- from Roadworks: Auckland Geography (2006)
- Cruisy morning, eh? (8-19/8/03)
- We were Soldiers (20-21/4/02)
- Castor Bay (17-24/2/06)
- Such Manners (21-23/12/05)
- First Night (20-21/4/02)
- Cycle Couriers in Freyberg Place (17-25/2/06)
- The Kid Stays in the Picture (27-28/5/03)
- Every girl’s a babe (6-10/9/05)
- Noughts and Crosses (17/12/04-7/2/05)
- Sibylla (5/6-14/7/05)
- Wang Po’s Preface to Poems from the Pavilion of the Prince of T’eng (16/10-4/11/05)
- Funeral Sermon by the Shadow Spokesperson against PC (3-13/11/05)
- As Long (7/4/06)
- That hand (15-18/4/06)
- Easter Ferry to Rakiura (24/4-20/5/06)
- Eva (24/4-20/5/06)
- Xmas (21/11/06)
- Biggie Shark & Biggie Whale (14/2/07)
- Genesis (15/1/-8/2/07)
- Scripts (15/1/-8/2/07)
- Paisley (15/1-8/2/07)
- Kids at a Bus-stop (13/7-18/10/01)
- Heroes: 3 Takes
- Rita (19/7/07)
- Kickstarting Your Research Career (7-20/6/07)
- Miniatures (7/2; 8/11; 16/7-9/11/06)
- Volcanic Glass (3-13/3/08)
- Vainglory (3-13/3/08)
- from 31 Days (2009)
- One More Thing (3/4 & 8/9/09-22/7/10)
- Silhouette (4/4-18/6/09)
- Pale Star (K.M., 1923) (7/4-24/7/09)
- Foundry (8/4-20/9/09)
- Toys (China, 1908) (9/4-18/6/09)
- Memoirs from beyond the grave (13/4-15/11/09)
- Badges (15/4-15/11/09)
- Vampires (16/4/09, 8/9/09, 4/5/10-12/7/10)
- “Concern for Tony Veitch’s safety” (19/4/09)
- Orpheish (20/4-13/8/09)
- The Dada Lady of the Sonnets (21-23/4/09)
- Anzac Day (25/4-18/6/09)
- Argo (26/4-18/6/09)
- Before the Storm (29/4-15/11/09)
Jack Ross: Roadworks: Auckland Geography (2006)Auckland Geography
(2006)
(For Anna Rugis)
The city is a map of the city
– Ciaran Carson, Belfast Confetti
- O Canada! (30-31/7/03)
- Cruisy morning, eh? (8-19/8/03)
- Tentacles of Destruction (14 & 20-27/5/04)
- Asbestos Hands of Dr. J. (7/10/04-26/1/06)
- We were Soldiers (20-21/4/02)
- Castor Bay (17-24/2/06)
- DEATH & BEYOND (2-5/6/03)
- Refrigerium (20-22/1/06)
- Birkenhead (21-22/11/03)
- A Sunday Walk (13-31/7/03)
- Such Manners (21-23/12/05)
- First Night (20-21/4/02)
- Cycle Couriers in Freyberg Place (17-25/2/06)
- This DVD contains everything you ever wanted to know … (13-15/9/05)
- The Kid Stays in the Picture (27-28/5/03)
- Every girl’s a babe (6-10/9/05)
- Newmarket (30/6-22/7/03)
- Unsuccessful Applicant for Neighbourhood Watch (29/9/05)
- Coromandel (26-28/7/03)
- Blinds (28/2-11/3/06)
Publications:
- "The Auckland Game." Roadworks: Auckland Geography. The Imaginary Museum (17/6/06).
- "Roadworks: Auckland Geography." Eye Street Book: Poems by Jack Ross, Raewyn Alexander, Rosetta Allan, Ila Selwyn, Alice Hooton, Jacqueline Crompton Ottaway & Lee Dowrick. Edited by Raewyn Alexander. ISBN 978-0-473-20575-1. Auckland: Bright Communications, 2012. 7-14.
•
The Auckland Game
- ALBANY VILLAGE O Canada!
- MASSEY CAMPUS Cruisy morning, eh?
- UPPER HARBOUR HIGHWAY Tentacles of Destruction
- MAIRANGI BAY Asbestos Hands of Dr. J.
- SUNNYNOOK We were Soldiers
- CASTOR BAY Castor Bay
- FORREST HILL DEATH & BEYOND
- RANGITOTO Refrigerium
- BIRKENHEAD Birkenhead
- DEVONPORT A Sunday Walk
- PONSONBY Such Manners
- EDEN CRESCENT First Night
- HIGH ST Cycle Couriers in Freyberg Place
- K RD This DVD contains …
- GRAFTON The Kid Stays in the Picture
- GREY LYNN Every girl’s a babe
- NEWMARKET Newmarket
- WESTERN SPRINGS Unsuccessful Applicant for Neighbourhood Watch
- COROMANDEL Coromandel
- ALBANY Blinds
Publications:
- "Time to play the game ...." Roadworks: Auckland Geography. The Imaginary Museum (15/6/06).
