Carnival Edge
New & Selected Poems
Published on 26. April 2010
Book
Hardback
172 pages
978-1-906570-43-9 (ISBN)
Description
To be able to follow, within a single volume, the evolution and refinement of a poet of Gallagher's subtlety and integrity is a fascination in itself. At its best, this is delicate, straight talking - a poetics that yokes inner generosity to outward reticence, a guileless paredness reminiscent of outback. Coming in from the heat, it's not always clear whether these poems dance or simply walk; but with a turn of phrase, a shoe-tight image, an elegant sleight of foot, everything is transformed. Reading Gallagher, one recognises there are ways of walking that are also dance.A" Mario Petrucci Katherine Gallagher is 'a fervent watcher' of the world. Like the watcher in her poem OrchidA" (from the sequence La Fleuraison) she is also 'a global traveller', and this informs all of her work. Her past, that 'antipodean patchwork', is also a rich resource comprising memory and discovery, a place 'where weather's a way of life' - Landscape, war, family, the gains and losses of life, plus aerial meditations during long flights - all shine forth in the wide range of her subject matter, wrought in vivid colours. Gallagher is a poet of the eye, the rainbow and of all the feeling senses.
In ManifestoA", from the final section of new poems which crown this volume, she says: ' - Bring out your gambler, / risk-taker. Surprise yourself.' This book attests to the energy and insight of that statement.A" Penelope Shuttle
In ManifestoA", from the final section of new poems which crown this volume, she says: ' - Bring out your gambler, / risk-taker. Surprise yourself.' This book attests to the energy and insight of that statement.A" Penelope Shuttle
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lancs
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
349 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-906570-43-9 (9781906570439)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Katherine Gallagher
Carnival Edge: New & Selected Poems
E-Book
04/2010
Arc Publications
€10.99
Available for download
Person
Katherine Gallagher was born in 1935 in Maldon, Victoria, graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1963 and taught in Melbourne for five years before moving to Europe, living first in London and then in Paris for nine years. In 1979 she moved back to London, working as a secondary teacher and after 1990, as a poetry tutor for the Open College of the Arts, Jackson's Lane, Barnet College and Torriano, London. During this time she co-edited Poetry London as well as working extensively with primary school children. She is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Writing in Education. In 1978, she was awarded a Writer's Fellowship from the Literature Board, Australia Council, and in 1981, she won the Brisbane Warana Poetry Prize. Her book Passengers to the City (Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1985) was shortlisted for the John Bray National Poetry Award. She also writes children's poetry and many of her children's poems have appeared in anthologies. In 1994, her translation from French of Jean-Jacques Celly's poems, The Sleepwalker with Eyes of Clay introduced by Peter Florence, was published by Forest Books, London. In 2000, she was awarded a Royal Literary Fund Award. From 2002-8, she was Education Officer for Writers Inc and was Writer in Residence at Railway Fields Nature Reserve, Harringay, London, July-October, 2002. In 2008, she received a London Society of Authors' Foundation Award. Her poems were featured on the A.B.C's POETICA programme, Radio National in June, 2009. She has read her poetry at festivals and universities in the UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and France and her poems have been translated into French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Romanian and Serbian. www.katherine-gallagher.com
Content
from THE EYE'S CIRCLE: Shapes within a Pattern / 15 from PASSANGERS TO THE CITY: Song for an Unborn / 21, Firstborn / 22, For Julien at Six Weeks / 23, At the Playground / 24, Distances / 25, The Trapeze-Artist's First Performance / 26, Itinerants / 27, Zelda Fitzgerald Practising Ballet / 28, The Survivor / 29, Maldon, Old Mining Town / 30, Homecoming / 32, Wimmera Windscreen / 33, Leaving / 34, Getting the Electricity On / 35, Woman in a Tableau / 36, Chartres Cathedral / 37, The Long Reach Out of War / 38, Unknown Soldier / 39, Dividing-line / 40, Domestic / 41, Momentums / 42, Passengers to the City / 43, The White Boat / 44, Concerning the Fauna / 45, Night in the Suburbs / 46 Kandinsky Journey / 47, The Magic of Hands / 48, November, Bois de Vincennes / 49, Lost / 50 from FISH_RINGS ON WATER: International / 53, Firstborn / 54, A Girl's Head / 55, Nettie Palmer to Frank Wilmot ('Furnley Maurice') / 56, Eastville, 1939 / 58, Relic / 59, Ghosts / 59, Plane-Journey Momentums / 60, Art Class on Observatory Hill, Sydney / 61, Near Keith, South Australia / 62, Scene on the Loire / 63, To Joe: In Memoriam / 63, Homecoming / 64, Alone on a Beach / 66, First Time / 67, The Affair / 68, Lines for an Ex / 69, Poem for the Executioners / 69, Political Prisoners / 70, After Kathe Kollwitz - 'The Face of War' / 71, Girl teasing Cat with Mouse / 72, Tree Planting at Alexandra Park / 73 from TIGERS ON THE SILK ROAD: 1969 / 77, In Memoriam for my Brother / 80, Dancing / 81, Jet Lag / 82, Frost Country / 83, 1942 / 85, River Murray Reunion / 86, My Mother's Garden / 88, The Gondola at Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Venice / 89, Poem for a Shallot / 90, Reckoning / 91, The Ash Tree / 92, Thirteen / 93, Knebworth Park / 94, A Visit to the War Memorial, Canberra / 95, Slippage / 97, The Lines on Her Palm / 99, Hunger / 100, Poinsettias / 101 from CIRCUS-APPRENTICE: Entente / 111, Laanecoorie / 112, The Year of the Tree / 114, Hedge / 116, Summer Odyssey / 117, From the Sahel / 119, Winter Hyacinths / 120, Hybrid / 121, Thinking of My Mother on the Anniversary of Her Death / 122, Gwen John swims the Channel / 123, Circus-Apprentice / 124, Keeper / 125, GM Scientist / 126, Tanka for a Hero / 127, Priests / 129, Girl on a Bolting Horse / 130, Nomad / 130, On the Pass from Kathmandu / 131, At Delphi / 132, Love Cinquains / 133, The Lesson / 134, Dancing on the Farm / 135, The Last War / 136, Itinerant / 137, Cloud-eye / 138, After Kandinsky - Grey Forms (1922) / 139, In the Black Square (1923) / 140, Horizontal (1924) / 140, Contrasting Sounds (1924) / 141, Blue Painting (1924) / 142, Yellow, Red, Blue (1925) / 143, Balancing (1925) / 144, Tension in Red (1926) / 144, Homage to Grohmann (1926) / 145, Counterweights (1926) / 146, Points along the Arc (1927) / 147 NEW POEMS: Biodiversity / 151, Seeing the Hand / 152, Take-off / 153, Fledgling / 154, The Dance / 155, La Fleuraison / 156, South Beach / 158, Manifesto / 159, Nostalgia Sonnet / 160, The Wild Colonial Boys / 161, Au Pays de la Somme / 162, Common Grounds / 163, The View / 164, Genealogy / 165, Soundings / 166, Snow-fire / 168 Biographical Note / 169