Longlisted for the Tasmanian Literary Awards

As the year draws to a close, I was excited to learn that 'Dancing with Empty Prams' has been longlisted in the Tasmanian Literary Awards, for the Tim Thorne Prize for Poetry. See details on all the longlisted books here. I am in such fabulous company, with many books on the longlist being favourites of mine. It's a special delight to be listed alongside Esther Ottaway's 'She Doesn't Seem Autistic' which I launched at several joint events in Hobart and online last year. 

I was also delighted with the cover of my upcoming book, 'Incandescence', being finalised, designed by my fabulous friend Jen Lorrimar-Shanks, and featuring a photo by another fabulous friend, Pen Clark. 

Since I last wrote, other news includes:

- A poem commended in the New Zealand International Poetry Competition

- A poem included in the beautiful Haiku Down Under Anthology A Sensory Journey

Queensland downpour

outdoor concertgoers

keep dancing

- A haiku selected for Echidna Tracks 14

- Two poems included in the beautiful Oystercatcher One Anthology (Five Islands Press), available here

Keep an eye out for news of the launch of my third book, 'Incandescence', early next year.

In the meantime I wish you all a safe, healthy and happy festive season, with hopefully plenty of time to relax with some good books.

 

Incandescence will be coming to life!

I'm thrilled to announce that Walleah Press will be publishing my third book, Incandescence, later this year or early next. It's a 12-years-in-the-making poetry collection about people and all their wonderful, messy, painful and joyous complexities. The poems illuminate parenting, relationships, poverty, illness and ways we cope, like yoga, writing, nature connection.

Fifteen of the poems have been previously published across ten journals and anthologies. One poem from the manuscript won the FAW Tasmania Poetry Prize 2023 and a further four poems were commended in competitions.

In other news, my previous two books, Undertow and Dancing with Empty Prams, are now both available on Kindle as eBooks.

Undertow is only $8.99 and is available here and Dancing with Empty Prams is a bargain for $9.99 and available here.

Both books are still available through the link on my home page or via the tab "Buy my books". There's a secure PayPal function and I have plenty of stock I can pop in the mail to you. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think nothing beats a paper copy of a book.

And just for a little taster, this poem will be in my third book, Incandescence. It was also included in the Anthology "The World According to Us" the 2023 Anthology by FAW Northwest Writers Tasmania.

 

Every olive counts

New Harbour, Tasmania

 

The wind flings my flatbread off my lap,

two olives land in the sand.

I am instructed to pick them up, wash them off.

 

The departing tide arranges

thousands of translucent blue bodies

and long, opaque tails on the sand.

A bluebottle invasion

shrivelling in the sun.

 

We skinny-dip in the creek’s

thwarted mouth.

Breaststroke around in the metre-deep fresh water

backed up behind the beach.

The top two centimetres, warmed by the sun.

Below that

very refreshing.

Paddle around, goose-bumped,

gazing at seagulls, eucalypts, clouds.

Drying off, we anticipate

a slightly less smelly night in the tent.

 

I am chastised

for snacking on lunch crackers

before bed.

 

This is the wild South-West.

Skies menace grey clouds,

cold wind whips into our bones

as we sit on the ground, puffed up

in down jackets, fleece beanies,

long pants and thick socks,

wondering where summer’s gone.

 

First day falling will also be in my new book and was previously published by Burrow.

First day falling

 

in this strange office

where half a tap offers boiling water and the other half chilled

 

she tries to smile and read name badges

with an imperceptible downward flick of her eyes

 

new colleagues bear gossip in their arms like kindling

she wants to light a fire to warm her nervous bones

 

instead she plies the levers on her chair

struggles for equilibrium

 

she logs in, opens her calendar – blank and questioning

slots pens and paperclips into a plastic caddy

 

slips away to the bathroom … scares herself in the mirror

with an expression like being lost in snow

 

or gazing into the sky at night to find God

but only managing to spot a falling star

Here is a poem from Undertow:

 

Veteran

 

The sunken couch cradles him.