•
-
8.00 am - START
- 8.30 am - ALBANY VILLAGEcar starts
- 9.00 am - MASSEY CAMPUScomputer double
- 6.00 pm - U H HIGHWAYcar accident
- 10.00 am - FERRY RIDE
- 9.30 am - MAIRANGI BAYbus in
- 11.00 am - SUNNYNOOKone more movie
- 4.30 pm - CASTOR BAYbus / walk
- 10.30 am - FORREST HILLstall at the lights
- 12.30 pm - MISS THE BUS
- 5.00 pm - RANGITOTOferry back
- 4.00 pm - BIRKENHEADkilling time
- 2.00 pm - DEVONPORTferry across
- 2.30 pm - PONSONBYtime for a coffee
- 3.00 pm - WALK IN THE PARK
- 6.30 pm - EDEN CRESCENT
- 1.00 pm - HIGH STtime for lunch
- 3.30 pm - K RDbuying shirts
- 11.30 am - GRAFTONwalk down
- 5.30 pm - CAR ACCIDENT
- 12.00 noon - GREY LYNNmoving house
- 1.30 pm - NEWMARKETwalk up
- 7.00 pm - WESTERN SPRINGSparty
- 7.30 pm - COROMANDELcar stops
- 8.00 pm - STOP
Throw a single die to start.
Publications:
- "gameboard (place)." Roadworks: Auckland Geography. The Imaginary Museum (17/6/06).
•
- 24. 8.00 PM - STOP
- 23. 7.30 PM - Coromandelcar starts
- 22. 7.00 PM - Western Springsvideo / pizza
- 21. 6.30 PM - Eden Crescentbus out
- 20. 6.00 PM - U H Highwaycar accident
- 19. 5.30 PM - Find a Car Park
- 18. 5.00 PM - Rangitotoferry leaves
- 17. 4.30 PM - Castor BayCD launch
- 16. 4.00 PM - Birkenheadwork party
- 15. 3.30 PM - K Rdtoo late
- 14. 3.00 PM - Trip & Fall
- 13. 2.30 PM - Ponsonbyfinding a drink
- 12. 2.00 PM - Devonportferry arrives
- 11. 1.30 PM - Newmarketwalk down
- 10. 1.00 PM - High Stwalk up
- 9. 12.30 PM - Bus Ride
- 8. 12.00 NOON - Grey Lynnspying
- 7. 11.30 AM - Graftoncar park
- 6. 11.00 AM - Sunnynookpower-walk
- 5. 10.30 AM - Forrest Hillruptured water main
- 4. 10.00 AM - Ferry Turns Back
- 3. 9.30 AM - Mairangi Baybus in
- 2. 9.00 AM - Massey Campusclass
- 1. 8.30 AM - Albany Villagecar stops
- 0. 8.00 AM - START
Keep playing till you’ve had enough.
Publications:
- "gameboard (time)." Roadworks: Auckland Geography. The Imaginary Museum (17/6/06).
White haze above the hills
of Albany
“pools of fir”
(H.D.)
or “sooty altars”
(Curnow)
cracker stuff
I like the crosses, man
sparrows bob
across the cobbles
high heels click to class
(8-19/8/03)
Publications:
- Bravado 2 (2004): 22.
- "Roadworks: Auckland Geography." The Imaginary Museum (14/6/06) [available at: https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2006/06/upper-harbour-highway-600-pm.html].
•
not me I wasn’t
actor
in other men’s wars
Tonight I took the car out
for a spin
in moonlight
starting at shadows
Today I stayed at home
alone at home
same’s true
of yesterday
Tomorrow?
Off to hunt
the foxes
from their holes
(20-21/4/02)
Publications:
- "Roadworks: Auckland Geography." The Imaginary Museum (14/6/06) [available at: https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2006/06/upper-harbour-highway-600-pm.html].
•
The day your driver stoppednot halfway hometo say another bus had crashedin Takapuna& he’d been toldto turn aroundpick up the passengersbut you got out insteadthinking it might be quickerto walk homeonly to see his tail-lightsrecedingbefore you got halfway thereyour feet started to hurtin those damned sandalsuntil you triedthat one surefire shortcutthat took so much longer& you feltnot so much aliveas if you ought to feelsomething like that
(17-24/2/06)
Publications:
- "Roadworks: Auckland Geography." The Imaginary Museum (14/6/06) [available at: https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2006/06/upper-harbour-highway-600-pm.html].
•
“Such manners …”
with the emphasis
of early afternoon
Medusa
waiting for your friend
to come (she’s late)
whisper whisper
from the little girl
“You’d like to stay here”
water baby
with a coke bottle
clear dishes
Merry
Xmas!
traffic’s already
starting to build up
(21-23/12/05)
Publications:
- "Roadworks: Auckland Geography." The Imaginary Museum (14/6/06) [available at: https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2006/06/upper-harbour-highway-600-pm.html].
