Peter Bakowski - and A Parachute of Blue

The Word Tree happens tomorrow at Burrinja Cafe, 3.00 pm. This month's feature is Peter Bakowski. I first heard Peter read more than a decade ago and loved his work. I have a copy of thunder road, thunder heart beautifully printed by Nosukumo press, 1988. In 'the loneliness' which is dedicated to Nathanael West, there's are these evocative lines 'the seagulls were mad hinges of noise/they wheeled and shrieked above him/unhappy bits of soul'. Mad hinges of noise. There was an anthology we both appeared in - ha! just found it. Gosh, I might be one of the few people who still owns this! A Parachute of Blue, Round Table Publications. Peter's poem 'Surgery' is the first poem in the book. It opens:

The X-rays seem religious,
showing the candles and shadows
of your inner house,
your lungs wearing their small moths
of failure

.

My own poem, 'My Treacherous Heart' appears one poet, (Emily Ballou) later. It was an anthology that asked the poets to submit notes about why they'd submitted that particular poem and my notes read:

'My Treacherous Heart': Written after hearing the melbourne poet Peter Bakowski reading his work just when I was looking for a poetic tonic. Bakowski's luyrical intensity departed fromt he more conversational prose-y poetry I had been hearing and it jolted me into writing again.

I can remember writing most of 'My Treacherous Heart' in the car, while my ex-husband and I drove to have lunch with friends. It was written on scraps of envelopes and there were some lines I had to remember and then write down at Peter and Maria's.

So, feeling poetically jaded? Come and here Peter read from his brand-new book at Burrinja Cafe, Burrinja Gallery tomorrow.