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

2 poems in Quadrant

The September 2018 issue of Quadrant magazine contains two of Andrew’s poems: “Them Shoes” and “Meditations on Emptiness”. “Them Shoes” is a free form poem of 26 stanzas and “Meditations on Emptiness” is a gunsaku consisting of two tanka. While the tanka suite is a sombre reflection on the human condition, “Them Shoes” is a light-hearted account of the poet’s encounters with festival-goers on Bourbon Street, New Orleans. The first two stanzas of “Them Shoes” are:

Everything is bourbon and bonhomie
here in New Orleans on Bourbon Street.

It’s party-time and revellers keep time
with trumpet, trombone, tuba and sax …

Both “Them Shoes” and “Meditations on Emptiness” are included in Andrew’s next book of poetry, Distillations of Different Lands, which will be released by Sunline Press later this month, September 2018.