•
Incorrigibly punctual
talk to me
forgive me
in the park
I suddenly thought
shit
you’re on tonight
he told me
it was all
one thing
looking forward
to a cognac
since this morning
me a wine
the others
to a scream
(20-21/4/02)
Publications:
- "Roadworks: Auckland Geography." The Imaginary Museum (14/6/06) [available at: https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2006/06/upper-harbour-highway-600-pm.html].
•
a mirror hit him from behind up the back orifice where was that he rings me up and goes yeah blah blah blah what was it he was fucken doing?
(17-25/2/06)
Publications:
- "Roadworks: Auckland Geography." The Imaginary Museum (14/6/06) [available at: https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2006/06/upper-harbour-highway-600-pm.html].
•
Don’t want to just be intellectual
The way I feel is sexual
– MORE FM
Twisting my rubber arm
bronze blue
VALISÈRE
Mocha almond
Jellytip
Cookies & cream
OUR ALLEGIANCE
IS NOT TO A CREED
NOT TO A BOOK
NOT TO A CHURCH
BUT TO THE GREAT
SPIRIT OF LIFE
Oh shit oh shucks
(27-28/5/03)
Publications:
- "Roadworks: Auckland Geography." The Imaginary Museum (14/6/06) [available at: https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2006/06/upper-harbour-highway-600-pm.html].
•
in Jackworld Soraya’s mother pilloried on 12 o’clock TV not answering the door We’ve had her up before she’ll keep on doing it until unspoken feral old man tethered in the yard titanic mounds of garbage They’re afraid of dinging up their cars They always stop comforting me when I stalked out of Poetry Live a good kind woman turned into the butt of media mikes & yet the squalor freaked me out that dark reporter …
(6-10/9/05)
Publications:
- "Roadworks: Auckland Geography." The Imaginary Museum (14/6/06) [available at: https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2006/06/upper-harbour-highway-600-pm.html].
•
My name is …John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom XI live in …The Fortress of Solitude XMy father is …a barbarian chieftain from the Plains of Leng XMy mother is …a slavegirl from the Mongolian steppes XI have 100 sisters and no brotherssave for the heads impaled atop my tent XThis summer I …set out to pillage all the known world XIt was …very easy XMy teacher is …a dog whose last words will be screams of pain X !!My best friend is …my mighty two-handed battle-axe XMy classmates are …dust beneath my chariot-wheels XI like to …ride like the wind on my 8-legged steed Thorondor XWhen I grow up I want to be …a vengeful ghost X0 12 This silly work is becoming increasingly typical of you, I’m afraid. You know you could do far better if you tried.
(17/12/04-7/2/05)
Publications:
- Poetry Pudding. Ed. Jenny Argante. Auckland: Reed, 2007. 28-29.
•
Mounted
all funky
on your fine horse
Now
stripped
to essential womanhood
Wounded
beauty
with your big eyes
What should I do?
Decide not to be
a queen
A queen never walks
& yet you are
walking
then she takes his hand
(5/6-14/7/05)
Publications:
- Kokako 3 (2005): 52.
•
[675 AD]
Our Commander has no ordinary reputation
he has carried his standard here
the new Governor is a paragon of virtue
he has travelled a thousand li
like soaring dragons and ascending birds
are the works of Academician Meng
Now is the ninth month
the season Autumn
the waters have receded
the lake is clear
we have come to the riverbank
and entered the lofty portals
Evening songs from the fishing boats
resound over Lake P’eng-Li
geese numbed by the cold
choke on their cries
unfettered rapture
soars into the sky
The four excellent conditions
are present
the two rarities
have come together
heaven is high
the earth immense
the succession of opposites
obeys one inscrutable law
(16/10-4/11/05)
Publications:
- Magazine Six: The Key West Issue (Cycle Press, Key West, Florida, 2006): 101.
•
Dr Mapp said he would be issuing a paper on eradicating
political correctness.
– NZ Herald (1/11/05)
The face is starting to dissolve
from too many
pictures Lose
the cotton wadding
& the teeth Just
stuff the fucker
underground
Cocksucker
Fucking im-
migrants Tell me
arsehole Who
got here first?
You yes You
I’m talking to you
You talking to me?
Are you
talking to If you
can’t stand the heat
then stay out of the
Fuck you
Fuck you
Fuck you
very much
(3-13/11/05)
Publications:
- Poetry NZ 34 (2007): 76-80.
•
As long as I get these essays marked
humanity will forge
– vast herds of wildebeest –
towards the dawn
As long as my car starts
the space race
will end in triumph
freedom’s banner flourish
on the plains of Mars
As long as this pen keeps moving
the glaciers will recede mankind
forgive their debtors
peace and love prevail
the lion and the lamb
– you know –
& as for me
I might wake up
(7/4/06)
•
waving out of a car
window, a slight
hand pirouetting in the light
rain, an hour from evening
This afternoon, that girl
sock-footed, in her uniform
beside the supermarket fence
face fixed to her phone
I used to think
such things would all add up
transform into a paradise
life well lost for this
I could not love thee dear so much
loved I not never quite
had the nerve to try that
on with Marianne
with Chantal, Rachel no
but listening to Olivia Newton
John sing Xanadu
as Coleridge stumbled through
a neon-garish London
I felt sure … It may not be Art
but I like it you have to get
your kicks in strange ways
these days
even from a hand
(15-18/4/06)
Publications:
- Poetry NZ 34 (2007): 76-80.
