- from Nights with Giordano Bruno (2000)
- One night of spindrift fog ... (6/12/97-2/9/98)
- Look at the picture ... (30/9-13/12/99)
- Vampires suck (23/10-19/11/98)
- Mercury Lane (3/11/99)
- from The Imaginary Museum of Atlantis (2006)
- Ithaka (after C. P. Cavafy) (30/8-12/10/04)
- from E M O (2008)
EVA AVE:
- E M O
- Welcome (5/6-14/7/05)
- Inheritor (10/4-14/7/05)
- Metaphors of The 1001 Nights (30/6/95-2/8/03)
Moons of Mars:
- Burmese Days (20-23/3/03)
- Trois filles de leur mère (24/11-2/12/01)
- Free Love (20/11/04-25/4/05)
- Marriage (14-26/8/99)
- The Stranger (14-17/8/99)
Ovid in Otherworld:
- Tristia 3.2 (12/7-15/8/06)
- Tristia 3.3 (13/7-27/8/06)
- Tristia 3.8 (18/7-27/8/06)
- Tristia 3.10 (11/7-27/8/06)
- Tristia 3.12 (13/7-27/8/06)
- Tristia 3.13 (13/7-27/8/06)
- Tristia 5.7 (13/7-28/8/06)
- Tristia 5.10 (13/7-28/8/06)
- Tristia 5.12 (13/7-28/8/06)
- Epistulae 1.2 (14/7-29/8/06)
- Sleep Threshold – Hypnagogia (15-29/6/06)
- Epistulae 4.7 (14/7-30/8/06)
- Epistulae 4.10 (14/7-30/8/06)
- Epistulae 4.14 (14/7-30/8/06)
- Fasti V: 421-44 (27-28/9/06)
Jack's Metamorphoses:
- Monkey (10/8/07)
Un soir de demi-brume à Londres
Un voyou qui ressemblait à
Mon amour vint à mon rencontre
Et le regard qu’il me jeta
Me fit baisser les yeux de honte …
[Guillaume Apollinaire]
One night of spindrift fog in London
a boyo who was the dead spit
of my lost leader Shackleton
came up and took a look at it …
(6/12/97-2/9/98)
Publications:
- Nights with Giordano Bruno. R.E.M. Trilogy 1. ISBN 0-9582225-0-9 (Wellington: Bumper Books, 2000): 87.
- "Dark Depths." Nights with Giordano Bruno (2008)
Notes:
- The text of Guillaume Apollinaire's "Chanson du mal-aimé" can be found in Alcools. 1913. Trans. Anne Hyde Greet. Foreword by Warren Ramsey (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966).
•
Che miri o sciocco questa mia pittura
Di tanti al viver nostro atti stromenti,
E fai nel tuo pensier vari argomenti,
Imagine non è, non è figura.
Egli è di condir cibi alma fattura,
Che à Prencipi, e gran Regi, in Oro, e Argenti
Commune serve, e a tutte l’altre genti
Tolti a le giande, e a la vil lor pastura.
Perciò e ben degno ch’in metalli, e ’n marmi
Non che in carta si stampi, e che si dica
Questo per human uso è fatto essempio.
Quindi Natura a l’Arte adombrar parmi,
Che per bisogno si fe’ a l’arte amica,
Lungi dal suo costime antico, et empio.
Look at the picture dumb-ass
of all that useful gear
if you’re looking for a purpose
you won’t find it here
Everyone princes peasants kings
eats from the same dish
the genius is in the things
not their maker’s wish
It’s fitting then to print them
on metal not on card
As use follows exemplum
So Nature copies Art
Now Nature’s turned into Art’s slave
time to clam up and behave
– Giuseppe Arcimbaldo, Cucina (1569)
(30/9-13/12/99)
Publications:
- Nights with Giordano Bruno. R.E.M. Trilogy 1. ISBN 0-9582225-0-9 (Wellington: Bumper Books, 2000): 150.
