Jack Ross: Poems: The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander

Cover & Book design: Dean Harvard

(September 16) The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1. Dunedin: Kilmog Books, 2009. 20 pp.

I ♥ NZ (11/2/99)
NZ Golf (and English) Academy (31/12/98)
Boi-Boi on Karaoke (29/12/98)
Language School Picnic (28/3/98)
Journey to the West
1. Evening (18/6-20/9/98)
2. Clouds (18/6-9/9/98)
3. Countdown (18/6-9/9/98)
Index (27/12/01- 4/3/02)
Mysteries: A Christmas Poem
1. The stones have eyes …. (6/10-29/11/03)
2. Brought down … (10-29/11/03)
3. There is no same word … (2/9-29/11/03)
In the Days of The Lord of the Rings (20-27/11/02)
A Question of Faith (22-26/3/03)
Bonfire Gothic
1. Dogshit at a distance (12/1-5/2/03)
2. Diaphanous sails (30/1-5/2/03)

For Bronwyn

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Jack Ross: The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander (2009)

thanks to the Blackfoot tribe who adopted me
- Leslie Fiedler, The Return of the Vanishing American

I ♥ NZ

– Bumper-sticker


        … love is not love
which alters when it alteration finds:
beach-shelf eroded, Richard III gulls
in paroxysms of unholy rage.

We walked here barefoot
before the tar, swam here before
the sewerage outlet, sand-fought
by that wall.

Today I’m pelted by the wind,
    “The Caribbean, boys, in full roar!”
        Two kayakers

are dumb enough to try it.
    Brown sturdy girls
        wade bare-legged through the surf.

(11/2/99)

Publications:

evasion 1 [Flint 2] (2000): 15.
Creative Forum: A Quarterly Journal of Contemporary Writing 13 (1-2) (2001): 80-82.
Something Between Breaths: A Collection of Poetry from New Zealand. Edited by Patricia Prime. ISSN 0254-0193. Sell: Series in English Language and Literature, 54. New Delhi: Bahri Publications, 2000/1. 80-82.
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 5.
(September 19) “The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander, Jack Ross, 2009.” Kilmog Press (19/9/2009) [Available at: http://kilmogpress.blogspot.com/2009/09/return-of-vanishing-new-zealander-jack.html].
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 73.
Broadcast on Can Poetry Save the Earth? A Public lecture with Prof. Bryan Walpert, Dr. Johanna Emeney & Jack Ross. Massey University podcast (31/5/18): [available at: Our Changing World].
"Can Poetry Save the Earth?" Papyri (31/5/18)
Let It Rain E UA TE UA Tukuna ki te Mārama: Poetry from Aotearoa in Multilingual Translation. Ed. Antonella Sarti Evans & Maringikura Mary Campbell (Paekakariki, NZ: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 2023): 196.

Notes:

The quotation "The Caribbean, boys, in full roar!" comes from Carl Barks, "The Flying Dutchman." Uncle Scrooge #25 (1959).
Let It Rain E UA TE UA Tukuna ki te Mārama: Poetry from Aotearoa in Multilingual Translation. Ed. Antonella Sarti Evans & Maringikura Mary Campbell (Paekakariki, NZ: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, 2023): 197.
I ♥ NZ

...l'amore non è amore
se muta quando un mutamento incontra:
eroso come una spiaggia, Riccardo III gabba
in parossismi d'empia collera.

Abbiamo camminato scalzi fin qui
prima del catrame, abbiamo nuotato qui prima
del tubo della fogna, giocato con la sabbia
contro quel muro.

Oggi vengo scagliato dal vento,
"Il caraibico, ragazzi, a tutta forza!"
Due vogatori in kayak

son tanto stupidid da provarci.
Ragazze robuste dalla pelle marrone
attraversono a gambe nude fra le onde.