•
The final year
I was in Christchurch
they asked me to bodypaint
a model
I found this girl
It took me 11 hours
I gave her pinstripe trousers
& a tie
She stood there glaring
looking like a man
It’s a guy – no
it’s a girl!
There’s a photo
of some people
staring at her boobs
& one of them was Brett
For quite a while
he came to my shows
I to his
It was as if
we were moving in circles
around each other
which is
kinda sad
(24/4-20/5/06)
Publications:
- Magazine 6 (2008) [Ka Ora – Survival – Sobrevivência]: 94.
•
insouciant
twisting up her mouth
likes to disagree
with everything I say
in her arctic cloak
propped by the lifebelt
staring at the waves
heave up & down
‘the infinite hatability
of strangers’ (John Dolan)
or, by contrast,
lovability
last seen
receding on the deck
of a water-taxi
off to Ulva Island
(24/4-20/5/06)
Publications:
- Poetry NZ 34 (2007): 76-80.
•
the rolling whale’s-eye
of the Farmers’ Santa
in its transplanted state
Queen St / Victoria
St corner
eyes fixed on your phone
– can I sit here?
– our bus is coming in 5 minutes, mate
– time to finish
up my smoke
plugged in – the Asian girl
cocks her head to one side
as if listening for it
for what? invisible
the sentence of her life
(21/11/06)
Publications:
- "Xmas". The Imaginary Museum ((3/12/06)
- Home & Away: Life Writing 3. Edited by Jack Ross & Kathryn Lee. ISBN 978-0-473-13539-3. Massey University: School of Social and Cultural Studies, 2008. 6.
•
Biggie Shark & Biggie Whale
(15/1/-8/2/07)
Publications:
- [with Bronwyn Lloyd] Biggie Shark & Biggie Whale. [pamphlet] (February 14, 2007)
•
(15/1/-8/2/07)
Publications:
- [with Bronwyn Lloyd] Biggie Shark & Biggie Whale. [pamphlet] (February 14, 2007)
•
(15/1-8/2/07)
Publications:
- [with Bronwyn Lloyd] Biggie Shark & Biggie Whale. [pamphlet] (February 14, 2007)
•
(13/7-18/10/01)
Publications:
- City Poems: with Compliments of the Season [pamphlet] (December 16, 2001)
- [with Bronwyn Lloyd] Biggie Shark & Biggie Whale. [pamphlet] (February 14, 2007)
•
Heroes:
3 Takes
(for Bronwyn Lloyd)
Out of the box is where I live …
– Battlestar Galactica
i – Conshie
Would you walk barefoot?
Yes
rather than work
in a rubber factory
said Rita Angus
ii – Jean
Don’t write to me again
from a launderette
she told her sister
The prison blocks
of your modernity
(19/7/07)
Publications:
- "The Academic as Hero". The Imaginary Museum (25/10/2007)
•
(for Cluny Macpherson)
Her heart was in perfect condition – in fact I have it over here …
– C.S.I.
i – Spreading Yourself Around
I started to get involved
in cruising
How is it
Filipino boys
work in the laundry
Dutchmen
on the bridge?
Ships plying
the Pacific
as the sun goes down
my page
ii – Entertaining the Visiting Professor
I took him to the zoo
he was bored
I took him to the museum
he was bored
we all took bets
as he nodded off
on whether his cigar ash
would set fire
to his crimpoline suit
(7-20/6/07)
Publications:
- "The Academic as Hero". The Imaginary Museum (25/10/2007)
•
(for Lisa Clements)
I like to ambush my brain before fear and reason can kick in …
– Joan of Arcadia
OFF END OF LINES
the wine-shop sign
says
I watch Gaston
joshing with his buds
Out in the sun
all day poor you!
ex-colleague
married to a Japanese
(Yuko, was it?)
does he recognise me?
probably
I him
•
Are you getting popcorn
for all of us?
the kids shrill
I stand queuing
right behind them
harassed father
has no answer
I make sure
that I get served
no matter what
the upshot
•
It’s always already
happened
that sharp blow
to the back of the head
throwing the pen
in the language students’
face
He’s having trouble at home
Lisa explained
•
The redness
of red trousers
spied
in a shop
tried on
anxiously
debated
bought
tried out
in the park
holding hands
– with whom?
gossamer smile
(7/2; 8/11; 16/7-9/11/06)
Publications:
- "The Academic as Hero". The Imaginary Museum (25/10/2007)
•
Len Castle: Mountain to the Sea (2008)That line on your thumb white/ red exuding blood like David Hawkes’ obsidian at school clean lines of break the signs of manufacture evident immaculate anti- evolutionary artefact ruling out an intervention cutting the subject short
(3-13/3/08)
Publications:
- Len Castle. Mountain to the Sea: Ceramics / Poetry / Photographs. Ed. Tanya Wilkinson. ISBN 978-0-473-13835-6. Napier: Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery, 2008. 33.
