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    The Best 100 Poems of Dorothy Porter
    The Best 100 Poems of Dorothy Porter
    The Best 100 Poems of Dorothy Porter
    Ebook220 pages44 minutes

    The Best 100 Poems of Dorothy Porter

    By Dorothy Porter

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    About this ebook

    Dorothy Porter was one of Australia’s true originals, renowned for her passionate, punchy poetry and verse novels. This collection, the best of her life’s work as selected by her partner Andrea Goldsmith, presents the many facets of Porter, from her break-out verse novel The Monkey’s Mask to her posthumous collection, The Bee Hut. Whether stretching the fabric of ancient mythology, discovering the beauty of the natural world or inking an intimate message on the heart, Porter’s verse is endlessly captivating. This is an essential volume for longtime admirers and newcomers alike.

    ‘[Porter’s] poems are short, powerful, beautiful and sometimes brutal. Each poem is a portrait, a sensation, a short story, a joke, or a reflection in itself.’ —Times

    ‘It’s hard not to be uplifted by this writing and this woman’ —Courier-Mail

    Dorothy Porter is an acclaimed poet, lyricist and librettist. Her work has been adapted for radio, stage and screen. In December 2008, Dorothy Porter died aged 54. She had just completed The Bee Hut.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBlack Inc. Books
    Release dateOct 23, 2013
    ISBN9781922231208
    The Best 100 Poems of Dorothy Porter
    Author

    Dorothy Porter

    Dorothy Porter, acclaimed poet, lyricist and librettist, was twice shortlisted for Australia’s premier literary award, the Miles Franklin, and her verse novel The Monkey’s Mask is a modern Australian classic. Her work has been adapted for radio, stage and screen. In 2008, Dorothy Porter died, aged fifty-four.

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      Book preview

      The Best 100 Poems of Dorothy Porter - Dorothy Porter

      Published by Black Inc.,

      an imprint of Schwartz Media Pty Ltd

      37–39 Langridge Street

      Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia

      email: enquiries@blackincbooks.com

      http://www.blackincbooks.com

      Copyright © Dorothy Porter 2013

      Dorothy Porter asserts her right to be known as the author of this work

      All Rights Reserved.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

      or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photo­copying, recording or otherwise without the prior consent of the publishers.

      National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

      National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

      Porter, Dorothy Featherstone, 1954-2008 author.

      The best 100 poems of Dorothy Porter / Dorothy Porter.

      ISBN for eBook edition: 9781922231208

      ISBN for print edition: 9781863956246 (hbk.)

      Australian poetry.

      CONTENTS

      THE MONKEY’S MASK

      Trouble

      Diana

      Style

      What She Is

      Sex and Poetry

      If She Rings

      CRETE

      Linear A

      Crete

      The Law of Volcanoes

      Exuberance with Bloody Hands

      Rot Here

      Bull-leaping

      Lost Civilisation

      The Labyrinth of Intimacy

      The Bee Hut (from The Bee Hut)

      Hawkesbury River (from Driving Too Fast)

      CRETE

      Why I Love Your Body

      Stain

      The Stars Are Brightly Shining

      Hot Date

      Music

      The Emerald Leopard

      My At-last Lover

      Drought Sonnet

      Cigarettes IV and XI

      Wives

      AKHENATEN

      The Lion

      Married Gods

      Nefertiti Rides Me

      Watching Hippos

      Just to Talk

      Scarab

      Epilogue – Eternal Life

      Wilson’s Diary (from Driving Too Fast)

      Death I to VIII (from Other Worlds)

      WHAT A PIECE OF WORK

      Ticks

      Brilliant Sanity

      Why I Like Women Friends

      Sticky Morning

      The Ghost Train

      Circular Quay

      Paradise Beach (from The Night Parrot)

      OTHER WORLDS

      Comets I to X

      Black Smoker

      Europa

      My Own Private Prison

      Magpie

      Faith

      everything becomes mysterious

      Poet in Medellin V, VI, X, XIII, XVI

      Snake Story

      Volcano Vertigo

      Black Fox (from Little Hoodlum)

      White Calendar Day (from The Night Parrot)

      Scenes from a Marriage I (from The Night Parrot)

      The Amulet (from Driving Too Fast)

      Mrs Fern-Smith (from Driving Too Fast)

      The Satin Bower Bird (from Driving Too Fast)

      Among Thieves (from Little Hoodlum)

      Driving to Your Place (from The Night Parrot)

      When Desire’s Gone I (from Driving Too Fast)

      Survivor of the Auto da Fé (from Little Hoodlum)

      Hiding (from Bison)

      WILD SURMISE

      Shocking

      Mauna Kea

      America – the Adjective

      Two-pot Screamer

      Radiation

      a green Thought in a green Shade

      Hospital

      Purgatory

      Beatrice

      The Company of Breathing Men

      Giant Squid

      Symbols (from Little Hoodlum)

      Safe-keeping (from Little Hoodlum)

      EL DORADO

      Thin Ice

      Sleeping Alone

      Tsunami

      I Touch

      Reasons to Back Out Now

      THE BEE HUT

      Egypt

      Jerusalem II, V and XI

      On Reading E.M. Forster’s Guide to Alexandria

      Aeneas Remembers Domestic Bliss

      Blackberries

      Bluebottles

      Things

      Lucky

      Numbers

      The Hampstead Heath Toad

      Neanderthals

      Charles Baudelaire’s Grave

      The Wattle Bird

      Foggy Windows

      The Ninth Hour

      Not the Same

      Travel

      The Snow Line

      Little Hoodlum (from Little Hoodlum)

      POEMS FROM THE VERSE NOVEL

      THE MONKEY’S MASK

      I   TROUBLE

      ‘Jill’

      I challenge the mirror

      ‘how much guts have you got?’

      I like my courage

         physical

      I like my courage

         with a dash of danger.

      In between insurance jobs

      I’ve been watching

         rock climbers

            like game little spiders

                on my local cliff

      I’ve got no head for heights

         but plenty of stomach

            for trouble

      trouble

             deep other-folks trouble

                  to spark my engine

                     and pay my mortgage

      and private trouble

         oh, pretty trouble

      to tidal-wave my bed

      I’m waiting

      I want you, trouble,

         on the rocks.

      II   DIANA

      The door reads

      Dr Diana Maitland

      I knock twice

      she’s thirtysomething

      maybe forty

      her hair honey-blonde

      streaks

      falls in her eyes

      she pushes it back

      with a fidgety

      nail-bitten hand

      she’s got eyes

      that flirt or fight

      she’s gritty

      she’s bright

      oh christ help me

      she’s a bit of alright!

      III   STYLE

      In love I’ve got no style

      my heart is decked out

      in bright pink tracksuit pants

      it weaves its huge bummed way

      through the tables to Diana

      she’s reading something

      with very fine print

      she doesn’t need her glasses

      to see me.

      IV   WHAT SHE IS

      Driving home

      the dawn full moon

      pulling me up

      the Mountains

      my heart slops about

      in my chest

      the moon knocks

      on the windscreen

      just love her

      the moon says

      stop checking your change

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