Paintings with Andrew’s poems

Fremantle Press has just published a book of Brian Simmonds’ paintings of the Swan River. The painter has chosen two of Andrew’s poems to accompany two of his paintings.

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The poem “Fishing” accompanies the painting “Fishing below Fremantle Traffic Bridge” while the poem “The Japanese Gardener” complements the painting “Freshwater Bay looking south-east toward Bicton”.

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Titled simply The River, the large format book contains over 100 quite beautiful paints. Simmonds states in the Introduction:

“The River is a pictorial statement on the Swan as a thing of beauty; there are no statistics, no history or geography. It’s not a book for serious study but one that I hope will be enjoyed in the way that I’ve intended it: as a picture book that offers pleasure in its glimpses of the river scenery in my part of the world. …”

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The West Australian newspaper published a brief review of The River on 3 January. The review concluded with the full text of Andrew’s tanka, “Fishing” (albeit with several words transposed!). The review can be read here: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/12484541/book-review-the-river/

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“Fishing” was published with a companion poem, “Homecoming”, in Andrew’s first poetry collection, Homecoming (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1979). The page on which these two poems appeared was headed, “TWO TANKA FOR SUSAN“. Here, with Andrew’s dedication newly and rightfully inserted, is the poem:

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We stand on the shore

and cast lines out from us. We

both wait for something

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unknown to bite, for the tug

at the line’s far-away end.

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