lisacollyerpoet

[lisacollyerpoet]

I had the privilege of attending Bron Bateman's poetry collection launch, Blue Wren last night. I love this community. It was one of the most warm and genuine launches I've been to. A heartfelt introduction and speech by Georgia Richter Fremantle Press and Scott-Patrick Mitchell (author of Clean Terri-ann White Upswell) who were both effusive with their praise of this much anticipated collection.

Bron is an inspiration. Her work is direct, succinct and confronting. There is such a precise use of imagery and the rhythm rocks you in a comforting way even when the images are unexpectedly intimate and graphic.

Bron is an amazon of contemporary feminist poetry and erotica and her work must be read. Here is an excerpt from her exquisite collection:

Orange Madonna (extract) for Jo by Bron Bateman

I watch the way you cut orange and lemon segments,

the snick of the knife on the chopping board,

the flick and stress of your brown wrist.

Most of the time you are too uncomfortable in your body

to realise how lovely you are to me.

[lisacollyerpoet]

Do you have a go to lipstick colour?

When my subscription journals arrive, I first read all the poetry then work my way through the other texts.

I was blown away by the poetry in the latest @islandmagtas, in particular 'Your Shade' by @douganlucy. The level of intimacy with what might be considered a superficial vanity ( a cosmetic) is profound. I am very much looking forward to her new collection, Monster Field with @giramondopublishing in November.

What is your relationship to makeup?

[lisacollyerpoet]

Alan Fyfe - author's debut novel, T was launched last night in a fitting literary and musical fashion. It was fascinating to hear the journey that this book underwent from Catherine Noske - writer who launched the book and I have to say I'm still hankering for that full poetry collection in an earlier stage and wondering if it could be a lift-out? Instead, original songs written by Alan Fyfe are included and were magically reproduced by Freo Trio interwoven with Alan's reading. I hear chapter 6 knocked Kate's socks off so am looking forward to that but I have to say page 12 definitely caught my eye with this line of dialogue,

"A circle is a line that meets itself," the corpse said."

and now explains the unusual conversation I was having with Alan and Maddie Kate last night over sushi and drinks generously supplied by the publisher, Transit Lounge Publishing at the wonderful place that is Centre for Stories. Available at Rabble Books & Games and all good book stores.

[lisacollyerpoet]

How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up

My poem , How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up is bilingual interweaving Malay words through English. I traveled through SE Asia for 13 months spending the majority of my time in Sarawak and Sabah (11 months). This poem explores eggs as symbolic of (in)fertility but also charts my journey trying to order eggs sunny side up in Malay. I'm fascinated by etymology and how language is constructed. I particularly enjoy trying to pick up languages when I travel. Bahasa Melayu is particularly poetic and the language I know more of than any other second language, although it is purely conversational and rudimentary. Next time you are in Malaysia and you want your eggs sunny side up, ask for telur mata sapi (eggs eye of the bull). How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up is also the title of my poetry ms short listed for The Dorothy Hewett Award, 2022.

Do you have any fave words and their origins? nb: this poem was first published in Rabbit Poetry Journal :ASIA guest edited by Miriam Wei Wei Lo and @alvinpang @uwapublishing

[lisacollyerpoet]

The Dorothy Hewett Award, 2022.

Thrilled to be shortlisted for The Dorothy Hewett Award, 2022 for my unpublished manuscript. Here's what the judges had to say about my debut manuscript.

How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up

Searing poetry of feminine experience, How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up is unashamedly visceral and lights up with flashes of literary incandescence. Formally inventive, bleakly comic, slyly erotic – these are poems which bristle with edges and glint like cut gems. Each poem arrives like a dare, refusing euphemism or domestication.