geographies: Winton Creek

This is

the year of the snake.

I was born in a year of the snake many years ago.

Kinda ironic, since, after my experiences up here, I'm now paranoid about them.

This flood,

unlike the others we've seen
over the past five years

Photo: Chris Ison / The (Rockhampton) Morning Bulletin
was full of dead fish.

"Queensland's Environment Minister says the deaths of thousands of fish in the flooded Fitzroy River in central Queensland were due to natural causes . . .water releases from coal mines are not responsible for the deaths."

Photo: Alice Roberts, ABC News
One word:

bullshit.

Out from Otoliths—Martin Edmond's Eternities

Now out from Otoliths.

Eternities
Martin Edmond
6" x 9"
64 pages, illustrated
Otoliths, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9872010-7-2
$14.45 + p&h
URL: http://www.lulu.com/shop/martin-edmond/eternities/paperback/product-20612650.html

Martin Edmond's Eternities is at once memoir, belle lettrist in a kind of Modernist French tradition, lyric prose poetry, literary criticism. He is a chronicler of lost and discarded sacred things, people, places—Tempe Velodrome, the Manzil Room, the Wet Taxis playing at the Britannia Hotel. The writing frequently builds a pathos that often leads to grieving, grieving for lost youth and ruined possibilities. The paradox is that the romantic desire for the ideal can be realized in dreaming. Edmond is so authentic you can believe every anecdote he tells, partly because he puts himself and the reader at the scene of real crimes and with novelist’s skills re-enacts their immediate horror. Meticulous research underpins the mythic dreaming and the constant resurgence (via mechanisms of memory, portents-reading, and hallucination) of the uncanny, seeping, if you like, out to the detritus of past time. The intertextual transcends the dull mechanics of postmodern technique, emerging epically as the Koran, the Tora, Aztec lore and old Testament parable populated with hitherto uncelebrated gypsies, thieves, dream-chasing hippies, and murderers. The book rolls with humanity, a secularized laughter and magic. Not theological at all, but as powerful as re-incarnation and pagan idol worship; such profound depth to even the most innocuous recollections. Perhaps it is Edmond’s expat origins, a New Zealander who has made Sydney crueler, kinder, more exotic and more magical than it ever could be on its own: . . . in those moments some ineffable translation happens, some occult adjustment of soul, some realignment of possibilities, after which he is profoundly changed. And all else too. It is as the book says—the redeemed world will be the same but not as this is. It’s theology without god. It’s nothing. Everything. —Adam Aitken

Martin Edmond’s bohemian travels documented within these prose pieces are eternities made manifest in run-down flats, movie sets and, along with other jobs, toiling on the night shift at the post office among fellow poets, painters, musicians and other variously assembled creatures of the night. Here is a writer with abundant gifts. With a novelist’s eye for detail and a poet’s perfect pitch Martin Edmond lives the life of the writer who takes ecstatic possession of every living moment. Within these pages the writer asks, ‘can music banish a curse?’ You bet it can. —Richard Lopez

geographies: Charlevue

What's wrong with this sentence?

Crocodiles have been spotted swimming through the streets of Rockhampton as floodwaters continue to rise in the Queensland beef capital.

Otoliths #28 is now live

There is blue sky, it's very warm, but the river is due to peak later on today at major flood levels. The highways to the west & southwest are both cut, & the main highway south has only just reopened & is only passable with "extreme caution." There are minimal fruit & vegetables available apart from some local pineapples, fresh bread & milk are rationed to one loaf / container per customer at the local supermarket, eggs & meat are scarce, & bottled water & longlife milk are gone almost immediately they arrive. The fiber-optic cable & its backup connecting this part of the world with the southern parts of the continent were both washed away over the weekend which meant no internet or cell phone connectivity for several days, though they've now been restored.

But the USPS insists that the journal must go through. So, with no further fanfare, the summer, 2013 issue of Otoliths—#28—has just gone live, with work from Alexander Jorgensen, Paul Dickey, Felino A. Soriano, Alexandra Yurkovsky, Jim Meirose, Simon Perchik, nick-e melville, Tim Suermondt, Mark Melnicove, Adam Aitken, bruno neiva, Philip Byron Oakes, Dane Karnick, Howie Good, Walter Ruhlmann, John Crouse, M. Pfaff, John M. Bennett, William Garvin, Michael Farrell, Willie Smith, Jack Galmitz, Craig Scott, Raymond Farr, Carlyle Baker, Patrick James Dunagan, Sheila E. Murphy, Reed Altemus, Micah Cavaleri, Tom Beckett, Tony Brinkley, Bobbi Lurie, Tom Pescatore, Cecelia Chapman, Tony Beyer, Lakey Comess, George McKim, Steven D. Stark, Orchid Tierney, David Dick, Colin Herd, Michael Caylo-Baradi, Lee Slonimsky, Chris D'Errico, Susan Gangel & Terry Turrentine, Catherine Vidler, John Pursch, Stephen Nelson, Leigh Herrick, Jeff Harrison, Volodymyr Bilyk, Charles Freeland & Rosaire Appel, Márton Koppány, Alyson Miller, sean burn, Donna Fleischer, Bogdan Puslenghea, Paul Pfleuger, Jr., Joel Chace, Bob Heman, Scott Metz, Ed Baker, J. D. Nelson, Nicolette Wong, Michael Brandonisio, Lance Newman, Sam Moginie, Kit Kennedy, Samit Roy, Sam Langer, Aditya Bahl, Cherie Hunter Day, Shazia Hafiz Ramji, & Michael Gottlieb.

