Tonight I had the great privilege of attending the QLD Literary Awards. There was a lot of love in the room… tribute to the gargantuan efforts of the volunteer committee spearheaded by Matthew Condon and Krissy Kneen, who made this event happen following the withdrawal of the current State Governments support. And to make things even more exciting, I had the pleasure of presenting the Judith Wright Calanthe Poetry Award to Peter Rose for his collection, Crimson Crop (UWA, 2012).
A truly great way to keep the National Poetry Week buzz going. So for those of you unfamiliar with Peter’s work, here is a quick taste + a link to download a longer extract from the book.
Congratulations to all of the nominated writers at tonight’s QLD Literary Awards. You make our world a place of wonder!
from Vocalise in the Gated World
Outside – spookily,
all that posturing,
repetition. Everything falls away
as it was encouraged to do,
traffic, orthography,
language of the unattributable dead.
Leaving us with what?
Schoolyards without a cause,
the children grown up and off
at their rackety wars. Men
crisp enough to knot a noose
burst from foreign cars –
extras of the underworld,
demanding,
but what is it they want,
whom do they importune?
Great stuff – and Campbell Newman can …
so many ways that sentence could be finished!