Poetry

Poetry from The Dinner Party in Women’s Ink by Colleen Keating

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Society of Women Writers put out a call for writings on Women & War Cries. I quickly realised several of the women in my up and coming new book The Dinner Party would fit that theme and hence I am proud to have a centre fold  of poetry  including two poems Artemisia Gentileschi  1593-1652 and Boadicea 61 BCE. It was special to have the first notable promotion for my new book. ARTEMISIA GENTIILESCHI begins:

In her hands
the brush swept the canvas
azure blue, old gold, crimmson red . . .

Poems from The Dinner Party: by Colleen Keating. Her new book to be published in Autumn 2023 by Ginninderra Press (Herstory: A poetic response to a universal dinner party restoring women to history.

        

The Dinner Party A poetic response by Colleen Keating

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Exciting news . . I am thrilled and excited that my new book The Dinner Party  A poetic response is finally up on Ginninderra Press website and can be pre-ordered . . .to be released on May 1st . A long journey to birth this new book but finally I have the first copy in my hand. Grateful to so many people and thanks to Stephen Matthews OAM and Ginninderra Press and to Michael and many poet friends.

 

‘The Dinner Party by the talented poet Colleen Keating brings to light, through beautiful lyrical poetry, what for centuries has been ignored: the power and strength of women. Very little has been made known about the lives of influential women of the past, as women’s lived experience has been suppressed, even erased from history. In this collection, the poet resuscitates the experience of women from prehistory to women’s twentieth-century revolution. Her poetry traces the lives of women who demonstrated their influence, in every field including philosophy, medicine, writing, art, astronomy, suffragists and justice warriors who fought for recognition. Women who gave their lives, suffered, broke barriers, knocked down walls, smashed glass ceilings, pried open doors, who defied patriarchy in some way for all of us. Still today as women are written into history, the struggle for our reckoning towards equality and respect continues. A must-read book that honours women; women who would not be silent.’

– Dr Beatriz Copello

‘With impeccable research and deep empathy, Colleen Keating continues her powerful poetic contribution to feminist literature with the celebration of thirty-nine of the more than a thousand women forgotten, marginalised or written out of Western history. A remarkable and beautifully imagined work.’

– Pip Griffin

Portal to another world by Colleen Keating

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Portal

a narrow passage
between two ironbarks

into an earthy world
of closed off skies

mossy sandstone caverns
moist  soft tracks

each step cushioned 
by sweet smelling

leaf mulch   so absorbing
i feel I’m hardly here

this subtle cut 
into another reality

like crossing over 
to a liminal world

with life’s great tumult 
falling away 

as bark falls from trees 
seduces        slowly

my restlessness 
disesolving 

Colleen Keating

 

 

Into the Living Light, composed by Anne Boyd, with thanks to Hildegard by Colleen Keating

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O fleeting soul, be strong.
Clothe yourself in the armour of light.
You are surrounded
With the embrace of Divine mysteries.

It is affirming when I hear Hildegard of Bingen, a Poetic Journey, my book published a few years back has an effect on the reader. Because my story is read mostly in USA with book groups and retreats, I love hearing of experience from a distance but when it is from home and from a friend that it has been inspiring for her through grief and lost and deep sadness  into  new creative musical writing,  I feel very affirmed and give thanks to Hildegrad who is with us today in 2023 to lead us in  this broken world.

Thank you  professor Anne Boyd. I feel very honoured to be included in your creation and so happy you are being praised as one  of the top women composers at this time.  And congratulations being on the new CD of music Women of Note Vol 5. published this month March 2023 for International Womens’ Day

Short Programme Note

Into the Living Light

For me, composing is deep listening, seeking a presence beyond the Self, an activity akin to prayer. Grieving the recent loss of two family members, one of whom was my older sister Helen, who died on Christmas Day, I discovered the loss of a sibling leaves a strangely hollow place in one’s sense of being. My very special friend David Iverach was similarly affected with passing of his elder brother Don a few days later.

Seeking comfort and meaning, I found myself drawn to the vividly colourful imagery in the verse novel by Sydney writer Colleen Keating Hildegard of Bingen. One verse stood out in the Section she titled ‘Unearthing Heaven’:

O fleeting soul, be strong.

