Monthly Archives: September 2008

Poets in Hi Spirits

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Perth poet Andrew Burke is featuring a poem a day on his blog HiSpirits. Local WA poets have been asked to provide one poem with accompanying commentary on its origins or evolution. It’s something I always find interesting, although a listener at a poetry reading once gently admonished me that if the ‘explanation’ was longer than the poem, it was perhaps time for a re-think. You’ll find me there on Tuesday 23rd September with my poem ‘Blowhole‘.

If you have a moment or two to spare for some fine local poetry, do check out HiSpirits.

Risky Business

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Okay, yes, I admit it. During Book Week, I may have said a few things. I may have admitted to skydiving and bungy jumping and jumping my bike off poorly constructed ramps in an attempt to keep up with my brothers. I may have said that the first draft of Going for Broke contained a scene in which a boy sits in a shopping trolley with a lawnmower engine on his lap, while one friend pulls the starter cord and the other pushes the trolley off a cliff. I may have said that every kid needs a little risk in their life, a little danger, even; that stepping out into the world without a helmet and kneepads is not a bad idea every now and then.

I will stand by all that.

But, seriously, to the unknown Googler who arrived at my website via the search terms “bungy jump” and “shopping trolley”, I can only say: Please don’t. This will not end well.

Back from Book Week

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The length of time between this post and the last represents how long it took me to recover from Book Week. Two weeks? Not too bad, I think, given that I had a solid ten days of work, a husband overseas, a sick dog, a daughter turning eleven, and two copyediting deadlines smack bang in the middle.

It was an energising, exhausting and above all, fun week (or two, in the case of some libraries). We talked about images and broken bones and the dangers of too much cotton wool around kids. And ducks. We talked about the way a duck seems to be insinuating itself into everything I write at the moment. After some gnashing of teeth, I have decided not to fight it. When the duck calls your name, it’s a good idea to follow it. In the words of the incomparable Michael Leunig, “I think a nation is in trouble that cannot accept a duck.” Watch this space for some duck-related books hopefully coming your way in the next year or so.

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