Seven Excuses for Not Blogging More

1. Designing on a cover for issue #37 of Cordite Poetry Review;
2. Mentoring a young writer for a CAL/Overland project to help give writers fom marginalised backgrounds an opportunity to be published in a reputable literary magazine;
3. Gearing up for a upcoming reading at Melbourne's Black Dot Gallery on January 26th, and another performance at Brunswick's Hare and Hyenas on January 30th (book here);
4. Finally assembling poems for a new poetry book: Nothing Here Needs Fixing;
5. Working on a non-fiction book The Hate Race;
6. Life;
7. Avoiding life.

migrant workers smell

the liberal spokesperson
for citizenship
on public record
explaining patiently
that migrant workers smell

quite clearly
this country
has no hope
in hell

ask yourself

what thing
wd make her walk of there
not a penny to her name
the only two things she owns
strapped tight in the stroller
& skipping beside her

instead of gossiping
on how she could
ask yourself
why she had to

This poem is an extract from my forthcoming poetry book 'Nothing Here Needs Fixing'

santa claus was james earl jones

if my saint nick fell
through the skylight
almost every aussie kid
wd scream

cz santa looked
like james earl jones
in all my childhood dreams:

with a soundtrack
by sir mix-a-lot
& a laugh / like chaka kahn
the agility / of muhammad ali
& the quirkiness of grace jones

his sack / it held black booty
his red pants did much the same
obeah men made the presents
& black panthers hauled the sleigh

santa claus wz james earl jones
in all my childhood dreams
& i waited / by the skylight
bt i always fell asleep

Cordite Poetry Review: Issue 36

And in other news, Cordite Poetry Review has published my Poelectronica cover for their latest Electronica themed issue. Check the full artwork out here, or the cover banner here. Oh, and if you'd like to throw insane wads of money at me to visually funkify your site or publication, email me at Clarke.Maxine@gmail.com with the header: EXTREMELY LUCRATIVE ILLUSTRATION DEAL. Ta.

share a coke with condoleezza

share a coke

share a coke with hitler
or share a coke with mugabe
or share a coke with pinochet
or share a coke with stalin

just grab a coke
go on / grab an ice cold coke
& share it

share a coke with thatcher
& share a coke with condoleezza
just share a coke
turn the cap
& share it
share a coke with saddam
share a coke with bush
& share an ice cold coke
with palin

grab an ice cold coke
pop the cap
& share it with bin laden

going viral

athlete’s foot
in a public pool changing room

golden staph
on the operating tools

a rampant std
in a music festival port-a-loo

the itch you feel like scratching
until you bleed

a miley cyrus sex tape

only poetry

holy mary

a pregnant kid
knocking doors on a donkey
with the real daddy
nowhere to be seen

today / mary wd be just another
irresponsible teen
shamed
disowned
& stigmatised
with all kinds of dirty jokes
about who else she had been riding

i know a mary
in fact
i know two
mary lives next door to me
& another serves fries at the local KFC
a swollen bellied brown girl
desperate to make ends meet

greasy fingered gossip
over faux mash & gravy:
wow / that chick is about to lay an egg
she must be about / what / fifteen
how the hell does that shit even happen

mary does a little table service then
for free

raising the bowl

for ramone hendry


you were just a little guy
past twelve months
maybe close to eighteen
& i said i'd look after you

you cried
for exactly sixty-seven seconds
then smiled
& turned to me
blonde eyebrow raised
as if to say:
well then brown lady
with the round baby face
i guess it’s just
you & me
dismantling every disliked toy
patting the ones that you agreed with
raising the bowl
when you wanted more
trying to scribble
on everything in reach

solid & stubborn
fair & funny
fierce beyond belief

even then we knew / ramone
what kind of boy you’d be

lip-sync

like the term lip-sync
i mean
seriously
why does it even exist

if people were any good at it
we'd think they were singing
it wd be such an industry secret
there wouldn't even be
a term for it

