DRANSFIELD, DRANSFIELD, DRANSFIELD

There's been a lot of Dransfield in the air lately. Considering his notable omission from Gray and Lehman's Australian Poetry Since 1788 one can only conclude a little absence is a powerful reminder.

• Kent MacCarter: "For me, as for many of my writer-friends, Dransfield was a key entry point into Australian poetics."
• Pam Brown: "Really, Dransfield was not a key figure in poetry for anything other than his untimely, tragic death at 24 in 1973. As John Forbes contended - he died too soon."
• Derek Motion: "Dransfield of course had failings, some poetic, some more fitting a biography. His major success (and ultimate failure) was to attempt to master an aesthetic of cultured innocence."
• John Kinsella (ed) Michael Dransfield A Retrospective
• Mark Roberts' wrap on Gray and Lehman's Australian Poetry Since 1788

AROUND THE TRAPS

• Psst – been rejected? So have Adam Ford, Benjamin Dodds and Ashley Capes – and they're not taking it quietly (no, they're complaining, politely).
• Tara Mokhtari has a ten point plan for making agreeable, sorry, good poems. (There will be tests at the end of semester so please take notes.)
• Justin Lowe reminds us that while Labor Party wars might be unseemly, Poetry Wars are even worse.
• Having trouble with your greek figures of speech? (by the way – this video won't help)

HATCHES, BEST IN SHOW

• The second installment of Pam Brown's Jacket2 feature 'Fifty-one contemporary poets from Australia'
• The Mary Gilmore award shortlist.
• Toby Fitch lists forthcoming Australian poetry titles over at Southerly.
• Meanwhile Kent MacCarter asks "are there enough buyers to consume [small press] print runs?"

REVIEWS, PUNTS

• Adam Ford rediscovers a review of Lisa Gorton's Press Release.
• Martin Duwell on Felicity Plunkett (ed.) Thirty Australian Poets
• Martin Duwell on Gig Ryan New and Selected Poems
• Jennifer Mills reviews Southerly in Overland
• Sam Twyford-Moore, Rebecca Giggs and Astrid L'Orange discuss the Women of Letters anthology on the ReReaders podcast.
• Geoff Lemon reviews Gina Rinehart on Crikey.
• Mark Roberts reviews Laurie Duggan Allotments
• Stephen Lawrence reviews Mascara Issue 10 and Jacket2 '51 Contemporary poets from Australia'

DON'T MISS

• RhiZoMiC Poetry with Robert Adamson
  Wednesday February 29, 2012 from 7pm to 9pm – Mr Falcon's Bar
• Caravan Slam at Addison Road Gallery
  February 29, 2012 from 7pm to 11pm – Addison Road Gallery, Marrickville

Extra points for going to both ;)

IN MEMORIAM

• Writer and poet Andrew McMillan has died at his home in Darwin.

QUOTE O' WEEK

"The other day a friend asked me why modern poetry is so difficult. Don’t you hate that? Of course it’s difficult, or you wouldn’t bother reading it."
— John Tranter