New Book – Kyoto Momiji Tanka: Poems & Photos of Japan in Autumn

Rhiza Press has published a new collection of Andrew’s poems and photographs.

Kyoto Momiji Tanka is a stunning collection of poems and photographs celebrating the ancient capital of Japan, Kyoto, during autumn, when the maples (momiji) vividly colour the natural, cultural and emotional terrains of the Japanese.

The poems (written in a traditional Japanese form known as tanka) and photographs introduce readers to a fascinating world of Shinto brides, tanuki, spirit foxes, geisha, shakuhachi players and, of course, autumn maples.

Kyoto Momiji Tanka is a companion volume to Kyoto Sakura Tanka (Rhiza Press, 2016), which celebrates Kyoto in spring during the cherry blossom (sakura) season.

Read sample poems and view sample photographs on the Kyoto Momiji Tanka page on this website here.

Order a copy of Kyoto Momiji Tanka for $24.95 (free postage in Australia) through the Buy Books page on this website.

Two Poems in Quadrant

The March 2019 issue of Quadrant magazine contains two of Andrew’s poems— “Of Maples and …”, a 5-tanka gunsaku, and “Windbells at Fushimi Inari Shrine”, a 4-tanka gunsaku. The first and third “Windbells” tanka are reproduced below:

Windbells at Fushimi Inari Shrine

.        .1

Beckoning

A shop at the shrine
selling big-tailed stone foxes
and toy-sized torii
has a dangle of windbells,
all dinging with the wind’s dint.

.        .3

Sacredness

There is everything
and nothing sacred about
this Shinto windbell
whose fashioned material
sounds out the ethereal.

          © Andrew Lansdown

 

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

Poem in Eucalypt: A Tanka Journal

Eucalypt: A Tanka Journal (Issue 25, 2018) has just published Andrew’s poem “Chimney Tree”.

Needless to say, his poem is a tanka, a poem written in a traditional Japanese form of five lines arranged in 5.7.5.7.7 syllables respectively. (Andrew views this strict syllabic structure as the ideal and strives to duplicate it, although many tanka poets writing in English today disregard it altogether.)

Eucalypt‘s style is to dispense with titles, capital letters and full-stops. Accordingly, Andrew’s tanka was published in the journal as follows:

it’s a chimney tree,
that motley-barked wandoo with
its hollow branches—
come twilight, little bats will
waft from those flues like ashes

            © Andrew Lansdown

2 Poems in Quadrant

The November 2018 issue of Quadrant magazine contains two of Andrew’s poems—”Windbells with Bamboos” and “Japanese Reflections”.

“Windbells with Bamboos” is a suite of three tanka, while “Japanese Reflections” is a set of four haiku.

Both these poems are included in Andrew’s new poetry collection, Distillations of Different Lands, published by Sunline Press in October.

Read more about Distillations of Different Lands on this website here.

You can buy a copy of the book ($22.95, postage included) through the BUY BOOKS page of this website.

 

 

 

New Poetry Collection – Distillations of Different Lands

Sunline Press has published a new collection of Andrew’s poems titled Distillations of Different Lands.

With a striking cover designed by Western Australian artist Andrew Gilchrist, the book consists of 111 poems occupying 144 pages.

The poems are wide ranging in subject, setting, theme and form, and are arranged into four sections, the four Different Lands of the title: I. HEARTLAND; II. JAPAN; III. HOMELAND; and IV. AMERICA.

Most of the poems have been previously published in magazines, newspapers and anthologies, including in: Asahi (Japan); Australian Book Review; Australian Love Poems 2013 (Inkerman & Blunt Publishers, 2013; rpt 2014); Australian Poetry Anthology: Volume 5, 2016 (Australian Poetry Publications, 2017); Australian Poetry Journal; Axon; The Canberra Times; Falling and Flying: Poems on Ageing (Brandl & Schlesinger, 2015); Famous Reporter; McMaster Journal of Theology & Ministry; Meanjin; Prayers of a Secular World (Inkerman & Blunt Publishers, 2015); Regime; Studio; The Weekend Australian; and Westerly.

Read more about Distillations of Different Lands, along with several sample poems, on this website here.

You can buy a copy of the book ($22.95, postage included) through the BUY BOOKS page of this website.

You can also order Distillations of Different Lands from bookshops and through the publisher’s website, www.sunlinepress.com.au

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.

2 poems in The Mozzie

The Mozzie published two of Andrew’s poems in its July 2018 issue (Vol. 26, No. 6). Those poems are “Water for Worship” and “Shock”. Both these poems, the first a choka and the second a tanka, 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.