The Architecture of Water – Book Release Day
December 19, 2016 at 5:00 pm | Posted in australian poetry, poetry, writing | 7 CommentsTags: australian poetry, poetry, writing
The Architecture Of Water, a collection of poetry written and compiled by the late and great Brisbane poet Paul Squires, is now available for purchase.
Paul originally submitted this manuscript to the judges of the 2010 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript; the prize, had he been successful, $3000 and a publishing contract with University of Queensland Press. Sadly, Paul died a few weeks after submitting it, but not before indicating that he would like to self-publish it (or possibly an alternate version) if it proved unsuccessful with the judges.
For the many of us who were touched by the beauty and intelligence of Paul’s work, and by his generosity of spirit, The Architecture Of Water will be an essential purchase and the truth of this will be self-evident. For those who are newcomers you might be asking, “Why should I buy this book, and what’s in it for me?” The best answer, I believe, can be found within the archives of this blog – Gingatao, by Paul Squires. Gingatao is, in one word, his ‘masterwork’: it has been archived by The National Library of Australia and described as ‘a work of significance and long term research value.’ To own The Architecture of Water is to hold a particular manifestation of Gingatao in the form of a narrative, or a guided tour if you like; not so much a selection of highlights (though every selection is), but rather an example of just one of the many ways it is possible to grasp Paul’s non-linear work of art in a linear fashion.
The Architecture Of Water can be purchased, in hardcover format only, [here]
Paul’s first book, The Puzzle Box, is available in
hardcover [here]
paperback [here]
ebook [here]
—
sincerely,
Brad Frederiksen
teethmarks
July 28, 2013 at 7:00 pm | Posted in writing | 13 CommentsTags: writing
click above to embiggen
Restraint
July 25, 2012 at 8:12 pm | Posted in writing | 12 CommentsTags: permanence tattoo, posthumous release, writing as time travel
“every artist’s strictly illimitable country is himself … and thus I readily conjured a gorgeous and dangerous play world”
ee cummings
My imagination is not a world in which I feel restrained. In fact, like ee cummings, I build the idea of ‘illimitable’ into the concept of imagination since that is how it differs from reality. Reality is a restraint, we are faced with the limits of the possible and the existing, the process of imagination is the act of going beyond perception into the realm of that which does not yet exist.
For a long time I toyed with the idea of imagining things into being. This is not a ‘magical’ concept but a practical one. All things human made, except those which occur by accident or chance, are imagined into being. Before they are created as objects or ideas in the world, buildings and bridges are imagined by architects, nations by founders, books by writers.
“The Way bears sensation,
Sensation bears memory,
Sensation and memory bear abstraction,
And abstraction bears all the world”
Tao Te Ching
Of course the reverse is also true, it is simply a matter of direction and flow. A kind of oscillation or expansion and retraction. The process, in this two way formation, is not so much abstraction as fictionalization. I was trying to write a poem in which a simple object, a glass bead, exists in total isolation from any context. I found it impossible.
The bead, as it exists in my imagination, instantly creates a context, so I placed it in a painting, the painting then existed in a frame, the frame in an easel, the poem in the world. The painter, distracted momentarily by thoughts of Louise, returns to his realm of imagination, and remembers Bede.
“This is only a connection because of the empty sound of the words,” he says. But the confluence of vowel sounds, ‘bead’, ‘Louise’ is a pleasure to him in and of itself. It seems that this process of imagining things into being requires some bridge and that bridge is not silence.
A word from admin.
September 24, 2011 at 7:25 pm | Posted in writing | 23 CommentsA remarkable body of work by Paul Squires is nestled here in the pages of the gingatao blog.
His last post, Gene Kelly Tattoo, has reached a landmark of 100 comments, something Paul would have been very pleased about. Of course the circumstances are different than they would be if he was here. But it was something he always wanted and would have been grateful for.
For readers who have recently discovered or stumbled onto the work of Paul Squires, we welcome you and hope to share something vital about this amazing man and his brilliant writings.
Paul Squires was (and still is) an influential force of energy, whose work fostered an awareness of potentials and possibilities widely in writing, arts and media, and through performing his prose and poetry. His work online added dimensions that further developed the internet form and scope for creative endeavor, and it is important to note how he diligently went out of his way to help other writers and artists expand and grow and become better. How his words of wisdom, humor, argument and insight encouraged and promoted creativity and communication. How a quality of light plays through all of his passages. Even the dark ones. How he gave so much to so many and how startlingly important his voice was.
Paul’s first book “The Puzzle Box” was published twice, the second edition is available in paperback from Lulu. A limited number of first edition hardcover copies are also still available from Lulu. All proceeds from the sales will go to his family and potentially toward a writers award in his name.
“Jewellery” was one of Paul’s metaphors for the words strung across the page. He envisioned the settings, stones, precious metals, all sculptural in dimension, all in sparkling fine quality and placed in a distinctive array.
We encourage new readers to come, enjoy and learn. We welcome his friends to revisit, remember, respond. We hope to eventually publish the last manuscript he left behind, and we hope you will come back and read Paul’s words again and again.
A special magic permeates this work. Once you have known Paul Squires, you can never forget about the magic that swirls from the belly of feeling to the crown of spirit and permeates our world.
“Have a fantabulous day full of tiny miracles like unexpected flowers blooming,”
Paul Squires
Gene Kelly Tattoo
July 16, 2010 at 8:01 pm | Posted in poetry, writing | 117 Commentsthat which you can see
coming
you already have
it is the unexpected
stumblings over (airborne joy with tumble roll)
which constitute the treasure
into outstretched
sunsets
merriment and dance
cruising
July 14, 2010 at 3:49 pm | Posted in jazz poetry, poetry, writing | 13 CommentsTags: jazz poetry, poetry, writing
gaily traipsing road crossing
daffodils and dandelions fluttering wakeward
as he passes
and a scent between miner and metal
hobnailed
playing ‘dancing with cars’
This bus is very quiet he thinks
And Tuesday!
Spectacularity!
Yet another icecream sky
why is a letter of the alphabet
who the noise of owls
how a pleasant greeting
when a minor chord
what a measure of electrickery
Ducks down the alleyway
Waddle and a quack
Fruit salad breakfast
Back to formularity
rainbow graffiti trailing beauty
curlicues of exuberant joy crisscrossing
as he passes
and a music between oscarrrpeterson and
the brickwork
playing ‘reality, it’s a great place to be,
still life with irony
July 12, 2010 at 6:24 pm | Posted in poetry, writing | 9 CommentsTags: poetry, writing
not flowers who live and bloom in splendid
florid overt context
nor feathers shed which drift
snake skin, cocoons, containers,
fruit’s obvious temptations
irony since even the word
stasis moves but the breeze
is less than momentuhmmm
as the thought drifts verbless
involuntary
hello response complete with
echolalia la laughter
left drawing a bead
on pre-stretched canvas
Louise while waiting
The Puzzle Box
gingatao, the podcast- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- The Australian Poet Laureate
legal formalities
© P Squires, gingatao, 2007-2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Paul Squires and gingatao, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
'And you have to deal with the terrible karma too.' Paul Squires.
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