Clothe yourself in the armour of light.

You are surrounded

With the embrace of Divine mysteries.

I had been looking forward to composing a work for flute, viola and harp and in the context of the grieving process one of Hildegard’s antiphons O rubor sanguinis inspired by the martyrdom of St Ursula floated into my mind.

The image of Light so important to Hildegard’s sense of the Divine presence, reaches across many spiritual beliefs. I sometimes think of Australia as the land of living light.My sister, to whom the vibrant colours of Nature were soul food,believed her onward journey to be ‘to a place beyond the stars’; Don had no doubt that his resting place would by with his wife in the loving arms of Jesus. Light is central to and connects both their personal beliefs. This music, resting upon inspiration from Hildegard, reaching across the centuries, is a kind of prayer to accompany them both into eternity.

Vale Helen and Don, both so loved by your families and friends in this life, may you now rest in peace.

Anne E. Boyd

Sydney

20.02.23

Anne Boyd leading a walk in the Olive Pink Botanic Garden
and Anne and I at the launch of Olive Pink : her radical & idealistic life.
The evening before Anne Boyd’s Opera of Olive Pink set in the garden.

AUSTRALIAN DEBUSSY TRIO

The sumptuous combination of flute, viola and harp unites three soloists as they deliver a thoughtfully curated program. The newly established Australian Debussy Trio has crafted an illuminating blend of tranquil dreams, pastoral scenes and deep, introspective music for this unique instrumental combination. Imbued with flickers of light, Debussy’s second sonata is told in a fragrant language of ambiguity and fleeting suggestion. In a masterful display of timbral manipulation, Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu pays homage to Debussy with his own trio “And then I knew ’twas Wind” – a musical depiction of the human subconscious played out across interconnected musical episodes. Amongst the intriguing lineup of works, the programme features two Australian works, by Ross Edwards and Anne Boyd, written especially for the trio. This thoughtful programme will engross audiences from start to finish.

ARNOLD BAX
Elegiac Trio
TORU TAKEMITSU
And then I knew ’twas Wind
ROSS EDWARDS
Three Mystic Dances
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Pieces de clavecin en concerts No. 5
ANNE BOYD
Into the Living Light
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Sonata for flute, viola and harp, L.137

Granger, Wannan and Henderson impressed with some spectacular playing, both skilled technically and emotionally poignant.

Limelight Magazine

 

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EMILY GRANGER

Harp

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American-born, Australian-based Emily Granger effortlessly straddles the worlds of classical, popular, and art music – including glittering appearances with Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Blasko, and Renée Fleming. Emily’s considerable talent finds her equally at home in intimate chamber recitals and thrilling performances of daring new works. Emily has performed recitals from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center and has appeared with the Chicago, Sydney, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. Her debut solo album, In Transit (AVIE Records), was Featured Album on ABC Classic and praised by BBC Music Magazine as “beautiful” and Limelight Magazine as “an impressive debut”.

JAMES WANNAN

Viola

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Violist James Wannan is a founder of the Australia Piano Quartet (APQ), Co-Artistic Director of the Ensemble in Residence at the University of Technology Sydney, a member of Southern Cross Soloists and an Artistic Associate of Sydney Chamber Opera. He teaches chamber music and viola at the Sydney Conservatorium’s Rising Star program and has been a guest teacher at the Australian National Academy of Music. He explores his passion for music from ancient to contemporary on a number of instruments. James enjoys exploring the possibilities of other instruments including violin, oud and viola d’amore. He has commissioned many new works, including a concerto by Jack Symonds that was premiered at the Bendigo Festival of Experimental Music.

JONATHAN HENDERSON

Flute

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Flutist Jonathan Henderson trained with Europe’s leading flute professors and has carved out a multifaceted performance career spanning from Australia to the Nordic countries. Jonathan was appointed Principal Flute of the Estonian National Opera Orchestra at age twenty-four, whilst still a student at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. He has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Nordic Symphony Orchestra and MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductors such as Sir Mark Elder, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Richard Tognetti, Klaus Mäkelä and Leif Segerstam.