- "Kings of Infinite Space." Nights with Giordano Bruno (2008)
Notes:
- The Italian text of this poem can be found printed under Arcimbaldo's print here.
•
(23/10-19/11/98)
Publications:
- Nights with Giordano Bruno. R.E.M. Trilogy 1. ISBN 0-9582225-0-9 (Wellington: Bumper Books, 2000): 152.
- "Vampires Suck." Nights with Giordano Bruno (2008)
•
The Night Annora Read
The city is a hermetic jewel
built of correspondences
looking through George Court’s
grille
no nothing
Silence is a good thing
moving against the sky
(… never went to see
that Roger Hall comedy)
Francis jangles on the keys
you look for Bruno
in the candle-flames
– pessimistic gnosis –
think, alas, of
(3/11/99)
Publications:
- Three Poems for Annora Gollop, on the Occasion of Her Birthday [pamphlet] (February 26, 2000).
- Nights with Giordano Bruno. R.E.M. Trilogy 1. ISBN 0-9582225-0-9 (Wellington: Bumper Books, 2000): 211 & 215.
- "Magus." Nights with Giordano Bruno (2008)
•
(after C. P. Cavafy)
Before you set out for Ithaka
pray for a long itinerary
full of protracted stopovers.
Customs officials, Interpol,
the zombie Police Chief – not a problem:
as long as you keep your shit together,
staple a smile to your fat face,
they won’t be able to finger you.
Customs officials, Interpol,
the paparazzi, will look right through you
– unless you invite them up for a drink,
unless they’re already inside your head.
Pray for a long itinerary:
landing for the umpteenth time
on the tarmac of a third-world airport
at fiery psychedelic dawn;
haggling in the duty-frees
for coral necklaces and pearls,
designer scents & silks & shades,
as many marques as you can handle;
visiting every provincial town,
sampling every drug & kick …
Never forget about Ithaka:
getting there is your destiny;
no need to rush – it’ll still be waiting
no matter how many years you take.
By the time you touch down you’ll be stuffed,
happy with what you snapped in transit,
just a few daytrips left to do.
Ithaka shouted you the trip,
you’d never have travelled without her.
She’s got fuck-all to show you now.
Dirt-poor, dingy … she’s up front.
It’s over now; you’ve seen so much
there’s no need to tell you what Ithaka means.
(30/8-12/10/04)
•
Publications:
- Tongue in Your Ear 8 (2005): [42].
- Poetry Live & four-by-two publishing (1/4/05)
- The Imaginary Museum of Atlantis. R.E.M. Trilogy 2. ISBN 0-9582586-8-6. (Auckland: Titus Books, 2006): [36].
- "Ithaka". Where am I? Cuttings (4/2/08).
•
E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3. Auckland: Titus Books, 2008. 264 pp.
I
Welcome
to the new reality
Nothing’s stranger
than the will
to survive
Wild geese draw lines
across an amber sky
fish bask
in frozen rivers
generators die
II
Inheritor of silence
shall I be?
Black mass below us
above us only
sky
Hello hell
the weight of matter
tells us
better
stop
(5/6-14/7/05 / 10/4-14/7/05)
Publications:
- Magazine 3 (2005) [Aotearoa – Fernland – New Zealand]: 126.
- "E M O." EVA AVE; Moons of Mars & Ovid in Otherworld (2006)
- E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 3, 91 & 175.
- "Site-map." EMO (2024)
•
The first metaphor is the river –
father of waters. The living crystal
guarding those miracles
which were Islam’s, but now are
yours and mine: The kick-ass
talisman doubling as a slave;
the genie jammed inside a jar
by Solomon’s seal; that King’s command
to give his one-night stand
the chop – matching a lunar beauty
with the white sheen of the sword;
washing your hands with ashes;
the voyages of Sindbad, that Ulysses
inspired by the thrill of risk
not punished by a god; the magic lamp;
the signs that showed Rodrigo
the Moors conquering Spain;
the ape who proved he was a man
by winning at chess; the leprous king;
tall caravans; the magnetic
mountain that collects ships;
the sheikh and the gazelle; a fluid orb
of forms changing like clouds,
subject to Destiny – or Chance
(the same thing, in effect);
the beggar who could be an angel
and the cave called Sesame.
