John Gallas Poetry

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Mmm ...:
"There is no knowing what may be useful in the unknown parts of the world : so it is best to take everything" - 'Sir Richard Burton's Map'

Rembrandt man looking carefully

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

Puzzle-Poem for June 2021

Man Looks Carefully ...

(first published in 'Fresh Air & the Story of Molecule' - Carcanet)

Can you identify these, my 4 favourite pictures in the

National Gallery ... ?

A man pranceth forth with a large pot

and a tree. A young man ambraceth

a haystook, and looketh about moideredly.

A fat man holdeth up a gleamy glass

beyond his buttons, and an old man

warmeth his hands at a little box,

much garnitured for the cold.

Gentleman in hat casts his legs

clatter clatter at a wee bright flame.

Haste and horror demand

his hand before his mouth.

A soldier is dead, largely. Beside his death

are a bubble and a smoke-squig. All fugacious.

O'er silver'd waters a boat does not go

but has been

to and fro

on the bright concurrent

under a well-mannered sky.

What's Afoot ? Top Ten

1. 'The Extasie', my book of 64 love poems, now out. Check out that fab cover. Available to buy at all good bookshops, or order from Amazon and/or www.carcanet.co.uk

2. Just written the Blurb for forthcoming Carcanet Classics vol. of my and bro's translation of Petrus Borel's 'Rhapsodies 1838'. Due out 2022.

3. Lazy Adventurer Publishing are working on '17 Paper Resurrections (from graveyards in Mid-Wales)' - poem-prints bringing back to life interesting folks memorialized in the area, collected while biking about last year.

4. 'Aotearoa/Angleland', a selection of 30/30 tankas to be published by New Walk Editions. Just working on proofs and cover.

5. 3 small prizes in a week! 2nds and 3rds all, but enough to pay for MOT van-tyres. Details not yet released. (Comps, not tyres).

6. 'Meet the Author' on the Carcanet blog : 'The link is here: https://carcanetblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/john-gallas-extasie.html.'

7. Look out for FOUR GRID-PAPER PICTURE-POEMS (Proust, T.E.Lawrence, Basho & Henry Flynt) to be published online from 1st May by the very wonderful Otolith Group (www.otolithgroup.org)

8. 'The Gnawing Flood', a book of 28 anti-colonial poem-prints now out from brave and exciting Cerasus Publishing. Order @ The Gnawing Flood: Amazon.co.uk: Gallas, John: 9798592286063: Books

9. John Rylands Library Manchester Online Exhibition : the creative process of a John Gallas poem, 'Somewhere down Hurdletree Gate' - visit @ https://medium.com/special-collections/the-creative-process-of-poet-john-gallas-a01301497c92

10. Completed : a set of online workshops called 'Write Like a Saxon' for the Sutton Hoo Saxonship Project (www.saxonship.org). JOIN IN! and meanwhile sponsor a rivet at the website address! This wonderful project is also about to exhibit a CGI film of the ship in action accompanied by a reading of my Saxonship Poem no.10, 'On the Water'. Poems 11 and 12 on the way.

Complete Book List - we have reached 24 !

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