Blue Heron Review, so excited to be included in #16 Spring 2023 by Colleen Keating

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BLUE HERON REVIEW

“An awake heart is like a sky that pours light.” ― Hafiz

Dear Colleen,

Thank you so much for your wonderful submission to Blue Heron Review!  I am very pleased to accept your beautiful poem, “Winter Days,” for our upcoming Spring 2023 issue on the theme of SANCTUARIES AND PLACES OF PEACE, BHR #16.

 

Our next issue is due to be published online in late spring (approx. mid-May 2023).  I will send a link to the issue to all contributors when it is released.

Congratulations again, and thank you for being a Blue Heron poet!

With kind regards,

Cristina M. R. Norcross, Founding Editor

Blue Heron Review

www.blueheronreview.com

See More from Colleen Keating

—

Cristina M. R. Norcross, Editor

Blue Heron Review

www.blueheronreview.com

Windows for Miracles (Türkiye and Syria) by Colleen Keating

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 windows for miracles

After a baby was rescued  from the rubble 150 hours
after the  Türkiye and Syria earthquake 

windows for miracles
open hands dig
exposed in corruption and winter freeze
brute force against crushed
walls of concrete 

windows for miracles
rimy pictures extort tears   
tiny pockets of air save
and in renascence we all 
breathe humanity’s ache

windows for miracles
closed hard as steel shutters
trapped against meaning  
we scramble under rubble of news
grass and birds stone-walled

Colleen Keating

 

 

 

reminder an elegy by Colleen Keating

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reminder

air is riven with grief quiet
staccato of words like whispers
spread a low slow pall shroud
our small communal world

yet in this laden torpor
cicadas still ring their song
timid blue-hearted pansies nod
and in the Harmony garden
a young hibiscus bursts
into flower it’s yellow suns
quiver with meaning

today at the funeral
words of comfort search
dragonflies on the mirrored–
surface of our loss

from a screen memories draw us in
their toasting with wine laughter
arms lovingly encircled
hugs of celebrations
to a backdrop of our tended garden
multi-coloured petunias
the white magnolia
rambling  roses that give and give

this is life it is beautiful
it reminds us of the fable
where a fish asks ‘where is the sea?’
and the wise fish answers ‘you’re in it!’

back at home  sweet scent
of friendship wafts from the garden

A Summer City Walk by Colleen Keating

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A summer city walk

We might live up in the hills amongst the trees and birds
but a pleasant train trip has us in the heart of the city
in just on a hour

Our walk into Hyde Park past the Pool of Reflection
through the War Memorial past the Mary McKillop tribute
along Macquarie Street to our first coffee stop

 

like a Narnia cupboard our State library
is a portal to another world.
we begin with Cafe Trim for a morning coffee

Had to smile how famous is this cat Trim *
statues in his honour in England and here
books written and now a cafe in its name

a quiet walk through the displayed collection
one painting catches my attention
Maria Little c. 1895 worthy of a poem *

across into the Botanical gardens
where the same tree pulls us up every time
its presence so grand that one’s memory

cannot hold it as such and so each time
we meet it one stops and sighs deeply
as if in its presence for the first time

the Calyx was where we walked and sat
amidst a kaleidoscope of colour
plants and passion

close up of the Wollemi Pine
had me in adoration before nature
its early place in evolutions

looking close up at its binary nature
a tree that lived and survived before
even insects evolved

used wind only for pollination
needing the updraft from valley floors
to secure its continuation

Hildegard would’ve given her approved nod
to The Green Wall
and its 18.000 plants

with shades of green in great variety
and spelling out the word Diversity
this ambience gave us a restful vibe

Further on we walked in a wild English garden
mesmerised by the colours
and enterprise of bees and butterflies

 

a shady spot midst sandstone outcrops
and sparkling vista of a busy harbour
our picnic tasted delicious

 