He grips the remote

(friend).

 

The baby,

the pot plant,

her gloss lipstick

                         all study him.

 

Doctors riddle him with diagnoses

but it is war

that goes on interviewing him each night.

 

He asks alcohol to counsel him

but all each bottle does

is prescribe another.

 

And just to even it out, here are two poems from Dancing with Empty Prams:

 

Pudgy legs

 

Have you ever noticed

how many cute babies there are

in airports?

 

As we wait at our gate,

I watch the ones around me.

 

A toddler in the row facing me

wears a mock miniskirt

attached to a blue stripy top.

The outfit hovers above pudgy legs.

She stands, wobbling, on the seat,

grips the backrest,

gurgles back at the adoring adults.

 

On the plane

I chew envy-salted peanuts.

I even long to be

the parent

             wrestling

                              the screaming baby

                                                            up the back.

 

Smile formation

 

At the end of every day,

a needle.

 

Before bed –

the routine jabbing, stabbing.

 

It seems like half a year of needles

but it’s only been two months.

Seventeen per month.

 

Secret red pinpricks decorate

my belly, below my navel,

in a smile formation.

 

This is where a little extra fat is an advantage.

An indisputable excuse for Burger Rings.

 

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook!  Susan Austin Poet

"'Dancing With Empty Prams' — A brave, raw and compelling poetic novel"

As my verse novel Dancing with Empty Prams makes its way out into the world, I have been touched by the feedback I have been receiving. One colleague, a mental health nurse, wrote to me saying: 

“I wasn’t sure how I would feel about a work about infertility. I am one of those people who has never wanted a child and always been relieved at the one-line reading. When friends have struggled with infertility, I’ve found it difficult to find the right responses and been very aware that I wasn’t as empathic as I would have liked so I hoped that the poetry might help me with that. And it did!

I bought both of your books and read them both cover to cover on that Saturday afternoon. You said that your book wouldn’t be a best-seller but I really can’t see why not, it was a genuine page-turner, I was completely engrossed. All of your poems reflect multi-faceted human experience, everything from despair to wry humour and nothing over simplified.

One of my best friends is trying to get pregnant for the second time after a long fertility journey with the first and I am so much better equipped to be a listening ear now. I’ll be giving her the book too as she will be excited (and validated) to find her experience reflected in verse.

You may also be pleased to know that I am now a convert to the verse novel form. I haven’t read a book from cover to cover for over a year. I thought my capacity had died with age but I’ll be ordering some poetry books now.”

A social worker friend wrote: “I read Dancing With Prams and loved it! It was very easy to read, especially with your engaging writing style. It's such a beautiful, tender, funny, heartbreaking exploration of a journey of infertility. I'm so glad you wrote it and you're sharing it with the world.”

I was thrilled to have two of my poems from the novel: “The intimacy of needles; the poise of liquid nitrogen” included in the Australian Poetry Anthology. This combined poem was also commended in the 2021 national Woorilla Poetry Prize and can be read below (you may need to click on it to enlarge).

 

Graham Matthews wrote a review of the book for Green Left Weekly in August 2023, available here and copied below. It’s great to have this book recognized by the staunchly feminist and environmentalist publication that I have a long association with.

'Dancing With Empty Prams' — A brave, raw and compelling poetic novel

"Dancing with Empty Prams is the second book published by Tasmanian-based poet and ecosocialist Susan Austin. It’s the fictionalised story of one woman’s struggle with fertility, the morality of having children and the desire to persist against numerous setbacks.

It’s a beautifully written book. It reads so easily, which I imagine means it took a lot of time to write, edit and rewrite. It’s written in a poetic form that greatly adds to the moment, depth and weight of the story. It’s brave, raw and compelling.

As a poetic novel, it’s possible to read Dancing with Empty Prams in a single session: in fact, I found it impossible to put the book down.

Although a fictionalised story, written about an imagined character, the detailed descriptions are personal; the sense of frustration, of invasion and depersonalisation, of hope and disappointment are very moving and intensely humane.

