Eucalypt: A Tanka Journal (Issue 28, 2020) has published one of Andrew’s tanka. It is reproduced below in the house style of the magazine:
in the darkness
lifting a piece of kindling
from the woodpile—
that appalling gummy sound
of a redback’s web, ripping© Andrew Lansdown
Over 2020, Andrew had seven poems published in six issues of The Mozzie.
In Vol. 27, Issue 9, March 2020 – “Saga Chrysanthemums” (a set of 4 tanka).
In Vol. 27, Issue 10, May 2020 – “Kilter” (a set of 3 haiku).
In Vol. 28, Issue 1, June 2020 – “Sandbathing Sparrows” (a set of 2 tanka).
In Vol. 28, Issue 2, July 2020 – “The Martyred Mother”.
In Vol. 28, Issue 3, August 2020 – “Durable Impressions” (a set of 3 haiku).
In Vol. 28, Issue 3, August 2020 – “Leafy Seadragon”.
In Vol. 28, Issue 4, September 2020 – “Little Endings” (a set of 6 haiku).
The poem “Sandbathing Sparrows” (below) is a gunsaku of two tanka that were published individually in Andrew’s book, Kyoto Momiji Tanka: Poems and Photographs of Japan in Autumn. (Go here for information about Kyoto Momiji Tanka.)
Sandbathing Sparrows
By the Kamo River, Kyoto
. .1
Sprawl
The sparrows sprawling
on their sides, kicking their legs,
fluffing their feathers,
are miming the meaning of ‘Nice’
while sandblasting away their lice!. .2
Surrender
Washing their plumage
in a patch of river-rinsed sand,
the sparrows give them-
selves over to feelings of bliss,
as do we, to be watching this.© Andrew Lansdown
Andrew’s poem “Kyoto Autumn Maples” has been published in the February 2020 issue of FreeXpresSion magazine. This set of six tanka won the 2016 Melbourne Poets Union International Poetry Prize and are included in Andrew’s latest poetry/photography collection, Kyoto Momiji Tanka: Poems and Photographs of Japan in Autumn.
The Mozzie has published Andrew’s poem, “Windbell with Bamboos” in Vol 27, Issue 6, August 2019. “Windbell with Bamboos” is a suite of 3 tanka that is included in Andrew’s recent collection, Distillations of Different Lands.
“Windbells with Bamboos” is a tanka suite rather than a tanka sequence, as each tanka is a self-contained poem. Nonetheless, placed together the poems make something larger than themselves.
Windbell with Bamboos
1
VerveI see it again
in the sacred trinkets stall
at Inari Shrine—
the little windbell voicing
its verve on my veranda.2
RelocationI dangled it there
among the Buddha bamboos
in the shiftless air—
the windbell that days before
had dinged too much by my door.3
UnintendedIt’s not quite what I
wanted when I hung the wind-
bell in the bamboos:
they cherished it as their own
and coddled to death its tone.© Andrew Lansdown
Eucalypt: A Tanka Journal (Issue 27, 2019) has published one of Andrew’s tanka. The (as yet) untitled poem is reproduced below:
come the climax
of their glory, the maples
are spent, as once
on cracker night heaps of trash
blazed awhile then turned to ash© Andrew Lansdown
Studio magazine published 4 of Andrew’s poems in its No. 146, 2019 edition. The poems are: “Of Maples and …”, a set of 5 tanka; “Bamboo Forest, Arashiyama”, a set of 3 haiku; “Windbells at Fushimi Inari Shrine”, a set of 3 tanka; and “The Shogun and the God”, a set of 2 tanka.
The final haiku in “Bamboo Forest, Arashiyama” reads:
With sky for dojo—
the giant timber bamboos
practising kendo.© Andrew Lansdown
This issue of Studio also contains a favourable review by Garry Furnell of Andrew’s recent poetry-and-photography collection, Kyoto Momiji Tanka, which can be purchased through this website here.
Additionally, the first page of Studio 146 contains a statement by the late Les Murray about Andrew. In a tribute to Les, the editor of Studio, Paul Grover, quotes from a postcard he received from Les in 2006. Among other things, Les told Paul, “As for Andrew Lansdown, he’s one of our very best poets, spitefully ignored most of the time.”
Eucalypt: A Tanka Journal (Issue 26, 2019) has published Andrew’s poem “no consolation”.
Unlike most of the 5-line poems in the magazine, Andrew’s poem conforms to the the traditional 5.7.5.7.7 syllabic structure used by the ancient Japanese tanka poets. Also, Andrew has structured his poem so that each line is a balanced phrase ending on an identical consonant.
no consolation
but it was by death it won
my admiration—
this long-snouted seadragon
snagged in weed by the ocean© Andrew Lansdown
Goodreads, “the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations”, has two brief reviews of Andrew’s latest poetry-and-photography book, Kyoto Momiji Tanka:
Trevor’s Review
Dec 23, 2018
This is a delightful collection of mostly tanka poems lavishly illustrated using photos taken by the poet.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2636666903
Susan Austin’s Review
Apr 04, 2019
Beautiful photos matching some interesting poems, like traveling to Japan in Autumn from the comfort of your couch, with someone who is good at taking in the details and making some quirky comparisons.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2775233088
Learn more about Kyoto Momiji Tanka on this website here.
The Mozzie published Andrew’s poem “Sounds and Wrens” in its Vol. 27, No. 5 issue. This poem consists of two tanka and it is also published in Andrew’s latest poetry collection, Distillations of Different Lands (Sunline Press).
Andrew’s poem “Autumn Maples” has been published in the April 2019 issue of Quadrant magazine. The poem, a set of two tanka, is reprinted below:
. .1
As they spun out
during the scourging of Christ,
so the blood-drops
are hurtling from the maples
as the wind flogs their raw backs.
. .2
The south hemisphere
is not the maples’ true home
—and yet only here
do they perform the Passion
plays at the right time of year.
© Andrew Lansdown