This paper, published in Island Studies Journal, extends, in important ways, some of the many themes discussed in my 2007 paper, ‘A Phenomenology of Islands’. The paper crucially considers the role of the sea in the construction of a collective island psyche. I think this is a superior paper Continue reading “The Sea, the Sea, Always the Sea…”
This paper was published in the very first edition of Island Studies Journal, and at the time of this posting, remains the most frequently cited paper of all those published in that journal. I spent my final academic years as a committed phenomenologist, and I still am, but don’t let this apparently unfriendly word deter you Continue reading “Islands: Mysterious Things, Eh?”
This little paper exists in article and essay forms. It gets cited surprisingly often Continue reading “Islands Breed Poets”
My collaboration with my artist friend Tony Thorne, that culminated in Last Days of the Mill (a finalist in the 2013 Tasmanian Book Prize), left me with profound ethical misgivings on one particular score. In this 2017 paper, I face that demon down. Continue reading “When a Poet Rips Himself to Shreds”
Ever heard of the Faroe Islands? They’re half way between Scotland and Iceland, more or less, and as far as I can tell, they are most famous for puffins, sheep and magnificent woollen jumpers. And that they still whale. It’s basically a vertical-cliffed protrusion of basalt. And it rains a lot.
I’m going to an event, part literary festival, part academic conference, with the title ‘The Tower at the End of the World – Islands and Literature‘. I’m not there as a poet – but I intend to read poetry at every opportunity. Meanwhile, if you’re interested Continue reading “Hay is going to the Faroe Islands to talk about Tasmanian Poetry!”
Laughing Jack Lagoon is at my back.
Suddenly there is shatter.
Shatter cluttering to the horizon.
Some treefern survive.
Arched fronds nod a knowing,
cast it on the wind. Continue reading “I’m Driving: Laughing Jack to Hobart”
Posterity, in this town, was of no account.
You’d not have thought to die here –
the idea was to salt it away and leave,
to be remembered, in God’s good time,
elsewhere. Continue reading “Pioneer Cemetery, Zeehan”
Published in ‘Silently On The Tide’ (2005)
…could feel the weakness of… big/local govt… what sort of culture…
will not be available… best sort of market we can… people have a global…
This is an age of data and dead hills.
This is a time of envenomed meal for the mouth.
. In the newsroom they are all a-lather: Continue reading “White Words”
. Wounded sun, light leaking down.
Winter rules the growling beach, this treacherous
stretch I have trudged, lead-footed, with the dog.
It is ungraspable, a thing of surge and storm,
. of sly, surreptitious shift. Continue reading “Beautiful Firetail”
Published in ‘Physick’ (2016)
Down dark corridors
the beautiful dead
step from their rooms.
They watch me pass.
They would have me stay,
hear their imperative word. Continue reading “All the Beautiful Dead”