Austin has the courage to write about an experience that is so often suppressed.

“I can’t talk to my friends with kids just now. Even thinking about them makes me want to cry. They didn’t have any trouble conceiving. They try to understand but they can’t,” intones the lead character and narrator, Jade, a health food shop owner living in Queensland.

And again:

Bitter Disappointment hands me over to Hope
Steps me through some spirited salsa.
Anxiety takes over, stumbling with two left feet.
He leads me through some ungraceful pirouettes
before passing me back to Bitter Disappointment.

Austin has written a book with universal applicability. While we may not all wish to have children, we were all born; in many cases out of deep love and affection.

And as with many excellent books, it’s not just the story that keeps you hooked, it’s the wonderful way it’s told. I look forward to reading whatever book Austin puts together next."

Esther Ottaway and I both read at an event at Fullers Bookshop on the 10^th August 2023, the fourth event in the Fullers Poets Series. We spoke on the theme Women’s Untold Stories and read from our new books. The audience was attentive and appreciative, with many nourishing conversations held afterwards. 

And lastly, a photo taken by Esther Ottaway outside Fullers Bookshop, with me holding my book, and of course, a pram. I have two more boxes of books on order so if you haven’t already got a copy, please consider placing an order through my website and I will send one to you, thank you.

Music and poetry - still an item? Also self-compassion, lemons and fishing

It’s about time for an update I think! It just takes a little dose of Covid to clear my diary and give me the time needed for things like this 😊

I started off the year by performing at the Cygnet Folk Festival, at the Poet’s Breakfast, and on a panel organised by TasWriters. Chaired masterfully by Danielle Wood, I spoke alongside fabulous local poets Gina Mercer, Anne Collins and Young Dawkins, with Tim Hodgkinson  playing double bass. The panel discussed the topic: 'Music and Poetry - Still an Item"?' and poets shared our thoughts and read some of our more musical works.

Photos thanks to Yvonne Gluyas

Last month I ran an Oasis Women’s Poetry Workshop on the theme of “Exploring connection and self-compassion through poetry.” We looked at Mary Oliver’s famous poem Wild Geese and explored how poetry exercises can help us mindfully notice our emotional states and manage our moods. I invited participants to write about their connections with special places, people or objects. Creative writing can have a powerful effect on our ability to understand and accept ourselves and I shared some exercises to enable us to view our characteristics and insecurities with self-compassion, based on the work of Dr Kristin Neff.

 “the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.”

-          Mary Oliver, from Wild Geese

 

In October I had my second haiku published in Echidna Tracks, the Australian Haiku online journal.

after four years  

                                                  
the first lemon

It’s a short, simple haiku, testament to less is often more. It was accompanied by a striking painting of a lemon by Ron Moss.

Also in October last year I won the FAW Tasmania 2023 Poetry Prize and was awarded Highly Commended. I hope to get this year’s winning poem published so I can share it with you. It's called A different kind of online and is about fishing, of all things! Inspired by many fishing trips with Dad when I was a kid.

I participated in a national ekphrastic competition judged by Chris Mansell. Andrew Bennett Ekphrastic Poems (30 pages A4) was subsequently published by WordXimage, September 2023. My poem (abridged below) was the second poem included in response to the painting “An Afternoon Adrift” by Andrew Bennett.  

 

Untethered

 

Malted rye toast

with a dash of olive oil

thinly sliced plums

on top.

 

Tea

solitude

doorframe

sun.

 

Sandals off

notebook ready

wrists relaxed.

 

Patience

words will come

like ants to crumbs.

 

I also came across a poem of mine called Veteran that a friend liked enough to include on her Resistance Words blog back in 2015. You can read it here.

In August last year I was interviewed by Arianne James for her Book Shelf program on Edge Radio. The recording was up online for a month but is now unavailable. We had a great chat about poetry and verse novels. Speaking of which, I'll do a separate post with Dancing with Empty Pram updates.