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Michael Farrell

Michael Farrell

Michael Farrell won the 2012 Peter Porter Poetry Prize. Recent books include Family Trees and I Love Poetry (both published by Giramondo), the scholarly Writing Australian Unsettlement: Modes of Poetic Invention 1796–1945 (Palgrave Macmillan), and, as editor, Ashbery Mode (TinFish), an Australian tribute to John Ashbery. Born in Bombala, NSW, in 1965, Michael has lived in Melbourne since 1990.

'Advantages of Stopovers', a new poem by Michael Farrell

September 2019, no. 414 27 August 2019
Writing a line, as if from bed, on a lovely, handmadeorgan based on Gerald Murnane, the Goroke novelistlast seen pouring a glass of amber silk and swayingimperceptibly enough to be called coincidental to HotChocolate. I would not be the writer I am if I forebore tomention the snowy peaks outside, being an analogy ofactual peaks. You see me out there gesturing at theiranti-poetic line, my hand perh ... (read more)

'Liked In Prison' by Michael Farrell

June-July 2017, no. 392 29 May 2017
Walking the streets, reading his booksin the cafés and bars, this was his over-riding question: would he be liked inprison? He was not particularly bad, or good, orgraceful, or skeptical. He reckoned hebelonged to the median when it came tothe smokers of Lwów: but would he beliked in prison? ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'The Distances' by Michael Farrell

States of Poetry Victoria - Series One 22 February 2016
Like a teacup in a snowstorm IFind you and break you. A sentry reptile, I advise youTo return quietly to the campfire. You mistakenly tookMy interest in theology for a strategy ________________________________   Flip to a towel, flip toSheets of pasta in an emu's stomach. Sheep merely fluffing the  Horizon   _______   Technology is increasingly feminine. The diction ofSayin ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'Rich Tune' by Michael Farrell

States of Poetry Victoria - Series One 22 February 2016
 Strawberries: a mania of strawberries on a   Turntable    ________    Drifting off in pineconesOf thought, feeling the wind refractYour backside. Eggs down a rabbit hole _________________________________ Voices like coconut milk in a car ___________________________ Writing the ball past the line. CloudsDrop on your face: noIt’s snow. The crane stopsAt ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2016 - Victoria | 'C.O.U.N.T.R.Y' by Michael Farrell

States of Poetry Victoria - Series One 22 February 2016
You feel this way, kind of free when you lie down __________________________________________     I've seen it, the cocking head, the dipping branch, but nowI'm thinking of something else. The long drawnOut day. The novelty of peaches inA new form. Savour the bird's body language, you may needIt to recognise yourself later. Like water, your head empties slowlyOf melody (though not ... (read more)

'Pope Pinocchio's Angels' a new poem by Michael Farrell

March 2015, no. 369 01 March 2015
    Angels are made from banksia. They are grown in Prague, areExported in all directions, and turn grey in air. TheyOnly fly in places where the ground is hard. IfYou try to count them they turn into numbers. IfYou try to call them they turn into names. TheyAre not decorative at parties but illustrative, of Guernica, for example ... (read more)

'Kangaroo Scientists of the Nineteenth Century', a new poem by Michael Farrell

December 2013–January 2014, no. 357 01 December 2013
In their crucibles they attempt a new kind of teaevery day, usually through a combination ofMethods, such as the fox method, the hydrangeamethod and the sunlight method this is a colour-Determined method in effect, though efforts areMade to avoid repeating any method on consecutivedays another of their efforts has gone into producingA quietness spray to be used at peak noise timesOf the day they a ... (read more)
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