- Translated into Italian by Antonella Sarti Evans

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New Zealand Golf (and English) Academy

… capturing the essence of cross cultural communication …
– Brenda Allen, Takahe 35 (1998)


 Sea-gull on peacock fan
  two strokes of black
No flowers by invitation
Teaching Ken (Ke Liu)
how to mouth
Les Misérables
The willows of Han capital shine
   yellow on the new blinds
 Flying Swallow’s scented bones
lie buried in the cypress mound
… Ah, scented bones
Last night talking to Richard:
 “It’s hard to bring myself
    to type them up”
A thousand pounded years
of suns forever white
Unseen by the King of
Ch’in, or Emperor Wu
Nude sunbathing on Waiheke:
  “Do I look Vietnamese?”
    … Ah, scented bones

(31/12/98)

Publications:

For Lisa Bieleski: New Zealand Golf (and English) Academy (Auckland: Perdrix Press, 1999)
Poetry NZ 26 (2003): 84-85.
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 6.
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 74.

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Boi-Boi on Karaoke

January    A little light
tennis     with stars outside        window
                                     wheel

baseball   Your voices
mask       Cakes smell good

           Revised, it read:	     telephone

brick	   Oh!
chimney	   My first birthday party
                                     apple
nine       Keep it forever	     building
pen        Just for you and me

(29/12/98)

Publications:

For Lisa Bieleski: New Zealand Golf (and English) Academy (Auckland: Perdrix Press, 1999)
Spin 40 (2001): 56.
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 7.
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 75.

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Language School Picnic

Halfway up One Tree Hill,
Adèle,
your chipmunk smile

Korean rock sculptors
chivvied down Twin Oaks Drive

(28/3/98)

Publications:

NZ Listener 3412 (2005): 44.
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 8.
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 76.

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Journey to the West

(after Wu Cheng'en)

Jack, Thank you for your teach.  It is my first time I feel sad
when class finished.  I feel like leave a family not a class. Thanks again.
– Wu Pei-Sha (Denise)


I – Evening


As clouds settle round mountains, crows fly home to roost
cloud – mountain – crow
crow settles, cloud flies home to roost

travellers on long journeys find inns for the night
traveller – journey – inn
inn finds traveller to spend the night

the lamps in the lonely village burn with barely a flame
lamp – village – flame
flame burns through a village lamp

pure is the monastery where reed smoke curls in the breeze
monastery – smoke – breeze
monastery reeds curl in the smoke

 
II – Clouds


Pale and ragged clouds
dim moon on mountains
cold frost in heaven
wind through my body
lone bird, the grey island seems vast
at sunset, the distance is low
in the sparse forest, a thousand trees shake
deserted peak: a lone ape screams
long path: it bears no footprints
the boat returns for thousands of miles

 
III – Countdown


Is it high?
           It touches heaven.
Deep?
     It reaches hell.

White clouds surround the mountain
black mists swim
red-blushing plums / jade bamboo
dark-green cypresses / blue pines
_____________________________

Ten-mile pavilion: no travellers leave
nine-faced heaven: stars have set
on eight harbours: boats are docked
in seven thousand cities: gates shut
six palaces: officials gone
five departments: ledgers closed
four seas: fishing lines sink
three rivers: waves subside
two towers: bells resound
one moon lights earth and sky

(18/6-20/9/98; 18/6-9/9/98; 18/6-9/9/98)

Publications:

Shonagh’s Book / Jack’s Book (Auckland: Perdrix Press, 1999): 84 pp.
JAAM 13 (2000): 93-94.
The Aotearoa New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive. Compiled and edited by Jan Kemp and Jack Ross. Special Collections Dept, Auckland University Library, October 31, 2004.
"I love chapbooks." The Imaginary Museum (16/9/09).
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 9-11.
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 77-79.

Notes:

Some of these texts have been sampled from Wu Cheng’en. Journey to the West. Trans. W. J. F. Jenner. 1982. 3 vols. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1990.

