IPAINT MARTY SMITH CRACKED

The puzzle and thrill of tinkering with verse ‘til it moves on its own steam and I get to watch the poem skitter off in its own chosen direction is reason enough to keep writing them. I bloody love to write a poem, any poem, as a wry joke or full-throated cry. But getting there was a meandering process…

IPAINT MARTY SMITH CRACKED

It led to the eventual bisected structure of the book, the two halves of one cracked geode. After Softcore coldsores came out in AUP New Poets 5 in 2019, I wanted to do more with some of the down-home-on-the-farm poems, and build a more cohesive full-length collection set firmly in the rural gothic.

Rebecca: Well, I’ve been working towards Meat Lovers for some while. Paula: How was it, writing your sublime Meat Lovers? I’m eager for the new books by Anahera Gildea, Michaela Keeble, Anne-Marie Te Whiu, Erik Kennedy, Jordan Hamel, essa may ranapiri, Cadence Chung, Khadro Mohamed, Michael Steven… My bundle from Titus Books just arrived and I’m reading Chris Holdaway’s Gorse Poems tonight! The critical urgency of I got you babe is a breath of fresh air.Ģ022 is, despite all the overall horribleness of Current Events, set to be a killer year for poetry. As we get closer to the anthology launching at last (it has gone to print!), it’s daunting how little has changed since the start of this project and the pandemic – the poems sent to us in 2020 have only become more (alarmingly) prescient. Importantly, it places the forthcoming anthology No Other Place To Stand (which I’ve been co-editing with essa, Erik and Jordan for the past few years), in a richer, wider ecosystem of critical and creative work around climate, capitalism and colonisation. I got you babe includes poems and essays by the five writers, holding their power and care and grief. I’ve also been lucky to receive a copy of I got you babe, the first publication by new publishing collective Taraheke/Bushlawyer. This book evolves Chris’ previous work reckoning with racist and homophobic violence, and the radical possibilities of joy in a doomscroller’s world. Rainbows and rage, passion and pride, it meets my pent-up energy in the pandemic. I’ve also just read Chris Tse’s much anticipated Super Model Minority. Reading the book is like speedrunning a novelised biography in a way that fits my fractured attention span, while also having plenty of room to breathe with Barry through his gnarliest thoughts. Oscar’s work is precise and immersive – it felt like being dropped right into Barry’s whirring mind at various moments throughout his storied life. It inhabits the character of James Barry, a brilliant transgender military surgeon in the 1800s. It’s a powerful reminder of the ongoing need for rediscovery of queer history, and how we continue to fight for our place in the record.

The Surgeon’s Brain by Oscar Upperton stuck in my craw, as an incisive testament to an extraordinary life. I’ve also been reading a lot, enjoying the first releases in the bounty of local poetry arriving this year. Rebecca: Lately I’ve been disappearing into gaming a fair amount -dystopian epic sequel Horizon Forbidden West just came out and I’ve been abandoning our world for the tragic beauty of that story. Have you read any books lately that have stuck with you? I just read Rachel O’Neill’s stunning Requiem for a Fruit and it was such an uplift.

Paula: Before we discuss your sublime debut collection, these are strange and challenging times.

Ipaint marty smith