- "Summer Poetry in Grey Lynn". The Imaginary Museum (8/2/2009)
- Poetry Specials: 2008-2018. Papyri (28/12/2017)
•
SH: … I think that one reason there is so much ugly antipathy to
writers who are breaking form in any way is because people
know that language taps an unpredictable power source in all
of us. It’s not the same in the visual arts, where there are
many abstract or form-breaking visual artists who enjoy wide
popularity, are embraced by a critical establishment, and sell
their work for a tremendous amount of money. You will see their
work in museums and books about the work on large glass coffee
tables. Try the same thing, with language, certainly in this
culture, and you may find your writing lost. This is because
words are used as buoys, and if they start to break up …
EF: If they’re stripped of their presumed meanings …
SH: Right. Then everything goes because words connect us to life.
– Edward Forster, Talisman Interview with Susan Howe (1990)
A monument being resolved upon
Dr. Donne
sent for a carver to make
the figure of an urn
charcoal fires being first made in his large study
& having put off all his clothes
winding-sheet in his hand
had this sheet put upon him
tied with knots at his head & feet
& his hands so placed as dead
Upon this Urn
he stood with his eyes
shut
& with so much of the sheet turned aside
as might show his lean pale face
When the picture was fully finished
he caused it to be set
by his bedside
where it continued
& became his hourly object …
(3-13/3/08)
Publications:
- "Cats and/or Vases". The Imaginary Museum (20/9/2008)
•
Grow quietly
If you listen carefully
You can hear the beautiful singing
– Sijie Zhou
I’m using my gift to search for luminosity
– Liu Si
- April Fool’s Day (1/4-18/6/09)
- Hiding the Lunch (2/4-6/8/09)
- One More Thing (3/4 & 8/9/09-22/7/10)
- Silhouette (4/4-18/6/09)
- “The archaeologist of the present day” (5/4-18/6//09)
- Three fits (6/4-16/7/10)
- Pale Star (K.M., 1923) (7/4-24/7/09)
- Foundry (8/4-20/9/09)
- Toys (China, 1908) (9/4-18/6/09)
- Legacy (10/4-15/11/09-24/1/11)
- New Zealand’s Next Top Model Speaks (11/4-18/6/09)
- Substitutes only need apply (12/4-18/6/09)
- Memoirs from beyond the grave (13/4-15/11/09)
- Two Falls (14/4-15/11/09-16/1/11)
- Badges (15/4-15/11/09)
- Vampires (16/4/09, 8/9/09, 4/5/10-12/7/10)
- Not everyone can get an 'A' (17/4-15/11/09-5/7/11)
- Dire Straits (18/4-15/11/09-18/1/11)
- “Concern for Tony Veitch’s safety” (19/4/09)
- Orpheish (20/4-13/8/09)
- The Dada Lady of the Sonnets (21-23/4/09)
- The Assassination Weapon (22/4-18/6/09)
- The Darkness (23/4-18/6/09)
- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (24/4-15/11/09)
- Anzac Day (25/4-18/6/09)
- Argo (26/4-18/6/09)
- Class Discourse (27/4-15/11/09-2/1/12)
- The Double (28/4-20/9/09-8/1/11)
- Before the Storm (29/4-15/11/09)
- Advice on Essay-writing (30/4-20/9/09-29/7/11)
- Mayday (1/5-18/6/09)
[after Virgil & James Fenton]- for Alistair Paterson -Una in praecelsâ consedit rupe Celæno, Infelix vates, rupitque hanc pectore vocem. – Aeneid, iii: 245-6. [Calæno alone took her seat on the brow of a high rock, a prophetess of plagues, & from her heaving breast burst forth these words]:H.O.D.: We need to add semester, mode & web statusFred & Helen were going to split upSECRETARY: I can’t add semester, mode or web-status as I don’t know what they areFred had some local colour to check outLECTURER: Sorry – Is there something wrong with my email? I replied the moment I received your request, to this effect …After that – straight back to work You look troubledTUTOR: Oh, it’s web-enhanced all right I set up a website for the first run-through & am now building another as to mode of teaching, I’m agnostic …said Helen Wasn’t the trip good? Oh, the trip was goodH.O.D.: I have a problem with this course being offered internally I think the only way to attract sufficient students is through a block-course. I'm puzzled …said Fred When you’ve got somethingLECTURER: We canvassed this extensively last year We’re anxious to retain one paper in internal mode & have had a most enthusiastic response from studentsto think about that’s good I’d just like one more thingLECTURER: So if you’ve got no objection (being “agnostic”) I’d like to report that we’ve decided to offer the paper internally next yearWhat sort of thing? asked Helen That’s itLECTURER: No reply to my email which I guess means that what you meant by “agnostic” is that you were happy to change the modeI don’t know One more thing to round itLECTURER: If the class includes international students this is a compellingly better mode for them.offLECTURER: Let me know
(3/4 & 8/9/09-22/7/10)
Publications:
- Broadsheet: New New Zealand Poetry 6 (2010): 24-26.
