John Gallas Poetry

poem for May 2017

HAND

by Desanka Maksimovic

(1898-1993)

Weight, all bony knuckles,

an old hand lies in a lap.

Bluebranch veins,

tangled alphabet of wrinkles

patterned there.

But when it lifts to a child's head

it lightens and lives,

like a watered plant,

bane and tiredness tapped from the veins,

knucklebones knit,

a joint nursed in another.

But when the child is gone

the hand goes drear again,

and ebbs to the lap

like a grave.

(from '52 Euros' published by Carcanet 2013 : translated by Michael Vincent & John Gallas)

What's Afoot ? Top Ten

1. 'The Little Sublime Comedy' due out from Carcanet in June/July. Proofs arriving. See schedule and catalogue (www.carcanet.co.uk)

2. Look out for Interview and poems Back Home (NZ) @ SPINOFF (www.thespinoff.co.nz) courtesy of Bill Manhire

3. Won the Indigo Dreams pamphlet competition with '17 Very Pacific Poems' : to be published by them in August.

4. Won the Stiwdio Maelor Poetry Competition with an 'Origami Poem : How to Make a Chough' : 2 weeks' residency in Wales happily spent : poem above written there.

5. Thanks to Five Leaves Bookshop, Nottingham, for publishing 'Mad John's Walk' which is available there, or by post. ph 0115 8373097 / email bookshop@fiveleaves.co.uk / www.fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk or from me (john.gallas@btinternet.com)

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

7. 10 'picto-pomes' completed during residency at Stiwdio Maelor, Mid-Wales : undergoing fine-tuning.

8. Both 'Pacifictions' and 'Fucking Poets' have sold out. Thank you, Cold Hub Press NZ.

9. A double Pre-Raphaelite Society Prize : (www.pre-raphaelitesociety.org)

10. Go to YouTube for 'The Blobfish Sings Under the Sea'. 'Down Tallapike', 'Funeral at Salem'.

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) to be published June 2017

17 Very Pacific Poems (Indigo Dreams) to be published August 2017

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 Left 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