This is What Democracy Looks Like: An Occupy Everywhere Poem

they’re chanting: this is what
democracy looks like / this
is what democracy looks like
this / is what democracy looks like

apparently it’s megaphoned
& volatile
& white
it’s disorganised
& educated
& doesn’t stay the night

democracy sets up colonies
wherever it sees fit
speaks the language of occupation:
& democracy isn’t that big

it cd be a tad delusional
about what it might achieve
but it takes more than
batons / blood / & brawn
to force democracy to leave

democracy is righteous
it is angry
& it is rambling
democracy is earnest
bt sure needs help with chanting

Are You Kidding Me? NOBODY Types Anymore!

So I've been away from this blog for a while. I had pretty bad Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my right hand. I've had it for about 12 months or so, with no sign of it really getting any better, despite various therapies such as physiotherapy, acupuncture, shiatsu massage and many other probably slightly crackpot therapies that I don't really care to mention.

In any case, several weeks ago I was at the local supermarket and his kid behind the counter who couldn't have been more than about 17, asked me what was wrong with my hand. When I explained to him what Carpal Tunnel was, the kid said that he got sore thumbs often from playing computer games. Of course, I gave him a big ‘mum’ lecture about how he only has two hands and he should really reconsider his compulsive computer game playing.

The kid asked me what I did as a job, and I quite dismally answered I'm a writer so this is pretty much the worst thing that could ever happen. So the kid looks at me and he says “Are you kidding, I mean, nobody types anymore!' And I'm thinking ‘Nobody types anymore?” Are YOU kidding!? So then this kid tells me about this voice recognition software called Dragon.

He says all you have to do is turn on your computer and open Microsoft Word and start talking and the computer starts typing words for you. Now I’d already heard about this kind of software. In fact, my brother was investigating for me at the time. But to hear this young kid spout about it like it was the new ipad, really gave me hope.

Fast forward one month and here I am sitting at my computer with a headset on dictating this to you in my first use of the Dragon Software. I've got to admit it really is pretty amazing. It's going to take some getting used to and looking back on this document I can see a few mistakes and a few assumptions the programs made about my speech patterns and vernacular. But I'm here blogging and writing - not in the traditional way but hey, I'm all into folding. Oh - the program seems to have typed I'm into folding as opposed to evolving.

Well, you know what they say, practice makes perfect.

So what about you? Are you one of those plebs who still uses your hands to write? Because if that kid behind the supermarket checkout counter is right, spoken word is the new written word, and that just might be the kind of world that I'm prepared to live in.

Vacancy Sign

Sanity

Occupy: a sit-in peace-cry

one percent of citizens
set the world agenda
dictate the wealth
our health / our salaries
the world / the way
the weather

we pit non-violent disobedience
against hardcore corporate greed:
the sit-in of the century
is taking back the streets
from banks
& bombs
& bullies
mismanagment
& unrest

from dishonesty
delusion
deceptiveness
& excess
from corporations / politicians
cops / locks / lies
& institutions

it’s stand-up of the century
OCCUPY / the revolution

OCCUPY will not be televised
it happens in real time
OCCUPY has no borders
& OCCUPY will not take lives
OCCUPY will not cost money
OCCUPY does not take sides
OCCUPY is for decency
& OCCUPY stands for life

american as apple: a steve jobs tribute poem

steve jobs died
& the world wide web
cried out their i’s

the genius illusion
is american as

pie:




a lonely wizard
behind a large velvet curtain
keeping
the legend
alive

The Case For & Against Gay Marriage in Australia

The Case Against
1.
It will open the floodgates:
What if someone wants to marry a horse next?
Where will it end?

2.
It will be a massive victory
for socialists,
radical activists
& atheism.

3.
Baby jesus
will end up crying
very loudly,
& he doesn’t have a dummy.

4.
It will lead
to a massive carbon tax
on household goods.

5.
The mining sector
will be absolutely
screwed.

6.
Working families
will suffer
as the cost of living rises
exponentially

7.
Think
about
the children.