest poetry collection, Distillations of Different Lands (Sunline Press).
Poem in The Mozzie
The Mozzie published Andrew’s poem “Suburban Birds” in its April 2019 issue (Vol. 27, No. 3). This poem, which is a set of five haiku, is included in Andrew’s latest book of poetry, Distillations of Different Lands, which has was released late last year by Sunline Press.
Poem in Quadrant
Andrew’s poem “Autumn Maples” has been published in the April 2019 issue of Quadrant magazine. The poem, a set of two tanka, is reprinted below:
Autumn Maples
. .1
Spinning Out
As they spun out
during the scourging of Christ,
so the blood-drops
are hurtling from the maples
as the wind flogs their raw backs.
. .2
Right Time
The south hemisphere
is not the maples’ true home
—and yet only here
do they perform the Passion
plays at the right time of year.
© Andrew Lansdown
New Book – Kyoto Momiji Tanka: Poems & Photos of Japan in Autumn
Rhiza Press has published a new collection of Andrew’s poems and photographs.
Kyoto Momiji Tanka is a stunning collection of poems and photographs celebrating the ancient capital of Japan, Kyoto, during autumn, when the maples (momiji) vividly colour the natural, cultural and emotional terrains of the Japanese.
The poems (written in a traditional Japanese form known as tanka) and photographs introduce readers to a fascinating world of Shinto brides, tanuki, spirit foxes, geisha, shakuhachi players and, of course, autumn maples.
Kyoto Momiji Tanka is a companion volume to Kyoto Sakura Tanka (Rhiza Press, 2016), which celebrates Kyoto in spring during the cherry blossom (sakura) season.
Read sample poems and view sample photographs on the Kyoto Momiji Tanka page on this website here.
Order a copy of Kyoto Momiji Tanka for $24.95 (free postage in Australia) through the Buy Books page on this website.
Two Poems in Quadrant
The March 2019 issue of Quadrant magazine contains two of Andrew’s poems— “Of Maples and …”, a 5-tanka gunsaku, and “Windbells at Fushimi Inari Shrine”, a 4-tanka gunsaku. The first and third “Windbells” tanka are reproduced below:
Windbells at Fushimi Inari Shrine
. .1
Beckoning
A shop at the shrine
selling big-tailed stone foxes
and toy-sized torii
has a dangle of windbells,
all dinging with the wind’s dint.
. .3
Sacredness
There is everything
and nothing sacred about
this Shinto windbell
whose fashioned material
sounds out the ethereal.
© Andrew Lansdown
Poem in The Mozzie
The Mozzie published Andrew’s poem “The Spatter Painter” in its January-February 2019 issue (Vol. 27, No. 1). This poem, which is a set of two tanka, is included in Andrew’s latest book of poetry, Distillations of Different Lands, which was released late last year by Sunline Press.
Three poems in Studio
The latest issue of Studio magazine (No. 145, 2019) contains three of Andrew’s poems: “Them Shoes”, “Miscellaneous Thoughts on Poetry” and “Suburban Birds”.
“Miscellaneous Thoughts on Poetry” is set of three tanka, while “Suburban Birds” is a set of five haiku. “Them Shoes” is a 52-line “free form” poem set in Bourbon Street in New Orleans. All three poems are included in Andrew’s latest book , Distillations of Different Lands, which has was released late last year by Sunline Press.
The first and last haiku in “Suburban Birds” are reprinted below:
Suburban Birds
. .i
The overhead wire—
a pair of welcome swallows
singing in the sag.
. .v
Such a lovely note—
how could I not look up to
find the pardalote?
© Andrew Lansdown
Poem in Eucalypt: A Tanka Journal
Eucalypt: A Tanka Journal (Issue 25, 2018) has just published Andrew’s poem “Chimney Tree”.
Needless to say, his poem is a tanka, a poem written in a traditional Japanese form of five lines arranged in 5.7.5.7.7 syllables respectively. (Andrew views this strict syllabic structure as the ideal and strives to duplicate it, although many tanka poets writing in English today disregard it altogether.)
Eucalypt‘s style is to dispense with titles, capital letters and full-stops. Accordingly, Andrew’s tanka was published in the journal as follows:
it’s a chimney tree,
that motley-barked wandoo with
its hollow branches—
come twilight, little bats will
waft from those flues like ashes© Andrew Lansdown
2 Poems in Quadrant
The December 2018 issue of Quadrant magazine contains two of Andrew’s poems—”Bindi” and “The Spatter Painter”.
These poems are included in Andrew’s latest book of poetry, Distillations of Different Lands, which has just been released by Sunline Press.