The second metaphor is the web
of a tapestry, which looks up close
like a chaos of colours and arbitrary
lines, a dizzying expanse
of chance – but secret laws delimit it.
Just like that other dream, the Universe,
the Book of the Nights is made up
of master-numbers and motifs:
seven brothers and seven voyages,
three Kazis and three wishes
for whoever sees the Night of Nights,
the dark-haired beauty in whose arms
the lover watches three whole nights,
three Wazirs and three punishments,
and, behind all the others, that first
and final number of the Lord: the One.
The third metaphor is a dream
woven by Persians and Muslims
in the courtyards of the veiled East
or in orchard closes turned to dust.
People will keep dreaming it
till the end of time. As in
the Eleatic paradox, the dream
divides into another dream
and then another, and so on,
entwining in a static labyrinth.
In this book is the Book. The careless
Queen tells the King their own
half-forgotten story. Distracted
by the din of past enchantments
they forget who they are ... and dream.
The fourth metaphor is a map
of that indefinable region, Time,
which measures the pace of shadows
and the slow erosion of marble
and the tread of the generations.
Everything. The voice and the echo –
that vision of Janus, two-faced god –
worlds of silver and worlds of gold
and the vast vigil of the stars.
The Arabs say no-one can ever
read right through the Book of the Nights.
The Nights are Time, which never sleeps.
Keep reading as the day declines and
Scheherazade will tell you your own story.
– Jorge Luis Borges, "Metáforas de Las Mil y
Una Noches." Historia de la noche (1977)
(30/6/95-2/8/03)
Publications:
- "Metaphors of The 1001 Nights." Magazine 1 (2003): 36-38.
- "Metaphors of The 1001 Nights." Scheherazade's Web (16/9/06)
- "EVA AVE." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 30.
Notes:
- The Spanish text Of Jorge Luis Borges' "Metáforas de Las Mil y Una Noches", from Historia de la noche (1977), can be found in Obras Completas. 1974. 3 vols (Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, 1990): 3: 163-203.
•
The cicadas were loud that year
stubbed round the house
we pecked at scraps
from a pizza box
I saw the harbour gleaming
like a tooth the filaments
unravelling
your eyes
in the window
like a wolf
Looting was unforeseen
the infantry
would mop that up
The integers squared away
the indigiens sealed
up in their stupor
plastic box
(20-23/3/03)
Publications:
- Tupelo Hotel: Winter Readings at Tupelo. Ed. Mark Pirie. ISBN 1-86942-046-2. Paekakariki: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 2004: 30-31.
- "Burmese Days." Moons of Mars (2006)
- "Moons of Mars." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 108.
- "Burmese Days." EMO (2024)
•
MADCHK
– licence plate
ORIENTAL PARADE
The purse of you
tight-lipped
bike shorts
goose-pimples
Attention aux marins
sorry, sailors
Who so needs a hug?
•
BRENTWOOD HOTEL
Hoofing it?
slow down
The little darlings
one kick & you’re out
dream girl stroke stroke
the secret garden
Run away to sea
•
FINISHING SCHOOL
Was her name Shannon?
no, Fallon
on Dynasty you know
the slutty one
Time to lay some pipe
he chortles simpers, rather
Three fillies one mare
(24/11-2/12/01)
Publications:
- City Poems: with Compliments of the Season [pamphlet] (December 16, 2001)
- "Trois filles de leur mère." Moons of Mars (2006)
- "Moons of Mars." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 121-22.
