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States of Poetry Series Two

a gunman is a gunman is a gunman
like the chorus line tryout i felt nothing

it was worth noting the small matter
of gathering rare ingredients for a drink

a monday morning death toll
as specific as thursday’s Powerball

this time he can’t be arsed with the filter
it doesn’t come up at the crumbs

of somebody from the health team’s birthd ...

my name is abundance his name is love
charlie doesn’t advise does charlie
command? accrete necessary details
you can parse anything try

what’s a poor girl to do? parade us
as students we are your daughters
we lived as armies liberate villages
we all knew money wasn’t pure

my name is disturbance his name is love
you have an awful lot of gu ...

Liam Ferney States of Poetry QLDLiam Ferney's most recent collection Content (2016, Hunter Publishing) was shortlisted for the Judith Wright Calanthe Award. His previous collections are Boom (201 ...

after the Saint Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) Examination

at midpoint I take a call from work – don’t want to, though
all jobs are made up anyway and I’m not in today

the first year without ...

we started in 1981 and compleTed in 1988.
in 1983 the first portioN
of it was included in john cagE's book x ...

... (read more)

gurgle /ˈɡəːɡ(ə)l
grandmothers carry prams to term / babysit baby’s baby / regurgitated capsule
commuters exhale daily day into night aircon carriage ...

... (read more)

(after Samuel Beckett’s Molloy)

still. but not quite.
I drew on the right
of time.

the other way (I have this solution):
escape that hazard
circulating always.

before I began
(before the hope of circulation)
I began better.

during the remaining of my of my
of my of my
(plus one in my),

I arrive at my mind ...

Pascalle Burton is a poet and performer with an interest in conceptual art and cultural theory. Her projects include UN/SPOOL (with Nathan Shepherdson), 24 Hour Gym (with Tessa Rose), and performing in the band The Stress of Leisure. Her début collection, About the author is dead, is forthcoming with Cordite Books.

... (read more)

In his luminous paean to poetry, modestly titled How to Read a Poem, Edward Hirsch writes that ‘poetry is made of metaphor’. This lucid statement is beautiful enough, but as a poet, Hirsch continues, making music, elaborating, forever taking the idea onwards, upwards and outwards, with poetry’s relentless energy: ‘It is a collision,’ he writes, ...