Sunday, March 04, 2007

Comment on Overland lecture

'This morning’s report on the ABC news regarding the account of one of the alleged plotters against the Ashes tour having scrubbed the idea because he was a cricket fan made me think of Joel Deane’s mild and rational and non-defensively Labor speech published in Overland. He spoke of cricket’s reflection of cultural difference.' - Paul Voermans, Leftwrites

[Untitled] by Sophie Deane
New poems

Poems from my new manuscript, Magisterium, which is currently looking for a publishing house, are beginning to appear online.

Two poems, 'Book of numbers', and 'Mid-town', have been published at Bluepepper.

One poem, 'Hansard', is on Cordite.

Some older poems, which appeared in Subterranean Radio Songs, can be found here, here, here and here.

You can also hear me read a poem, '33 Kilohertz', here.
Review of 'Subterranean Radio Songs' in Island 107
"This is an impressive collection, a first-hand glimpse of other countries, other lives. ...

"The culminating poem in the first section, "Under Westgate", is a tour de force where rhythm builds the momentum of a breakneck departure from Melbourne, from a broken relationship through a disintergrating relationship.

"In [the second section], the style becomes more cinematic, with its rapid pace and accuracy of observation (Hemingway and Kerouac come to mind). There's spontaneity and freshness in evocative images. ... The discovery of new places triggers rediscovery of places deeper in the psyche. ...

"This is raw, unrefined narrative poetry, demotic, energetic and ultimately optimistic. It has strong rhythm, some fine imagery, ironic objectivity; above all, it is first-hand and unpretentious. It's poetry in primary colours." - Janet Upcher