- "Trois filles de leur mère." EMO (2024)
•
Girl of the wood-ember hair
flash-photo wit
hourglass waist
otter-cub in the tiger’s jaws
bouquet of sunflowers in your mouth
teeth white mice tracks in the snow
teased-amber tongue
tongue stained blood-red by the Host
tongue of a Barbie batting her eyelids
alchemist’s tongue
lashes crayon slashes
swallowtail eyebrows
forehead fogged-up
greenhouse panes
champagne-flute shoulders
– dolphins butting through sea-ice –
matchstick wrists
card-sharp fingers my Ace of Hearts
harvest-shock fingers
marten-fur armpits
(Midsummer bonfires
of blackbirds’ nests)
spindrift arms
ground fine as grain
skyrocket legs
sparking like clockwork or despair
calves shoots from the Rata tree
feet like initials
feet like keyrings feet like bung-taps
pearl-barley neck
whitewater throat (my love-nest
in the torrent’s bed)
night-walking breasts
sea-otter breasts
crucified breasts
rosebud nipples spiked with dew
belly like a folded fan
a giant claw
your back a jump-jet hovering
quicksilver back
beacon back
nuque of the neck a rolling stone
a glass that shatters in your hand
coracle hips
flared hips
pale as a peacock
tipped head-over-heels
asbestos bum
swansdown behind
Spring booty
leaf-dagger sex
sex panning for gold platypus pussy
sex soft as anemone jujube sweet
mirror sex
eyes pricked with tears
violet eyes my magnetic north
nomad eyes
eyes water to a dying man
eyes one second from the chop
eyes deep as a well eyes free as air eyes dry earth and eyes
cool fire
– André Breton
(20/11/04-25/4/05)
Publications:
- Magazine 3 (2005) [Aotearoa – Fernland – New Zealand]: 25-29.
- "Jack Ross." OBAN 06 Online Poetry Anthology. nzpec (28 April 2006).
- "Free Love." Moons of Mars (2006)
- "Moons of Mars." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 152-53.
- "Free Love." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- The text of "L'Union libre", by André Breton, from Clair de terre (1931), can be found in La poésie surréaliste: Édition revue et augmentée. Ed. Jean-Louis Bédouin. 1964 (Paris: Éditions Seghers, 1970): 82-84.
- Extracted from André Breton's Clair de terre, 1931.
•
The wind proposed to the snow. The snow and the wind plighted their
troth, and a frost-fingered ship probed the pack-ice of their love.
A bowsprit probed their season of intimacy.
Happiness is frozen in the froth of a cloud; it’s a light which
freezes, then cracks. It’s a thicket of lilies infested with violet
snakes, gliding between twilight and the sea, gliding across the
blood-red lawns of twilight.
The whip cracks, streaking the snow of your first love. The wild
beast falls asleep in a blood-streaked orchid.
– Maurice Blanchard
(14-26/8/99)
Publications:
- Three Surrealist Poems, for the Engagement of Lisa Bieleski & Kendall Clements (Auckland: Perdrix Press, 1999).
- "Marriage." The Wooden Propeller: Egypt – Australia – New Zealand – Paris – Mexico – New York (15-16/10/06).
- "Marriage." Moons of Mars (2006)
- "Moons of Mars." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 159.
- "Marriage." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- The text of "Noces", by Maurice Blanchard, from Le Monde qui nous entoure (1951), can be found in La poésie surréaliste: Édition revue et augmentée. Ed. Jean-Louis Bédouin. 1964 (Paris: Éditions Seghers, 1970): 74.
•
He said: my hoarse lips pant spotted
panthers who sing
sweeter than bellbirds in the bush
or the blood-streaked bulls of storm cumulus
He said:
Inside me I’ve got
steep salt waves
breaking over (so dainty) feast-day flowers
He called Our Lady
a little girl with a basket of vegetables
He said: Then he said:
I’m a poppy
clashing at dawn with pale blue animals
– Jacques Baron
(14-17/8/99)
Publications:
- Three Surrealist Poems, for the Engagement of Lisa Bieleski & Kendall Clements (Auckland: Perdrix Press, 1999).
