The Mozzie has published one of Andrew’s poems in its April 2021 issue (Vol. 28, Issue 9)—the poem “Boat”, which was recently collected in Andrew’s latest book, Abundance: New and Selected Poems. (Read about Abundance here. Go here to purchase a copy.)
Life Ministries has published a chapbook of Andrew’s children’s poetry—The Maiden and the Unicorn and other poems for children. It contains 16 poems (haiku, limericks, ballads, tanka and rhyming couplets and tercets) from Andrew’s larger collection, Allsorts: Poetry Tricks and Treats. The title poem, “The Maiden and the Unicorn”, is from Andrew’s novel, The Red Dragon.
The back page blurb states:
“When [my teacher] read the two outstanding books it made me gleam up with glee,” Lacie, a Year 6/7 student, wrote to Andrew Lansdown about his novels With My Knife and Dragonfox.
Hopefully, readers will be similarly delighted with Andrew’s poems for children in this short collection, The Maiden and the Unicorn.
The charming illustrations by Susan Lansdown should clinch the readers’ joy.
At $5.95 (post free), this 24 page chapbook offers readers an appealing introduction to Andrew’s poetry for children. Copies can be purchased here.
Studio magazine published three of Andrew’s poems in issue Number 148, 2020: “Little Endings” (a suite of 6 haiku), “Autumn Maples” (a suite of 2 tanka), and “Separation” (a suite of 2 tanka).
“Little Endings”, a set of 6 light-hearted haiku, will be included in a forthcoming collection of Andrew’s poems. It reads:
Little Endings
. .i
The spider’s mistake—
as it approached it set me
doing the quick-step!. .ii
Worse for the snail—
hearing while night-walking that
unexpected crunch!. .iii
My condolences,
grasshopper, for hopping into
my son’s affections.. .iv
Howzat! The blowfly
scored a triple twenty on
the spider’s dartboard!. .v
A grim irony—
aiming at a spider with
a can of fly-spray.. .vi
Feeling a bit flat—
mosquito meditating
on a clapping sound.© Andrew Lansdown
Five of Andrew’s poems have been published in the April 2018 issue of Quadrant magazine. The poems are: “On the Composition of Haiku”, “Ukiyo-e Kawaii”, “Kyoto Maple Conceits”, “Cane”, “Miscellaneous Thoughts on Poetry”.
“Kyoto Maple Conceits”, a suite of eight tanka, was published late last year in The Crows In Town, the 2007 Newcastle Poetry Prize anthology.
“Miscellaneous Thoughts on Poetry” is another tanka suite (gunsaku), consisting of three tanka, the second of which is:
On Imagist Poetry
Precise imagery,
plausible and original,
is strangely moving:
who can define or dare dismiss
the emotion of exquisite?© Andrew Lansdown
Andrew’s poem, “Mummy-Long-Legs” (a 4-haiku gunsaku), was published in the April 2018 issue of The Mozzie.
Although it is only a small, no-frills magazine, the monthly Mozzie publishes some big-name poets, such as Bruce Dawe, Shane McCauley, Kevin Gillam and Thomas Shapcott. Its (usually) short poems are (usually) refreshingly accessible.
The April issue of The Mozzie also contains a poem by Shane McCauley, “Kyoto Temple Dedicated to Jizo”, which bears the kind dedication, “for Andrew Lansdown”.
Unfortunately and inexplicably, The Mozzie typesetter/copyist made several mistakes when transferring Andrew’s “Mummy-long-legs” into the magazine. The copyist added the words “for him” in the third line of the first haiku — turning a 5-syllable line into a 7-syllable line and destroying the balanced phrasing of the poem. The copyist also changed the wording of the second line of the fourth haiku from “… told daddy’s legs” to “… told daddy-long-legs” — turning a 7-syllable line into a 9-syllable line, and destroying not only the balance of the haiku, but also the point of it, which is that “mummy” has eaten “daddy” right off his legs (and hence, only his legs are left for her to address).
Perhaps more problematically, the Mozzie copyist removed the Roman numerals above each haiku, giving the impression that “Mummy-Long-Legs” is a single, four-stanza poem, when in fact it is a suite of four distinct poems that have been combined under a single title to explore/expand a common subject. The reader who mistakes “Mummy-long-legs” for a single poem will have a disappointingly “jerky” reading experience because the supposed “stanzas” are not integrated with each other. However, the reader who understands that he/she is reading four distinct poems (haiku) can relish each poem in its own right (and perhaps even settle upon a favourite) and enjoy the way that each poem supports and supplement the others, so that the sum of the four is greater than any one of the four.
Well, this is serious talk for such a light poem! The correct wording and layout of “Mummy-long-legs” is:
Mummy-long-legs
. i
Too late daddy
learnt mummy-long-legs only
wanted his body.. ii
Long-legged mummy
simply cannot stop—she finds
daddy so yummy!. iii
Legs numbering eight—
all that’s left of daddy since
mummy-long-legs ate.. iv
Merely a reflex
mummy-long-legs told daddy’s legs
shortly after sex.© Andrew Lansdown
This poem is included in Andrew’s new collection, Distillations of Different Lands, scheduled for publication by Sunline Press next month.
The Canberra Times published Andrew’s poem, “Sketches of Life”, in its Saturday Panorama arts section on 24 February 2018. “Sketches of Life” is a set of six haiku. The first and sixth haiku of the set are posted below:
Sketches of Life
. i
The scent of onions—
from the kitchen the sound of
a knife tap-dancing.…
. vi
A shrugging gesture—
the child making it uses
even her eyebrows.© Andrew Lansdown
This complete version of “sketches of Life” is included in Andrew’s new collection, Distillations of Different Lands, scheduled for publication by Sunline Press next month.