•
Is form your master or your slave? Diane von Furstenberg’s aesthetic: Lots of layers, flowy, elegant Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair a spy, a glamour girl Berlin, Shanghai … I set the video rolling on longplay halfway through the night before it nets up everything for those six hours Project Runway included our Saturday morning ritual over toast & jam My taste is impeccable Daniel’s pompous declaration earned him a braying laugh last week from poster-girl Kenley This time her skimpy dress is “simply not enough” to net the prize No-one can layer prints like you do Tim flatters Diane accepts the tribute as her due The designers wet themselves with glee to serve such a big name Is form your master or your slave? I am an artist on the level of Michelangelo or Van Gogh thundered Santino two years ago Where is he now? Designing quietly, one hopes in Venice Beach Supererogatory, yes the insights quasi-accidental & yet I feel myself debate the cut fall for the sharpness of a silhouette
(4/4-18/6/09)
Publications:
- Silhouette. Poem by Jack Ross. Designed by Bronwyn Lloyd. Auckland: Pania Press, December 25, 2009.
- Give Away. Mosehouse Studio (19/2/10)
- Poetry Specials: 2008-2018. Papyri (28/12/2017)
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(K.M., 1923) [after Xu Zhimo] Unintentionally imitating Chinese style her hair was pitch black & straight Her features seemed to me like the purest Indian jade or pristine snow in the Alps Her brightly-coloured clothes might have aroused some criticism had they been worn by anyone else on her they looked becoming like green leaves on a flower Her figure was so fragile that a man standing beside her felt his breathing to be too coarse
(7/4-24/7/09)
Publications:
- “Three Texts from Other Texts.” All Together Now: A Digital Bridge for Auckland and Sydney / Kia Kotahi Rā: He Arawhata Ipurangi mō Tamaki Makau Rau me Poihākena (March-September 2010).
- Pale Star. Poem by Jack Ross. Illustrated by Bronwyn Lloyd. Auckland: Pania Press, 2011.
- “Pale Star.” Mosehouse Studio (18/1/11).
- “Pale Star.” Pania Press (18/1/11).
- Poetry Specials: 2008-2018. Papyri (28/12/2017)
•
Gefunden Ich ging im Walde So für mich hin, Und nichts zu suchen, Das war mein Sinn. Im Schatten sah ich Ein Blümchen stehn, Wie Sterne leuchtend Wie Äuglein schön. Ich wollt es brechen, Da sagt' es fein: Soll ich zum Welken, Gebrochen sein? Ich grubs mit allen Den Würzeln aus, Zum Garten trug ichs Am hübschen Haus. Und pflanzt es wieder Am stillen Ort; Nun zweigt es immer Und blüht so fort. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1813)I went for a walk in my lunch-hour not looking for anything in particular I found a wild briar undermining the wall of an old foundry bright as steel I knelt down beside it although it looked as if it were saying Why should I be plucked just to wither for you? but I broke off a shoot & carried it back replanted it by the beat-up gate to my backyard which it’s spreading all over like a noxious weed
(8/4-20/9/09)
Publications:
- “Three Texts from Other Texts.” All Together Now: A Digital Bridge for Auckland and Sydney / Kia Kotahi Rā: He Arawhata Ipurangi mō Tamaki Makau Rau me Poihākena (March-September 2010).
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(China, 1908) [after Kathleen Pih-Chang] I remember people seemed to be quite friendly with the missionaries Once a robber broke into their compound & was executed His head was put into a wooden cage & hung up on a tree I remember as a child seeing such cages with little heads inside sold in shops for toys
(9/4-18/6/09)
Publications:
- “Three Texts from Other Texts.” All Together Now: A Digital Bridge for Auckland and Sydney / Kia Kotahi Rā: He Arawhata Ipurangi mō Tamaki Makau Rau me Poihākena (March-September 2010).
•
[after Chateaubriand] Not so much the doing as the having done as David Howard said Jack has experiences to write about them I just live my life trying on the tracksuits one after another I have crossed the seven seas traversed the corners of the earth slept in Arab tents & Huron wigwams in the ruins of Athens Carthage & Jerusalem among the Greeks the Turks the Moors in woods & ruins dressed in skins among the savages in silks among the Mamelukes, suffered hunger thirst & want sat down with kings & princes festooned with ribbons only to fall from grace I’ve tramped the capitals of Europe Cursed beggars in Indian bazaars paddled a kayak on the river Kwai kissed the behinds of courtesans stared up at inaccessible windows from the snow-encrusted street I’ve typed & sketched & scribbled hundreds of pages of notes seen books with my name on the spine on the loftiest shelves Swallow I’ve made my nest on the restless waves of the sea my solitary poetic life has walked alongside this world’s realities disaster noise disorder pain with the girls of my dreams Atala Amélie Velléda Cymodocée From within & yet adjacent to my century I have exercised upon it perhaps by accident, unintentionally some influence religious political or literary
(13/4-15/11/09)
Publications:
- brief the fortieth (June 2010): 9-13.
