2 poems in Falling and Flying anthology

Ageing_Cover_big

Two of Andrew’s poems have been published in the new Brandl & Schlesinger anthology, Falling an Flying: Poems on Ageing. The editors, Susan Ogle and Judith Beveridge, chose Andrew’s poems “Meditations on Pain” and “Us2″ for inclusion.

On their website (http://brandl.com.au/recent-titles/falling-and-flying), the publishers state:

Falling and Flying: Poems on Ageing – is the first collection of its kind to be published in Australia.  The editors have selected a broad range of Australian poems which explore the universal experience and effects of ageing.  Whether the poets are witnessing themselves or their parents and friends succumb to the years, they speak with great precision and insight into illness, frailty, death, loss, grief and retirement as well as the joys and the wisdom that late maturity can bring.  There is humour as well as sadness in this fine and important collection, which includes the work of some of Australia’s best loved poets, a volume to be cherished by readers of any age.

Dr Susan Ogle is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and geriatrician at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney and has recently completed a Masters of Medical Humanities.  Susan has been interested in medical education for many years, using literature (stories and poetry), patient and family narratives and role play.  She is co-editor of Reflection, the humanities section of the Australasian Journal on Ageing.  Her poetry has been  published in literary and medical journals.

Judith Beveridge is the author of six volumes of poetry, most recently Devadatta’s Poems and Hook and Eye.  She is the poetry editor of Meanjin and teaches poetry writing at postgraduate level at the University of Sydney.  She has won many prizes for her poetry including the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal and the Christopher Brennan Award.  Her work has been studied in schools and universities and has been translated into several languages.

Poetry | Published November 2015

ISBN: 978-1-921556-87-6 pb

RRP: $29.95

Poem in anthology, Prayers of a Secular World

Andrew is one of the poets represented in the latest anthology by publishers Inkerman & Blunt.

Prayers of a Secular World is edited by Jordie Albiston and Kevin Brophy and contains 100 poems by new and established Australian poets.

Andrew’s poem in the anthology is “Forgetting”. It was published earlier in the year by The Weekend Australian Review with the title “Forgetting-Grass”. (For the text of the poem, see the 5th January 2015 entry, “Poem in Weekend Australian Review”, on the home page of this website.)

6 poems in FreeXpresSion

 

Six of Andrew’s poems have been published in the October 2015 issue of FreeXpresSion magazine. The poems have been reprinted from Andrew’s books, Gestures of Love: The Fatherhood Poems (Wombat Books, 2013) and Inadvertent Things: Poems in traditional Japanese forms (Walleah Press, 2013).

One of the poems taken from Gestures of Love is “The Tanka of the Imperial Courts”, a love poem for the poet’s wife, Susan. An earlier version of this poem was published in Andrew’s book Waking and Always (Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1987). Andrew rewrote “The Tanka of the Imperial Courts” for the second edition of Waking and Always, published by Picaro Press (Warners Bay, NSW) in 2008. Whereas the original poem was written in free verse, the revised poem is written in four tanka-stanzas, which is to say, each stanza is structured like a tanka, with 31 syllables arranged in lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 syllables. While the integrity of the original poem has been preserved, it has been refined and intensified by this revising and restructuring. The new version of the poem, most recently published in FreeXpresSion, is reprinted below:

 

The Tanka of the Imperial Courts

 

The ancient tanka

of Japan are quite imbued

with love and longing.

And reading them at tea break

filled me with yearning for you.

 

Through the weariness

of the day’s working I thought

of my years with you,

the many swift flowing years

of our courtship and marriage.

 

Remember, my love,

after our first lovemaking,

the swallows winging

about us as we swam down

the slow dark river at dusk?

 

In celebration

of our honeymoon—hundreds

of welcome swallows

skimming the water, kissing

their reflection as they drank!

                    © Andrew Lansdown

Poems in The Mozzie

The last two issues of The Mozzie magazine have published poems by Andrew. The July 2015 issue contains his poem “Forgetting-Grass”, while the August 2015 issue contains his poem “Of Petals and Poets”.

5 poems in Quadrant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five of Andrew’s poems have been published in the July-August 2015 issue of Quadrant. They are “The Small Souls”, “Memories of War”, “Of Petals and Poets”, “Nothing” and “Wasp and Water”.

The poem “Of Petals and Poets” is from Andrew’s forthcoming collection of poems and photographs, provisionally titled Kyoto Sakura Tanka. The poems in this new collection, which will be published by Wombat Books, are all tanka (or, to use an older designation, waka), which is appropriate for a collection of poems (along with photographs) set in Kyoto in spring and focusing on Japan’s renowned cherry blossoms.

 

Of Petals and Poets

Kyoto Spring

 

The waka poets

weighted the cherry petals

with sad sentiment …

Nonetheless they sail the air

as if unburdened with care.

 

               © Andrew Lansdown

4 poems in Regime

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four of Andrew’s poems have been published in in the latest edition (No. 5) of Regime: A Magazine of New Writing.

The publishers, Regime Books, state:

Announcing with pleasure Regime 05, The Poetry Issue, which has been edited by renowned poet and Regime Contributing Editor Andrew Burke.

We’re proud to present a collection of the best contemporary poetry and poets currently at work in the world. In this latest issue of Regime, you will find new work from Andrew Taylor, Andy Jackson, Annamaria Weldon, Jill Jones, Judith Rodriguez, Geoff Page, Amanda Joy and Andrew Lansdown.

Andrew’s poems in this latest issue of Regime are “Concerning the Perils of Cherry Petals” (a 5-haiku gunsaku), “Gazing at a Geisha”, “The Stilt’s Sobriquet” and “Family Restaurant Tanka” (a 4-tanka gunsaku).

The fourth tanka in “Family Restaurant Tanka” is titled “Conformity” and is reproduced below:

 

Conformity

 

‘Don’t step on the lines!’

Being used to being obeyed,

the child does not check

behind to observe with what care

her mother follows, square on square.

               © Andrew Lansdown

 

Read more details about Regime No. 5 on the publisher’s website here: http://www.regimebooks.com.au/regime-05-magazine-of-new-writing/

Copies of Regime No. 5 can be purchased from the Book Depository, here http://www.bookdepository.com/Regime-05-Magazine-New-Writing/9780987482150

1 poem in Quadrant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The June 2015 issue of Quadrant contains Andrew’s poem “Silver Pendant”, which consists of three tanka, “Fallen”, “Assumption” and “Lost”. Quadrant has accepted a further five poems from Andrew for publication later this year.