Southerly, Vol 71 – Modern Mobilities: Australian-Transnational Writing David Brooks (ed) What is the Australian identity? This question is posed every three years during a Federal election, with each party claiming to be more ‘Australian’ than the other. The simple truth of the matter is that the Australian identity is a combination of all identities, […]

The Rattler and Other Stories AS Patric Spineless Wonders Do you know the screensaver that comes standard with windows called Mystify? It looks like a kaleidoscope of string art, with lines from one shape flowing in and out of the preceding and following patterns; it can be quite mesmerising to watch. I got the same […]

Love and Fuck Poems Koraly Dimitriadis First, to discuss the controversy. ‘Poetry or pornography?’ was posted on this blog by Koraly in June, and, at last count, has generated 96 comments. To dispel the argument: shock is subjective. Some people might be shocked by the content of this collection, it might warrant a ‘sexually explicit’ […]

On 30 August 2010 I submitted a selection of poems to the Bacopa Literary Review, produced by the Writers Alliance of Gainesville. An obscure journal to say the least (I think Gainesville is somewhere in Florida). I subscribe to the Duotrope’s Digest RSS feed which advises me of all manner of journals open for submissions. […]

Waltzing with Jack Dancer: a slow dance with cancer Poems by Geoff Goodfellow Story by Grace Goodfellow Wakefield Press This review is dedicated to Guido Schivella, who lost to cancer in 2008, and to Charisse Mitchell, who will beat cancer in 2011. Cancer is indiscriminate, picking its battles with seeming randomness. There are hypothesised causes: […]

You Can Get Only So Close On Google Earth Ann Shenfield Arcadia Ann Shenfield is recognised as an animation filmmaker and author-illustrator. You Can Get Only So Close on Google Earth is her debut poetry collection. Poems within the collection have been recognised, winning such prizes as the Rosemary Dobson and Max Harris Poetry Awards […]

My name is Mark William Jackson and I was a compulsive blogger. It has been eight weeks since my last post. At my worst I would spend up to two hours per evening posting, responding to comments and checking statistics. If I wasn’t in my dashboard I was checking my email to see if anyone […]

The nine flaws of affection Peter Farrar Ginninderra Press Peter Farrar feeds words onto the page like a priest delivers the Eucharist. Each word is selected specifically to add to the arch, and just enough words are used to reach resolution. Peter Farrar, as the medium of the stories, has removed all unnecessary words, including […]

When standing on the right-hand side of the political spectrum with both of our major parties discussing the nuances of a boatpeople initiative, it should be remembered that most of us are, or are descended from, boatpeople. Any offshore processing centre is 220 years too late. So, bringing the debate into the present I’m left […]

Neon Pilgrim Lisa Dempster Aduki Independent Press I have never met Lisa Dempster, nor spoken to her. I’ve never written her an email and only recently subscribed to her blog. But I know Lisa Dempster very well because I just traveled 1200 kilometres with her through the mountains of Japan. Such is the intimacy of […]

Simply, Stepping Over Seasons is a fantastic collection of short poems that will appeal to both poetry lovers and readers who may have been burned by poetry in the past. Ashley Capes has captured themes such as love, loss, longing, suburban streetscapes, the plight of Outback Australia and the anguish of the writer’s life in […]