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“We don’t need no steenking badges”
– The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
In my dream last night I’d been arrested for some little thing.
A group of us were on the back of a flatbed truck. As we got
near the beach, one of the others suggested jumping off and
making a break for it. I started to reach for my shoes, but
didn’t dare for fear of alerting the guards.
When we got to the incarceration camp there was a complicated,
jungle gym-like structure made of wood we had to climb across
in order to get in. With what infinite precautions did I
negotiate each rung! Helped (I must admit) by the guy whose
escape I’d ruined. We were all innocent.
This morning dawned grey. The cat is agitated. The sore on my
penis has started to leak again. A badge of dishonour? Hardly.
Not serious, I hope – but not a badge of depravity either.
I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING. Except nothing. That I've done,
again & again.
(15/4-15/11/09)
Publications:
- brief the fortieth (June 2010): 9-13.
•
So bottled blood is just like bottled V You can get high on it but you can overdose as well – overheard on a busSo my Mum asks me Are you going for a run this morning? I told her yes then she comes in It’s 8 am! You’re obviously not going I could have gone to work I was, like I’m just going now But she didn’t tell me why she needed to know just asked me what I was going to do • Chief Joseph:I have carried a heavy load on my back ever since I was a boy We were like deer They were like grizzly bears We had a small country Their country was large We were content to let things remain They were not & would change the mountains and rivers if they did not suit them You might as well expect all rivers to flow backwards as that any man who was born a freeman should be contented penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases• My best friend lives at 106 I live at 6 on the same street We’ve got almost exactly the same phone number Hers is 9 & mine is upside down 6 All the other numbers are the same so when I’m trying to think of her phone number all I have to do is think of mine & sweet • Richard F. Burton:All pilgrims do not enter the Ka’abah Those who tread the hallowed floor cannot walk barefoot pick up fire in their fingers or tell lies (The list is numerous & meaningless)• I highly recommend living in a hotel $150 for heating & power All you have to do is pay for your own food A pool on the roof & two gyms lower down & no travel costs to anywhere! You can just walk out to wherever you want to go • Douglas Mawson:Up 8 am, it having been arranged that we should go on at all cost I leading and Xavier in his bag on the sledge Just as I got out at 8 am I found Xavier in a terrible state, having fouled his pants I have a long job cleaning him up then put him in the bag to warm up I have to turn in again also to kill time & keep warm for I feel the cold very much now I hold him down, then he becomes more peaceful & I put him quietly in the bag Death due to fever, weather exposure & want of food• I told him I wouldn’t be able to do the vampire shoot & he was like Why not? so I told him that I didn’t want to do it now & he was like Whatever
(16/4/09, 8/9/09, 4/5/10-12/7/10)
Publications:
- "Vampires". The Imaginary Museum (12/7/2010)
- Catalyst 9 – Export Quality (2012): 38-42.
- Catalyst 9 CD: 11 (2012) [Music by Chris O’Connor / Mark Tupuhi / Delaney Davidson / Julian Marchant / Benjamin James / Mataio Daniela / Jody Lloyd].
•
Yes, I felt concerned when he went missing yesterday Tony had tried to do it twice before his lawyer said (or was that his publicist?) kill himself, that is This time was far more serious wandering around Ngaruawahia on his own! He could easily have been killed crossing the road Cynics said it had something to do with Dame Susan Devoy the former Queen of Squash complaining of the misuse of her testimonial for a passport application produced in court with 20 others from “prominent New Zealanders” in support of domestic abuse When celebrities turn on their own it’s never pretty He has been fined & given 300 hours! Oh right, it was his publicist (call her a “media minder”) who explained that the references solicited from sporting stars were alleged to be for a passport because “the sentencing hearing needed to be kept completely confidential” I mean, what did they think? That he was going to fuck off? It’s hard to get these things straight, easy to be fooled by media bias. I mean how many times does a poor guy have to cry on television before we accept that it’s okay to kick a stroppy bitch down some concrete stairs when she gets in your face? It’s just not true that he left her lying there for hours with broken vertebrae I mean, what kind of a man do you take him for? & all that namby-pamby shutting up that she’s been doing angling for sympathy, I call it from women and pinkos and gays the ones who’d turn on any red-blooded guy administering domestic correction They were all over it from the beginning It’s as if they had something to prove
(19/4/09)
Publications:
- "Concern for Tony Veitch's Safety". The Imaginary Museum (19/4/2009)
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[after Heinrich Heine] Es gab den Dolch in deine Hand Ein böser Dämon in der bösen Stunde – Ich weiß nicht, wie der Dämon hieß – Ich weiß nur, daß vergiftet war die Wunde.There was a dagger in your hand a demon in an idle hour I never knew the demon’s name I only felt his stabbing powerIn stillen Nächten denk ich oft, Du solltest mal dem Schattenreich entsteigen Und lösen alle Rätsel mir Und mich von deiner Unschuld überzeugen.On quiet nights I lie & think you should come up from where you are & answer all these doubts for me confirm to me you were a whoreIch harre dein – o komme bald! Und kommst du nicht, so steig ich selbst zur Hölle, Daß ich alldort vor Satanas Und allen Teufeln dich zur Rede stelle.I’m waiting now You’d better show If you won’t come I’ll track you down & there in front of everyone conduct my cross-examinationIch komme, und wie Orpheus einst Trotz ich der Unterwelt mit ihren Schrecken – Ich finde dich, und wolltest du Im tiefsten Höllenpfuhle dich verstecken.gliding like some bright Orpheus across an underworld of fears I’ll find you in the deepest ditch dug out by centuries of tearsHinunter jetzt ins Land der Qual, Wo Händeringen nur und Zähneklappen – Ich reiße dir die Larve ab, Der angeprahlten Großmut Purpurlappen –& in that land of tortured dreams where sinners pay for what they did I’ll cut off the last shreds of skin the trappings of your girlish prideJetzt weiß ich, was ich wissen wollt, Und gern, mein Mörder, will ich dir verzeihen; Doch hindern kann ich nicht, daß jetzt Schmachvoll die Teufel dir ins Antlitz speien.& when I’ve found out what I need to I’d like to pardon you, you know but how can I stop TV scum from vomiting all over you?
