Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

'statements to forget when remembered' by Nathan Shepherdson | States of Poetry Queensland - Series One

by
States of Poetry Queensland - Series One

'statements to forget when remembered' by Nathan Shepherdson | States of Poetry Queensland - Series One

by
States of Poetry Queensland - Series One

01 

no one ha
s ever written
there is no gr
eater poem
than this one

no one ha
s ever written
there is no gr
eater poem
then this one

 

 02

this poem
was complete
until you decide
d to read it

 

03

this is what
australian p
oetry looks like
after the fire bu
t before all the
trees were pu
t back in the
landscape b
efore all the
trees were pu
t back in this p
oem

 

04

i am the
only poet i
have ever kn
own who ne
eded to write
this

 

05 

everythin
g i have ev
er known w
as in this
sentence unt
il i decide
d to remov
e it

 

06

every conceivab
le object not y
et conceived i
n the word o
bject is what
you should ob
ject to tireless
ly until the p
un is entirel
essly defeated

motion carried

 

07 

this poem is t
o show I AM
capable of us
ing imagery
in a poem bu
t not in a pain
ting

 

08

) / l ( \ l (|\
/) ( | ( /l\ )
| \ )|\) | /(
( l | l(|/) / l
))\/|/ ( /)(|
these are n
ot the sam
e trees no
t used in a
different a
ustralian po
em 

 

09 

he should ne
ver be left al
one until he i
s by himsel
f then he is
everyone

 

10 

if there are w
orse poems th
an this one i
would like to r
ead them beca
use i know t
here are no w
orse poems ju
st better read
ers

 

11 

i have never mu
rdered anyone i d
id not know whe
n they were ali
ve knowing this
you are the nex
t victim the ne
w suspect the las
t murderer of all s
elves

 

12

when i was you
ng i used to sit
up the back and
throw full stops a
t all the philosop
hers trying to wa
tch movies abou
t themselves 

 

13

what earnestne
ss i would declin
e when sucking
on the last win
g to brush your
heart into its thin
nest medium

when mirrors chan
ge their shirts we un
button ourselves

 

14

it is importa
nt not to writ
e too much ot
herwise you end
up writing poe
ms like this on
e

less is moor sai
d the boat befo
re it sank

ha ha being t
he first two ha
lves of half

 

15

as jesus ties y
our last breath
to his lips he g
ets to inhale the
albumen from y
our eyes still car
twheeling to the fr
ont gate of all im
ages sent off with
a cut lunch & a fr
esh translation whe
re nothing waits f
or you to open the
same door captiv
e inside a diamo
nd cut light bulb
that never worke
d

 

16 

that was your la
st chance to unde
rstand this

now the world ha
s to wait until i
t can end witho
ut you

 

17

i will note th
is then as a r
efusal to accept
this volatile m
ass of thinkin
g as opposed to
your usual narr
ative in which
one person say
s something to an
other person befor
e they turn awa
y and walk off
in opposite direc
tions 

 

18 

now i will pu
t the word en
d in this poe
m to show thi
s is not the be
ginning

 

Nathan Shepherdson

Comment (1)

  • I laughed a lot over this one. An irreverent send up of modern poetry including his own.
    Posted by Roger
    12 September 2022

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.