- "The Stranger." The Wooden Propeller: Egypt – Australia – New Zealand – Paris – Mexico – New York (15-16/10/06).
- "Marriage." Moons of Mars (2006)
- "Moons of Mars." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 160.
- "Marriage." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- The text of "L'Inconnu", by Jacques Baron, from L'Allure poétique (1924), can be found in La poésie surréaliste: Édition revue et augmentée. Ed. Jean-Louis Bédouin. 1964 (Paris: Éditions Seghers, 1970): 64.
•
Ovid in Otherworld
The notion that Ovid was never relegated to Tomis at all, but — in a very real sense an exul ludens [laughing, playful exile] — spent his latter years in Rome toying with ever more elaborate exilic topoi (presumably as an excuse for not finishing the Fasti and not revising the Metamorphoses …), remains fundamentally bizarre. Just how bizarre can be appreciated when we try to envisage the Realien [facts, realities] of such a project and the reaction to it of friends and critics. Ovid’s real exile may not have provoked (surviving) contemporary comment, but so ludicrous a piece of monotonous and obsessional playacting … most certainly would have done so.
[Ovid. The Poems of Exile: Tristia and the Black Sea Letters, with a new foreword. Translated with an introduction, notes and glossary by Peter Green. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. x.]
Publications:
- "Exul ludens." Ovid in Otherworld (30/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 188.
- "Exul ludens." EMO (2024)
•
Nec mihi, quod lusi uero sine crimine, prodest,
quodque magis uita Musa iocata mea est
I fucked around in poetry
not life
bookworm
pale as putty
the voyage nearly killed me
storms
& seasickness & crap
to eat
but I survived it
all
why? I
cry
like snow in spring
(12/7-15/8/06)
Publications:
- "Tristia 3.2." Ovid in Otherworld (15/8/06)
- "from Ovid in Otherworld: Versions from Tristia: Tristia 3.2, 3.3 & 3.10.” JAAM 25 (2008): 142-44.
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 177.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Tristia 3.2." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
Nec caelum patior, nec aquis adsueuimus istis,
terraque nescioquo non placet ipsa modo
Why is this not my writing?
I’m dictating
to my landlady today
too sick to hold a pen
no hospitals up here
no friends to visit
grapes & gossip
I think of you
keep talking to you
even in delirium
(or so they tell me)
if you were here
then I’d get up
to greet you
unless you’re happier
without me?
No – I know
that’s just not you
I can still make you sad
(13/7-27/8/06)
Publications:
- "Tristia 3.3." Ovid in Otherworld (27/8/06)
- "from Ovid in Otherworld: Versions from Tristia: Tristia 3.2, 3.3 & 3.10.” JAAM 25 (2008): 142-44.
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 183.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Tristia 3.3." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
ut tetigi Pontum, uexant insomnia, uixque
ossa tegit macies nec iuuat ora cibus
Since I arrived
in Otherworld
I can’t sleep
anymore
I’ve starved myself
until my skin’s
like parchment
flaking off
like autumn leaves
my mind’s the same
it all comes down
to one defect
the wrong address
(18/7-27/8/06)
Publications:
- "Tristia 3.8." Ovid in Otherworld (27/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 189.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Tristia 3.8." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
suppositum stellis numquam tangentibus aequor
me sciat in media uiuere barbaria
If anyone still remembers me
back in the city
think of a wheel of stars
that never sink
below the ocean
think of the far bank of a river
our only shield
against rampaging gangs
Black Power Headhunters
no faxes no email
for days
the lines are down
the snow once fallen
lies a second year
here wine bursts bottles
they don’t drink beer
but ice-cubes
I’ve seen the whole sea
frozen hard
walked on it dry-shod
the deep ringing beneath me
(11/7-27/8/06)
Publications:
- "Tristia 3.10." Ovid in Otherworld (27/8/06)
- "from Ovid in Otherworld: Versions from Tristia: Tristia 3.2, 3.3 & 3.10.” JAAM 25 (2008): 142-44.