  • TO THE MEMORY OF
                  TRIM
    The best and most illustrious of his race
    The most affectionate of friends,
    faithful of servants,
    and best of creatures
    He made the tour of the globe, and a voyage to Australia,
    which he circumnavigated, and was ever the
    delight and pleasure of his fellow voyagers
    Written by Matthew Flinders in memory of his cat
    Memorial donated by the North Shore Historical Society
  • Maria Little    c. 1895  by Tom Roberts.
    This captures my attention..
    Who is she really? What is she hiding?.Is she just shy?
    What sadness she knows!
    what has the invasion of our civilisation
    done to her peeopls !
    Archivists from the historical Yulgilbar Castle in the Clarence Valley Northern, NSW have recently identified the woman to be Maria Little , a local Bundjalung woman, who worked  in the laundry at the Ogilvie family’s Yulgibar Homestead. Maria’s mother, Queen Jinnie Little, also worked at Yugilbar, along with many other Aboriginal people from the near by Baryulgil Comminity

 

Note below my gorgeous blue monarch butterfly

 

So that was my day in the city and here is another interpretation of the same day

Saturday 21st January 2023

from the diary of  Michael Keating

Today we set out for a solid walking tour of the city. I took the Fizan Explorer Walking Pole. We drove to the station and just missed a train. It is so good to get off at Normanhurst on the return journey and have the car waiting for the last 300 metres of up hill. There were plenty of people on the train and in the city.
The Lunar New Year brought a wide range of people into the city. Many were in fancy dress (Rabbits Ears for Year of the Rabbit) and groups were chasing Pokémon type targets. Colleen was amazed by the range of women styles, fabrics and designs.

We alighted at Town Hall and used the Woolworths vintage escalators to make our way towards Hyde Park. We misread the changed pedestrian conditions towards Hyde Park and chalked up a few extra criss-crossing steps. We did the full stretch of Hyde Park. We walked down to and through the Anzac Memorial and around the  Pool of Remembrance. Colleen took a photo of myself reflected in the pool. We were at either end and I was standing in front of the Anzac Memorial. The Anzac Memorial deals with WWl specifically with various acknowledgements of later encounters.

There are four sections of wall where mention is made of  every town, village, suburb from where men signed up to join the various Armed Forces together with samples of soil.

It was intriguing to wander along and note places of interest – Coonamble, Moonan Flat, Wanaaring (Paroo), Quirindi, Bega – amongst hundreds of others. The Cooee trail is iconic in NSW legend. Since I was last there, they have  added a significant water feature on the southern side (Liverpool St) of the Memorial.

From the main steps of the memorial one sees all the way to the Archibald Fountain at the northern end of Hyde Park. We walked down  the Hyde Park Avenue and made a detour past St. Mary’s Cathedral. The sculpture of Mary McKillop drew our attention. I would have liked to have wandered inside the Cathedral but I had a hat and was unable to disentangle mask, sunglasses, hearing aids, hat cord. We walked down Macquarie St to the NSW Library where we had a cup of coffee.  Thence took some time in the Portrait Gallery. It is interactive and I always like to wait for some inspiration from someone gazing down at me and then doing some basic interactive research. Today the subject was Maria Little – the  indigenous daughter of ‘Queen Jinnie Little’. Colleen was quite intrigued.

From the art gallery  we walked through the Botanical Gardens. We spent some time at the current Calyx flower exhibition. One of the Volunteer Guides was very pleased to answer our queries.

We had taken some food for lunch. As we walked down through The Gardens we kept a lookout for a shady seat. We are beyond just looking for shady grass. We were almost at the Opera House when we managed to find a seat. It was a great spot and we watched  a wide variety of boats. There were no Cruise Ships in today.

We walked around to MCA to use the bathrooms. This enabled us to have another look at some of our current favourites. Colleen did have to take a rest at  MCA and then we were on the Light Rail to Town Hall, through Woolworths and thence to Normanhurst via Hornsby.

Evening meal was a mixture of selective cheese, leftovers and a Lite’n’Easy meal.

We watched a French film called Amour. The film was from 2012 and had taken out some awards for that year. It was typically European film with subtlety and tension. The ending was both unexpected and predictable.

Thanks Michael, such a gorgeous day we both enjoyed. The venue 5 star. The company 5 star.

