Inspiration comes from many quarters. I read Andy Jackson's anthology, 'Human Looking' where his poems speak for the disabled in ways that are illuminating, revealing and tender. Andy Jackson presents poems that speak of surgical procedures and  interventions. Jackson writes from lived experience adding to the emotional impact of his words when speaking of illness, pain and prejudice. He frequently finds his spark in surgical terminology and procedural semantics while also experimenting with form. He writes without any sense of self pity.  I found inspiration in Andy Jackson's honest and at times confronting approach to his lived reality. He addresses his personal vunerability with daring.  This is my response to a recent lived experience. I do not claim to share the same lived experience as Andy Jackson, but have drawn inspiration from the honesty of the work he has shared.   Installing A New Appliance   The incision -is an encore performance The surgeo...

 I recently purchased a copy of Robert Wood Lynn's anthology, 'Mothman Apologia.'  The poems within are narrative poems of love and grief, built from a storytelling tradition. Taken together they encompass the poet's experience of growing up. As well as appreciating the narrative thread,  I found myself noticing the various structures used in the presentation of these poems. The layout of these narrative poems made me keen to try out both structure and form. Robert Wood Lynn provided the reader with a range of  layouts. The turning of each page invited a consciously different layout for his words and I appreciated the visual variety this afforded me as a reader.  I based my narrative poem on a personal experience during my childhood. The layout owes a debt to Robert Wood Lynn A Summer Blaze       During my fourteenth summer a January bushfire tried to erase our small town. It poked its flaming head above the ridge line, consumed a pine plant...

I've been reading a lot of articles this week concerning education and the increasing complexity surrounding the role of teachers.  This teacher -feature co-incided with the 85th Aniversary of my old High School. All these occurrences prompted me to think about the teachers I encountered along the course of my particular learning life.  Teacher Feature My teachers, -the best ones Shone the light of learning Upon our young minds They unfolded wonder And shared the power of understanding They taught me that a platypus Is also called an ornithorhynchus  They taught that the Amazon River Is the lungs of the world They taught me how to dissect frogs And the role of subject and predicate They taught me to play the recorder And how to use long division They taught me about the water cycle And how to spell hippopotamus They taught me the power of verbs And where the hypotenuse was located They taught me how to hurdle correctly And to appreciate Australia’s tyranny of distance The...