John Gallas Poetry

'the greatest New Zealand poet no one has ever heard of' (Spinoff)

poem for July 2019

Mrs Magdalena Laletti from Ponza said that she received the Pope’s Christmas message through her iron. She declared it a miracle.

25^th December 1971

thump fizz swish whoosh like a honeymoonous S.S. Luna

thump swish Saturday’s blinklit iron bow smooths

rough Adriatic beedsheets calm SaintOh thump SaintFizz

bang whoosh it hisses steam-holed hull ‘I wiiish …’

eek capsizes and down she goes soleplate sprayshot

prayers diffuse in rows of eight cloud-pillars squish

whoosh the heatknob winking faint ‘I wiiiiiish’ wee wavelengths

tremble flickerflash the oops the ouch the angel-static news

round and round the whitewalls whoosh fizz ‘peeeeeace … peeeeeace …

peeeeeeeace’ the seasheets blow and rise miraculous and

‘peeeeeace …. peeeeeace’ Mother of God and wrap in holy-days

and tiny snap eek sweet Luna’s wirefire fuse.

What's Afoot ? Top Ten

1. 'The Blood Book' is selling fast : if you'd like a copy, please email me at john.gallas@btinternet.com

2. Have completed, with brother Kurt, translations of 5 of Petrus Borel's poems : ongoing ! (see Wikipaedia for Petrus Borel)

3. Won the 'Voices of Israel' Reuben Rose Poetry Competition with 'At the Funeral of a Ploughman' - see Facebook etc.

4. 'The Extasie - 50 love poems - now completed, and with Carcanet, awaiting a decision.

5. 'Here They Come ! 200 Loaded Tankas Delivering Goodness Fresh to Your Doorstep' (yup, a collection of 200 tankas, 5.7.5.7.7 syllables long) also completed. Bunches appearing in STAND and other magazines next year.

6. A sequence of little poems, 'The History of Mid Wales', written there, is due out in the forthcoming 'PN Review'.

7.. To complete the Year of 3 Books, 'Mad John's Walk' still available from Five Leaves (www.fiveleaves.co.uk) and '17 Pacific Poems' from Indigo Dreams (www.indigodreams.co.uk)

8. Won the National Association of Writers Group competition with 'At That Leicester Cafe', and the Earlyworks Poetry Competition.

9.. Go to STAND magazine's website (www.standmagazine.org) for 4 love poems, and, forthcoming, more translations of Joachim de Bellay and some nutritious Tankas.

10. Ten Pacific Tales completed ; collection slowly heading towards the planned Twenty. 

Complete Book List

Practical Anarchy (Carcanet)
Flying Carpets Over Filbert Street (Carcanet)
Grrrrr (Carcanet)
Resistance is Futile (Carcanet)
The Ballad of Robin Hood and the Deer (Agraphia Press), pictures by Clifford Harper
The Ballad of Santo Caserio (Agraphia Press), pictures by Clifford Harper
The Song Atlas (Carcanet)
Star City (Carcanet)
The Book with Twelve Tales (Carcanet)
Fucking Poets (3 vols) (Cold Hub Press NZ)
40 Lies (Carcanet) pictures by Sarah Kirby
Fresh Air & The Story of Molecule (Carcanet)
52 Euros (Carcanet)

Pacifictions (Cold Hub Press NZ)

The Alphabet of Ugly Animals (Magpie Press)

Mad John's Walk (Five Leaves : Occasional Pamphlets) January 2017

The Little Sublime Comedy (Carcanet) now out

17 Very Pacific Poems (Indigo Dreams) now out

The Extasie ... here's hoping

Contacts

John Gallas Poetry www.johngallaspoetry.co.uk

Carcanet www.carcanet.co.uk

Carcanet blog www.carcanetblog.blogspot.co.uk

John Gallas Facebook

Cold Hub Press (NZ) www.coldhubpress.co.nz

Five Leaves publishing/bookshop (Mad John's Walk) www.fiveleaves.co.uk

Agraphia / Clifford Harper www.agraphia.co.uk

YouTube (Paterau Sonnent / The Blobfish Sings Under the Sea)

STAND Magazine www.standmagazine.org

Indigo Dreams publishing www.indigodreams.co.uk

Spinoff (NZ) www.thespinoff.co.nz

The John Clare Society (facebook and 'contact us')

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