John Gallas Poetry

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

poem for September 2018

Percy's Tanka

I met a traveller

from an antique land, who said

that in the Nefud

there are nine prehistoric

stone cats perfectly preserved.

Compare, contrast, spindle and mutilate with Shelley's 'Ozymandias' at the bottom of this page.

A Tanka is a Japanese verse-form of 31 syllables, arranged in 5 lines as 5/7/5/7/7.

What's Afoot ? Top Ten

1. A sequence of little poems, 'The History of Mid Wales', written there, is due out soon in 'P N Review'.

2. NZ Night ! Reading with Vaughan Rapatahana @ Five Leaves Bookshop, Nottingham, went with a kiwi swing : full and merry. Support the bookshop, (www.fiveleaves.co.uk) just voted UK Independent Bookshop of the Year.

3. 'Foggy Identities in Paterau' to be published in Spinoff (NZ)'s anthology of NZ poems. See www.thespinoff.co.nz

4. 'The Little Sublime Comedy' now out from Carcanet. See schedule and catalogue, and order from www.carcanet.co.uk

5. To complete the Year of 3 Books, 'Mad John's Walk' still available from Five Leaves (www.fiveleaves.co.uk)

6. Won the National Association of Writers Group competition with 'At That Leicester Cafe'.

7. Won the Earlyworks Poetry Competition.

8. The Blood Book, the tale of my ancestors from 10,000 BC to me, is now finished. Small tinkerings necessary. To be published in NZ.

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

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) now out

17 Very Pacific Poems (Indigo Dreams) now out

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