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 197.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Tristia 3.10." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
Iam uiolam puerique legunt hilaresque puellae,
rustica quae nullo nata serente uenit
Come gather
flowers
laughing children
from the
unploughed
earth
spring comes
even to
Otherworld
buds
break out
where they can
few trees
no vines
no carts
crossing
the river
ships
come
with news
from home
have I been
pardoned
yet?
(13/7-27/8/06)
Publications:
- "Tristia 3.12." Ovid in Otherworld (27/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 204.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Tristia 3.12." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
Si tamen est aliquid nobis hac luce petendum,
in loca ne redeas amplius ista, precor
It’s my birthday
today
why was I born
at all?
killing time
far from my country
I hope this day
will never
come again
not here
at least
(13/7-27/8/06)
Publications:
- "Tristia 3.13." Ovid in Otherworld (27/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 211.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Tristia 3.13." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
En pudet et fateor, iam desuetudine longa
uix subeunt ipsi uerba Latina mihi
D’you want to know
about the people here?
their clothes their manners?
they carry weapons
all of them
the locals
barely civilised
colonials
gone native
longhaired bearded
jackknives
at the ready
I’m scarred enough
not to be scared
of them
can follow
their argot
(hardly call to mind
my own words now)
(13/7-28/8/06)
Publications:
- "Tristia 5.7." Ovid in Otherworld (28/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 219.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Tristia 5.7." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
Stare putes adeo procedunt tempora tarde,
et peragit lentis passibus annus iter
Three years I’ve been here now
three times the sea has
frozen thawed again
time passes in reverse
up here (it seems)
the shortest day
lasts longer than
the longest night
at home
nowhere is safe
the gangs descend
in migratory flocks
to test our walls
we gather cartridge cases
in the streets
like grain
farmers wear helmets
sheep fear war
not predators
I have to talk in signs
even to neighbours
here I’m the simpleton
nodding
as they mock me
to my face
(13/7-28/8/06)
Publications:
- "Tristia 5.10." Ovid in Otherworld (28/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 228-29.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Tristia 5.10." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
Sic utinam, quae nil metuentem tale magistrum
perdidit, in cineres Ars mea uersa foret
You tell me I should work
not kick
against the pricks
it’s harder
than you think
since song for me means
joy
laughing
at the funeral
dancing
at the wake
is what you ask
of me
& if I could forget it all
my life my country
you
I don’t have time
or peace of mind
to think up stories
I’m not the man I was
I keep on writing
but
when I reread it
ashes in the grate
is all
it’s worth
I should have started
doing that before
(13/7-28/8/06)
Publications:
- "Tristia 5.12." Ovid in Otherworld (28/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 233-34.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Tristia 5.12." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
Qui, mortis saeuo geminent ut uulnere causas,
omnia uipereo spicula felle linunt.
Maximus
why am I writing you?
you’ll throw away the letter
when you see my name
up here
the locals smear their blades
with poison
to up the chances
of a fatal wound
circling the walls like wolves
the rooftops gleam
with last year’s crop of shrapnel
as my fourth winter
stretches into spring
no rest for me
even in dreams
I’m riddled
like a target
sweating on the chaingang
or worst of all
I dream I’m
safe at home
(14/7-29/8/06)
Publications:
- "Epistulae 1.2." Ovid in Otherworld (29/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 238.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Epistulae 1.2." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
man boldly goes where most courageous not step
– Chandra
Leap in the dark
or fall back
into fire
Pick up your pen
& scribble
round & round & round
Hot stony
& exclusive
vacant of all holy
“Hypnagogia –
most common features
vividness
& fear”
until you’re sure
that floating hand
the spider
rabbits
nest of rutting cats
have your best interests
at heart
bat them away
into tomorrow
(15-29/6/06)
Publications:
- Poetry NZ 33 (2006): 80.