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Index

						page	line
Meaning of life		……………………………………………………	   8	13
Ideal way of living	……………………………………………………	 494	17
Death is inevitable	……………………………………………………	 186	20

To attain success in anything, one should endure
many a hardship		……………………………………………………	 312	18
Do not let your mind be disturbed, even under
unsatisfactory circumstances	……………………………………   244	 1
Buddha’s wisdom is as wide and deep
as a great ocean	……………………………………………………	  66	 9

Conquer your mind	……………………………………………………	 304	14
Be the master of your mind	……………………………………	  20	23
Be impartial and try hard	………………………………………	 340	14

What to think about when you take food	…………………	 412	 2
What to think about when you go to bed	…………………	 412	 8
What to think about when you wear clothes ………	 410	 6

What to think about when it’s hot or cold ……………	 412	19
Right way between husband and wife …………………………	 424	13
For the benefit of young and beautiful
women		……………………………………………………………………………	 450	 1	

Those that disturb the laws of order will come
to ruin		…………………………………………………………………………	 276	 3
Those who are jealous and squabble with
others will come to ruin ………………………………………………	 276	 3
One is not a homeless brother simply because
one dresses like a monk and recites Sutras ………	 390	 8


- The Teachings of Buddha, 1966, 1078th revised edition. Tokyo: Society
for the Promotion of Buddhism [Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai], 2001. 568-84.

(27/12/01-4/3/02)

Publications:

Spin 42 (2002): 51.
The Aotearoa New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive. Compiled and edited by Jan Kemp and Jack Ross. Special Collections Dept, Auckland University Library, October 31, 2004.
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 12.
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 80.

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Mysteries: A Christmas Poem

Eternity is a long
time to be wrong
– www.2besaved.com


The stones have eyes green
    iron landfill
the frameboard houses

full of smoke
    close the cardoor pink
child don’t trust the

bench the zebra 
    crossing
thoroughly modern

miss

•	

Brought down
    like a deer
in the headlights

the police car
    & his victim
yellow pulsing

faces
    even the jogger
has to go

around
 
•	

There is no same word
    to communicate with Kiwi
says Fan Jia	

Toni adds
    high cloud will be getting
a little excited

a happy morning
    between sunshine and rain
under the same blue canopy

of sky

(6/10-29/11/03; 10-29/11/03; 2/9-29/11/03)

Publications:

Mysteries: A Christmas Poem [pamphlet] (December 12, 2003)
Bravado 6 (2006): 33.
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 13-14.
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 81-82.

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In the Days of The Lord of the Rings

One of the virtues of never sleeping …
You have to live in your dreams.
– Die Another Day


 
Masonry & dust
   rock-salt
the ceiling fan

Watching Pootie Tang
language crumbles
into cognates
Scent of sweat
   ‘I’ll call you
we’ll go out for a …’

My dearest Jack
construct the letter
fill me with
your corn-fat
   pin-holes
in the ceiling

draw the pattern
   down

(20-27/11/02)

Publications:

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year [Card] (December 17, 2002)
Magazine Six: The Key West Issue (Cycle Press, Key West, Florida, 2006): 102.
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 15.
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 83.

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A Question of Faith

(for Mary Paul)


Things don’t always
                    stay with you
because they’re good
                    that moment
for example
                    when the needle
slipped
                    car stalled
in heavy traffic
                    walking
with a phone
                    in one hand
talking to the air
                    boy wearing BOOM
girl scales
                    the concrete parapet
clap hands
                    push pram
the evening draws in
                    roiled clouds
under the Protection
                    let the children pass

(22-26/3/03)

Publications:

"Recent New Zealand Poetry: 50 Poems by 50 Poets,” edited by Mark Pirie. Papertiger: new world poetry #04, edited by Paul Hardacre & B. R. Dionysius, 2004.
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 16.
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 84.

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Bonfire Gothic

1


Dogshit at a distance
    fly like birds
        through the razor

fence    green brackets
    children playing
        by the mound

CONTAMINATION
    beach polluted
        crossed

red & yellow flags

 
2


Diaphanous sails
    Sandy in her top hat
        underwear

cat coming out to greet
    me    lick my hand
        ears arched

blue blue of the sea
    pale islands
        hot behind the wheel

till I return

(12/1-5/2/03; 30/1-5/2/03)

Publications:

Kokako / Spin 46 (2003): 53.
The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander. ISBN 978-0-9864507-6-1 (Dunedin: Kilmog Press, 2009): 17.
A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN: 978-0-473-29640-7 (Wellington: HeadworX, 2014): 85-86.

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Wednesday

The Return of the Vanishing New Zealander (2009)