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Paul originally submitted this manuscript to the judges of the 2010 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript; the prize, had he been successful, $3000 and a publishing contract with University of Queensland Press.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 Gingatao is, in one word, his ‘masterwork’: it has been archived by The National Library of Australia and described as ‘a work of significance and long term research value.’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
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
King Lear Tattoo
July 8, 2010 at 6:26 pm | Posted in poetry, writing | 10 CommentsTags: Edgar, King Lear, poetry, three card, writing
behind the mirror shades
the zap of flash bulbs
fades
three card slips into the back of the limo
exhales the long held breath
the Edgar engine purrs the street scene blurs
he drifts between the his the hearse
this strange and aweful awesome curse
where are we going to sweet Mamu
“when sudden lit beneath
a spotlight mooon,
he chuckles, wiggles
his Lear tattoo pay day
soon, accelerate,
Just
July 6, 2010 at 4:21 pm | Posted in australian poetry, contemporary poetry, memoirs, poetry, writing | 9 CommentsTags: Brisbane, poetry, writing
walking to West End from Stafford
in a cycle of recrimination and
justification a church sign plastic
letters clipped
neatly
‘to avoid criticism
say nothing
do nothing
be no-one’
hours later a strange misplaced nostalgia
at the sound of a Scottish Marching Band
as it escaped the shadow of the Big Wheel
with a bass drum ponder call to attention
and the rattle of steel carefully orchestrated
On the Art Gallery wall –
‘It’s between representation and the other thing,
whatever that is,
and it’s difficult to keep one’s balance.’
Ian Fairweather, 1963
the year I was born
coincidentally like the young
man’s soft nervous trilling triplets
before the march began, loosening his wrists and
thinking about the architecture of sound.
Lastly the river
a breeze not even birdsong
accompanying me
just the sun dancing
silver sparkling
from the water,
literally
a memory of stars.
the gentle art of soft landings (podcast)
June 29, 2010 at 7:42 pm | Posted in australian poetry, contemporary poetry, jazz poetry, music, podcast | 2 CommentsTags: Joseph Tawadros, performance, performance art, podcast, poetry
I have podcast the piece below “the gentle art of soft landings’ below this linkage.
I did it in one take with no rehearsal because I wanted to practice live work which I feel kind of fits with the idea of improvisation.
Now I will have to ask Joseph Tawadros for his permission to use the music as a background for the performance. But only if I don’t write a better one for it in the meantime.
the gentle art of soft landings
June 28, 2010 at 7:28 pm | Posted in australian poetry, jazz poetry | 11 CommentsTags: jazz poetry, Joseph Tawadros, Oud, poetry, writing
Suddenly his hands forgotten,
Take one moment to see my work he said breathing dirt
and holding out an open hand tis true one develops
a heart of stone when one sleeps rarely
and only in certain uncouth company, yesterday
a gilded cage
then under bridges
fallen
Sketched you in Morocco
standing naked hips tilted,
at the window in the morning
thinking about breakfast.
with a twist on ice, if it’s not too Dean Martin, omerta
principles with an end to occam Picasso was an immaculate
draughtsman before he was a Cubist without
being sweeney practiced my grammar, recap
italising the ‘I’ and using ‘one’ as in one may assume?
between the keeping of secrets and the breaking of promises
insert ocean metaphor here teddy as I explored your consent
to my manipulations of the roots of language and gloried in my power.
remember that car exit bridge alternate endings either way and both shot down
left you standing by that river shivering and her dying
hyannis port, white sails blue horizon,
on the occasion of another passing
found at the centre Matsuo Basho
giggling over a still pond no frogs nor
the sound they make when they land
(written as a first attempt at the National Jazz Writing Competition)
The Puzzle Box
gingatao, the podcast- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- The Australian Poet Laureate
- another quote from Robert Adamson January 31, 2010
- Three Quotes from Robert Adamson October 22, 2009
- The copyright question (2) October 7, 2009
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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