- "Sleep Threshold - Hypnagogia." Ovid in Otherworld (3/10/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 242.
- "Sleep Threshold - Hypnagogia." EMO (2024)
•
Vincitur Aegisos testataque tempus in omne
sunt tua, Vestalis, carmine facta meo.
Vestalis
you’ve been posted here yourself
to the land of the midnight sun
to police the Hyperboreans
below the pole
you know that I’m not lying
you can see the ice
the frozen bottles
bikies
racing their hogs
along the floes
you’ve seen the poisoned nunchucks
had to fight yourself
when the stockade was attacked
(your deeds will live forever
in my verse)
(14/7-30/8/06)
Publications:
- "Epistulae 4.7." Ovid in Otherworld (30/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 243.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Epistulae 4.7." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
Ecquos tu silices, ecquod, carissime, ferrum
duritiae confers, Albinouane, meae?
This is my sixth
summer
Albovinanus
who’d have guessed
I’d last here
for so long?
water
carves out stone
fingers
wear gold rings
to ribbons
given time
but I’m untouched
a leafless land
that only grows
barbed wire
where rafts turn into
footpaths
on the sea
(14/7-30/8/06)
Publications:
- "Epistulae 4.10." Ovid in Otherworld (30/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 247.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Epistulae 4.10." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
Haec tibi mittuntur, quem sum modo carmine questus
non aptum numeris nomen habere meis
Tuticanus
– what a name!
I can’t think what to say to you except
get me out of here
anything would be better
Mt Purgatory
Guantanamo Bay
Iraq
the locals have got tired
of hearing me complain
yes once again
my work’s got me in trouble
& once again
I’m innocent
I like them
I just hate the place we’re in
admittedly I moan about the cold
the sieges
gunfights
gangmembers
but never a word against
my gentle hosts
they won’t let me pay taxes
call me their poet
far kinder
than you people
if only they lived further
from the pole
(14/7-30/8/06)
Publications:
- "Epistulae 4.14." Ovid in Otherworld (30/8/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 252-53.
- Traffic in Gold (Montana Poetry Day, January 13, 2008). Music by Anna Rugis / Poetry by Jack Ross. Audio CD: 77 minutes. Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery, 2009.
- "Epistulae 4.14." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- Texts and literal translations for these versions from Ovid are available in Ovid: Tristia. Ex Ponto. Trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler. 1924. Loeb Classics. London: William Heinemann / Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.
•
ritus erit veteris, nocturna Lemuria, sacri:
inferias tacitis manibus illa dabunt
May
Ghost feast
Lemuria
make offerings
to all the ghosts
at midnight
when dogs
& cocks
are fast asleep
walk barefoot
thumb
pressed through
your fingers
warding off
the hungry dead
wash your hands
in pure spring water
turn
& throw
black beans
away
9 x
face averted
say
I cleanse my house
the shade
walking behind you
wash your hands
again
& bang
a gong
9 x
ask all souls
to leave your house
go away
ghost elders
go
(27-28/9/06)
Publications:
- "Fasti V: 421-44." Ovid in Otherworld (28/9/06)
- "Ovid in Otherworld." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 254-55.
- "Fasti V: 421-44." EMO (2024)
Notes:
- A text and literal translation for this version from Ovid is available in Ovid: Fasti. Trans. J. G. Frazer. 1931. Loeb Classics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press / London: William Heinemann, 1959.
•
I am the monkey of the Lord
he said
What can you want
from me?
4 silvereyes
3 barstools
2 palmtrees
a golden ring
& no more strain
(10/8/07)
Publications:
- "Jack's Metamorphoses: Collage Poems & Sequences (1997-2007)." E M O. R.E.M. Trilogy 3. ISBN 978-1-877441-07-3 (Auckland: Titus Books, 2008): 183.
Cover photograph & design: Gabriel White