White Pebbles Summer Walk at Edogawa Commemorative Garden

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White Pebbles Summer Meeting

Summer Meeting

by Samantha Sirimanne Hyde,

On a lovely summer morning, eight of us gathered again for our White Pebbles meeting. As usual, before starting our ginko, we enjoyed catching up with each other’s news over a hot beverage at the Art Centre’s café. We missed Michael Thorley, who was unable to join us.

Whatever the season, it’s always a pleasure to connect with like-minded poets at the peaceful and vibrant Edogawa Commemorative Garden. A gift to the people of Gosford from Edogawa, its Sister City, the traditional ‘shuyu’ (strolling style) garden fittingly celebrates cultural exchange and friendship.

We each dispersed down winding pathways towards whatever sights, scents and sounds beckoned us – shadows flickering on the raked dry stone bed, a cheeky koi pursuing a duck, dry leaves dangling on spider silk and crazy paving triggering childhood memories of hopscotch.

A half an hour later, we gathered around the table in the downstairs meeting room in the gallery premises. As part of our homework, each person shared a sequence of three haiku and then absorbed thoughtful and considered feedback.

Marilyn Humbert had emailed us a very helpful worksheet with guidelines and examples on writing haibun prior to our meeting. So firstly, each person read out their attempts at creating their own and then exchanged feedback. This was followed by Marilyn’s workshop on the subject, furthering the introduction to haibun that she gave us in March last year. We browsed several publications that welcomed haibun. Marilyn spoke of the essence of haibun: the need to write in the present tense, the hook at the start, its “link and shift” nature, its descriptive prose, avoiding repetition, the poem requiring to connect to the story, yet taking it on a different direction, how to select an apt title etc. We thank Marilyn for her excellent workshop.

Our convenor, Beverley George informed us that our wonderful and highly talented founding member, Gail Hennessy, will be bowing out of White Pebbles. We will miss her very much and hope that she’ll be able to visit us occasionally.

Beverley then gave us an opportunity to talk about members’ recent creative efforts. Colleen Keating spoke of her new book, Olive Muriel Pink – a richly researched and beautifully written poetic journey. I spoke briefly about my debut novel, The Lyrebird’s Cry, a modern tale of self-discovery of a gay man trapped into an arranged marriage. While we ran out of time for more such discussion, our Haiga Picture Poet, Kent Robinson’s splendid work, featured on his new website, must also be mentioned.

Buoyed by our foray into haibun, we will most likely start to experiment with this form, apart from dabbling in haiku joy, until our next meeting in autumn.

Samantha Sirimanne Hyde

Group photo
From left: Samantha Sirimanne Hyde, Gwen Bitti, Verna Rieschild, Beverley George, Kent Robinson, Colleen Keating, Marilyn Humbert, Maire Glacken.
Sally Smith from the Regional Gallery kindly obliged us by taking our photograph.

Last Day of 2022: Making Peace with our Earth

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Saturday 31st December 2022 into 2023

 

With the now departing year
May your cares &sorrows ease
May the new year drawing near
Bring you happiness and peace.  SC. Foster

 

 

IT IS TIME TO STOP DEFINING PEACE

AS THE ABSENCE OF WAR

AND START DEFINING IT

AS THE PRESENCE OF LOVE

 

 Making Peace

by Denise Levertov

A voice from the dark called out,
             ‘The poets must give us
imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar
imagination of disaster. Peace, not only
the absence of war.’
                                   But peace, like a poem,
is not there ahead of itself,
can’t be imagined before it is made,
can’t be known except
in the words of its making,
grammar of justice,
syntax of mutual aid.
                                       A feeling towards it,
dimly sensing a rhythm, is all we have
until we begin to utter its metaphors,
learning them as we speak.
                                              A line of peace might appear
if we restructured the sentence our lives are making,
revoked its reaffirmation of profit and power,
questioned our needs, allowed
long pauses . . .
                        A cadence of peace might balance its weight
on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,
an energy field more intense than war,
might pulse then,
stanza by stanza into the world,
each act of living
one of its words, each word
a vibration of light—facets
of the forming crystal.
PhotoS taken 29 th December 2022..
Thomas and Eleanor walking the cobbled lanes of St Ives, Cornwell.UK