& never one to let the opportunity for a pun pass by, let's just say that this issue's come out under floodlit conditions.

Some years back,

maybe seven or so, we planted a number of pineapple tops in the garden.

Only a couple of them managed to take root, & for the time since then, only the leaves grew. We'd given up the idea of them fruiting.

Then, late last year, November-December, a flower appeared in the center of the plant to the right of the garden path, & gradually has taken on the familiar pineapple form.

& even later in December, the plant on the lefthand side of the path, perhaps prompted by the nearby activity, launched into bloom.

Am unsure, but I think they take about six or so months to get to the point of harvesting.

Broadband, mobile outages in wake of Queensland floods.

"Telstra has flown techicians in to repair a flood-damaged fibre optic cable between Gladstone and Bundaberg in Queensland that it says "carries much of the state's communications needs".

The telco said that severe flooding in Colosseum, about 72km south-east of Gladstone, had damaged the coastal cable. The flooding is caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald.

"A repair crew has arrived in Colosseum by helicopter to attempt repairs on the damaged coastal cable and begin restoring services," a spokesman said.

"All restoration efforts will be weather dependant, but the team is in the process of running cable in an attempt to reinstate services."

A cable near Harlin that could usually act as a backup has also been damaged by flood waters.

"To date, poor weather conditions and flood levels have prevented technicians accessing the second damaged cable north of Harlin," Telstra's spokesman said.

"As the weather clears, technicians will attempt to access the area by helicopter or road with the help of local emergency services to begin works."

The cable damage, together with widespread power outages, led to landline and broadband services being cut in Mackay, Freshwater, Cairns, Rockhampton, Townsville, Mount Isa and Gladstone, Telstra indicated.

"Many 2G, 3G and 4G mobile services throughout Central and Northern Queensland have also been impacted," it said.

While it had a crew working on the Colosseum cut that was impacting fixed services, the carrier hoped to be able to restore some 3G services using a transmission route via Darwin."

itnews

30 hours this time...

& overall, it's an increasingly strange weather event, that keeps being greeted by the phrase "unprecedented." It's still going, moving down the coast, in New South Wales now, dumping many millimeters of rain & accompanied by extremely strong winds.

Australia Day / Invasion Day / Some Sort of Reconciliation Day

For many Indigenous Australians, today marks the 75th anniversary of the fight for Aboriginal rights and recognition.

In 1938, a large group of Aboriginal people gathered in Sydney at a protest they called The Day of Mourning.

The Indigenous demonstrators demanded full citizen rights and equality, and the protest was the beginning of the organised Aboriginal civil rights movement.

Today, 225 years after the First Fleet arrived, the Aboriginal and Australian Flags have flown together on top of Sydney Harbour Bridge for the first time.

Today, the heavy rain

has moved away, but the results of the 520 mm of rain that has fallen over the last three days are extremely evident. Much of the communication infrastructure—internet & cell—was down for nearly 24 hours & has only just come back up; there's an inland lake around the south & west of the city; the major highways south, west, & southwest are all closed with washed out bridges, washed away road, or just too much water over the road to get through; the airport is closed/open/closed/open/closed, though I just heard a plane come in; & the usual stream of gawkers on the streets leading down to the lagoon at the bottom of our street (which is now cut off there) is making getting out difficult.

& the snakes escaping the floodwaters are still to come . . .

350mm of rain

in the 24 hours to 9 a.m., the wettest day here since 1939......

It may be a bit late this year,

but the monsoon trough has finally reached us. 120mm — 4½ in — of rain overnight.

geographies: Morinish

Stage 6: The Great (Media Tarts) Race

A re-elected President is always sweet meat!!

This first stage of the new year is being judged by members of The Academy. Some amongst them

have cast their vote in favor of the alliterative Bono / Barack Obama. Others have gone for the rhyme of

Dalai Lama / Obama.

There is no clear winner. A second round of voting will have to be held; but now The Academy members are arguing over whether it should be constructed in limerick or in haiku form.

Bono is heard muttering offstage "Next time I'll get photographed with Yoko Ono. That'll fix the fucking fuddyduddies!"

why I like proboscis monkeys

Cicerone: A guide who shows the antiquities or curiosities of a place to strangers

How inventive!

A monkey
with a / prominent
proboscis

is called
a / proboscis
monkey.

Yesagyo

In publication terms

November & December were quite prolific months for me. I've listed the November pubs previously. Below is the December list. & I've seen proofs for a couple of things coming out in January.

ditch

3 a.m.

Cricket Online Review, v8 i2

Mascara #12

Fact•Simile #8

Counterexample Poetics

Tip of the Knife #11

Offcourse #51

Series Magritte #238

Natural Encounters

                                                   include

Plenty of opportunities to get up close & personal with concrete countertops & outdoor kitchens.

Discount rates for hotels & motels.

Empowering animals with the ability to make good decisions.

Providing candid photos of female sea turtles nesting.

My perspective on Height Dominance.

Definitions of Common Behavior Terms.

The Leather Elves & other live native New Hampshire animals.

The cutting edge of animal training & presentation with breakfast & lunch included.

Ben Williams, Vice President, who lives in Dorset.

The delicate state of nature.

Your questions that have not been answered.

An adventure through an entire continent.

The way the window on the right has fallen magically & now circles, unsure whether to approach its mate.