Andrew’s poem “In from the Garden” has been published in Dear Dad: Poems by Australians about Fathers, an antholgy published jointly by the Australian Poetry Centre, Relationships Australia and designers/publishers Gracia and Louise.

 Celebrating dads, this attractive alternative to a Fathers’ Day card, includes the best poems about dads from poets across the country, as well as contributions from Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, esteemed poet, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, as well as TV and radio personalities Alan Brough and John Clarke.

 

Order a copy of Dear Dad for $15 (plus $3 postage) by emailing admin@australianpoetrycentre.org.au

Quadrant magazine published two of Andrew’s poems – “Every Cell” and “Timphony” – in its July-August issue. “Every Cell” is reproduced below:

 

Every Cell

 

While women try to leap it,

the gorge between the genders,

men mostly stand and gape.

O, that gorgeous otherness,

wider than ideology’s lies!

 

Breast, larynx and brain,

hip, heart and thigh—every cell

in every part of every woman

is female, feminine, familiar-foreign—

every cell is chromosomed double-X.

 

O! No wonder men stagger

with attraction and astonishment,

all their cells and senses

calling, yearning, crying,

The second X is the reason Y!

 

          © Andrew Lansdown

 

“Every Cell” can be viewed on the Quadrant website at http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2010/7-8/every-cell

Andrew’s poem “Timphony” is also posted on the Quadrant website at http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2010/7-8/timphony

The Weekend Australian has published Andrew’s poem, “Kimberley Cattle”. The haiku sequence appeared in the newspaper’s Review magazine on 26-27 June 2010:

 

Kimberley Cattle

 

          i

Low beam, high speed—

the cattle on the highway

too black, too close.

 

          ii

They keep on staring,

the cattle on the road, as

we keep on skidding.

 

          iii

Taking the smells

of burning rubber with us

thanks to the bulls.

 

          © Andrew Lansdown

The Canberra Times has published Andrew’s poem “Music Haiku”. The haiku sequence appeared in the newspaper on 22 May 2010:

 

Music Haiku

 

i

The jazz drummer—

one wire bent up on the brush

as he scuffs the beat.

 

ii

The jazz soloist—

scatting first with the guitar,

then the saxophone.

 

 

iii

Irish fiddler—

even seated he can’t help

jigging his jig!

 

iv

Celtic vocalist—

between the phrases, that rasp

of her indrawn breath.

 

 

v

Blues guitarist—

the capo slightly crooked

between the frets.

 

vi

The blues singer—

how did he know ‘right now is

the needed time’?

 

          © Andrew Lansdown

Quadrant magazine has published four of Andrew’s poems in its April 2010 issue. One of the four is a choka titled “Creators” and is reproduced here: 

 

Creators

 

Having created

the bamboo, God created

in His likeness

human beings, and seeing

bamboos growing

they straightaway imagined

xylophones, wind-chimes and flutes!

            © Andrew Lansdown

 

The other three poems an be viewed on Quadrant Online at: http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2010/4 

Studio magazine has published Andrew’s tanka, “Azure”, in its latest issue (No. 116, 2010):

 

Azure

 

Surely a piece is

missing from the azure robe

of the Madonna

in some ancient mosaic

because of that fairy wren!

 

            © Andrew Lansdown

Andrew’s poem, “Sighting”, appears in the December issue of Quadrant magazine:

 

Sighting

On visiting the Bull Ranges with a traditional landowner

 

Pluck out the detecting eye,

break off the pointing finger,

shut up the exclaiming cry—

if only somehow I could!

 

But it’s too late to stifle

myself now or stop my friend,

who snatches up his rifle

and follows swiftly after

 

the wallabies I sighted,

the small wild rock wallabies

whose survival I blighted

simply because I saw them

 

and cried aloud, delighted.

            © Andrew Lansdown

Three new poems by Andrew have just been published in the July-August issue of Quadrant magazine. One of them, posted here, is a gunsaku (haiku sequence):

About Autumn

            i

Liquidambar—

anticipating autumn

with a red leaf.

 

            ii

Liquidambar—

the evergreens envy your

changing colours.

 

            iii

Liquidambar—

educating evergreens

about autumn.

 

© Andrew Landown

 

The March 2009 issue of Quadrant magazine contains 4 of Andrew’s poems, including the following choka (a traditional Japanese poetic form):

 

Western Yellow Robin 

 

When the Almighty

spoke yellow-bellied robins

into bright being

and told them to multiply,

he already knew

I would observe this robin,

this gentle-grey bird

too shy to wear its colour

on its petite breast,

this yolk-yellow-under bird

drawn from the forest

by the feather-grey and -fine

smoke of my campfire—

and he also foreknew that

I would by virtue

of his implanted image

want to celebrate

and recreate this bird by

speaking it into a poem.

 

© Andrew Lansdown

The March 2009 issue of Quadrant magazine contains 4 of Andrew’s poems, including the following tanka (a traditional Japanese poetic form):

 

Sheep

 

Only three days since

they were shorn and already

their whiteness is gone.

Still, who of us has managed

even that long in this world?

 

© Andrew Lansdown