(20/4-13/8/09)
Publications:
- "Orpheish". The Imaginary Museum (18/8/2009)
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[with Michele Leggott & Helen Sword] purpose women’s amazeth object master-mistress women’s rolling controlling pleasure a-doting whereupon hast thy false woman’s me created gilding adding nature’s but prick’d with nothing thou than mine passion addition gentle one eyes love wrought acquainted treasure face as man woman’s the thing gazeth thee much an thee hue own for thou steals my woman fell bright by in and painted by wert defeated of and change shifting women’s thy nature and fashion with more but eye in not be men’s a hand all use theirs a first love’s ‘hues’ their till souls heart out she his since for a a of as in she to and is the my false it less thee
(21-23/4/09)
•
Publications:
- "Dada Birthday Sonnets to Bill". The Imaginary Museum (23/4/2009)
•
Dans la nuit du lundi au mardi 6 avril,
on compta vingt-cinq assauts au plastic.
– Georges Perec, La Disparition
[On Monday night, April 6th,
25 bomb-blasts burst out.]
What is
Hip-hop? Is it
just baggy outfits, bling?
Runway fuck-ups turn into a
stand-off with Tim Gunn &
Nina on our
D-day …
So what?
Wind is blowing
hard, rain slanting downwards
My Dad hauls in a bag of buns
& muffins for his birds’
daily dawn rit-
ual
Bronwyn
(looking guilty)
climbs backwards into mor-
ning – up at 4 a.m. – now nap-
ping till midday. I mooch
across to my
burrow
start to
think of Anzacs
Chunuk Bair, Malaya
lost in a void, our soaks & saints
How to honour, how to
lay such ghosts? Chill-
lax! Just
that?
(25/4-18/6/09)
Publications:
- brief 38 (2009): 46-48.
•
A story’s something told by somebody to someone at some time said Gertrude Stein So is a lie It begins with one no doubt though hard to say when the desire to transpose creatively / enhance the truth / gild the pill comes over you No doubt your childhood was to blame a deeper truth behind the subterfuge Look at me! Notice me! I’m here! I matter! More than they do, anyway Don’t prefer their blonde hair blue eyes perfect skin & just because the details are all false needn’t mean that it’s not true in a deeper sense You see that heap of lumber over there? This here’s the Argo Every plank has been replaced a dozen times (at least) but it’s still here That there’s the rubbish heap we threw them on
(26/4-18/6/09)
Publications:
- The Argo & The Wahine. By Jack Ross & Bronwyn Lloyd (Auckland: Pania Press, 2009).
•
Vor dem Sturm
by Theodor Fontane
“The German War and Peace"
(apparently)
I picked it up in Edinburgh
& was immediately
beguiled
the heroine seemed real
Renate von Vitzewitz
stagey action
understated
like real life
her tragic early death
a psychic blow
The Pioneers
by James Fenimore Cooper
I had a plan to read them all
The Leatherstocking Novels
dutifully ploughed through
the first few
but this one
The drifting snow
of its opening pages
the meeting on the road
the little town
in the Big Woods
It all seemed true
or if not true
infinitely desirable
but why?
Then John Meade Falkner,
The Nebuly Coat
not one of his
most celebrated works
(Moonfleet
The Lost Stradivarius)
but this one had
the atmosphere
of strange but vital friendships
formed in musty towns
deep conversations
a world one longed to enter
Three times it's happened
– 3 obscure books –
I've never dared reread them
Would it happen again?
Do I want it to?
I wonder
It was comforting, entrancing, mystical
like waking on your own
in the blue room
(29/4-15/11/09)
Publications:
- "Before the Storm". The Imaginary Museum (15/11/2009)
- The Argo & The Wahine. By Jack Ross & Bronwyn Lloyd (Auckland: Pania Press, 2009).
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