Nobody will ever really know why explorers like Burke & Wills sought to break new ground. The point is not to know these reasons however, nor to research the actual stories of said explorers properly. The point is these guys were groundbreaking and their names are now famous. We all seek to parallel explorer’s feats in whatever field we operate in. You me & we. We want to find the new ground & then live there. We want to pioneer.
This is why I am pleased to announce here what is without doubt an Australian & worldwide first: a poetry blogging battle to the death.
These are the rules, proposed by the poet, playwright, flaneur, & sometimes-blogger, Nathan Curnow (& then carefully checked ny myself, of course):
The tally is of comments posted on our “Blog Battle” posts which remain up and open for three weeks (culminating in the Melb Four W launch). Thereby the competition shall be declared over and the winner annouced.
The poet who receives the most comments on their blog will bask in validation, knowing that it truly confirms their poetic worth, the relevance of their practice and their place in Australia’s literary canon (the variety of commenters will also be taken into account too (so you big fans out there can’t simply comment 100 times, Australian Idol like, to ensure your favourite wins)).
In turn, the loser must abandon their blog FOREVER.
So, what can I say to make you support my blog & not Curnow’s? Well attacking others is always a good way to make yourself look better. I happen to know Curnow personally, so I think I have to now take this opportunity to reveal a few facts about him. Firstly, Nathan often claims to be related to New Zealand poets Allen Curnow & Wystan Curnow. Why does he do it? He thinks this will somehow open doors for him. He once said to me – in a private conversation he asked me never to repeat – ‘If just a handfull of people mistake my name for that of a famous Kiwi poet, & then buy my book about ghosts, the deceit will have been worth it’. Is this the type of artist you want out there blogging with impunity?
& furthermore, Nathan uses his literary ‘skills’ to get away with even more reprehensible acts. I have in my posession notorised documents proving Nathan does not give money to any recognised charities. None at all. I was at his house once & someone from OxFam came knocking. Nathan answered the door, & rattled off what could ony have been a pre-rehearsed story about all the charities he does support, & about how there had been a terrible car accident that had recently left his wife with two broken legs & many medical bills. The farce ended with Nathan giving the doorknocker the names & addresses of four unsuspecting friends, people he claimed were ‘sure to have lots of spare cash’. After closing the door Curnow lit a cigarette with a pre-polymer $50 (he has a desk drawer full of these & keeps them for such occassions) & laughed in an evil way. I just couldn’t laugh with him.
& finally, we shouldn’t let a vitriolic character assasination end without referring to the ‘poetry’. Is Curnow’s work popular, accessible? Nathan was at Booranga for a residency last year. During that time he wrote one new poem. (I believe it to be only one. Two weeks worth.) We had a workshop during this time, the type of thing where you bring along a new piece, read it, gain feedback etc. Nathan read his Booranga poem in due course. A young girl – possibly 16 or 17 – said after hearing the poem that she ‘didn’t understand any of it’. Her words struck a chord, because where at first I was thinking I was missing something in the poem, & that I should be looking for a deeper meaning, I now saw the the truth. There was no deep meaning in the poem. It was completely incomprehensible.
& it’s not just the everyday folks that have problems with his work. Simon Patton reviewed Black Inc’s ‘Best Australian Poems 2008′ recently, & he spoke not too kindly of Curnow’s piece. I did think ‘Those Adamant Shapes’ was a fine poem indeed, & I also know Jaya Savige thinks so too, but after reading Patton’s comments I changed my position. I may be paraphrasing very liberally & maliciously, but I believe in this review he categorises Curnow’s style, his way with words, as a ‘veil of sameness’. So. Boring & incomprehensible. A winning combo?
But then what should the poet-blogger really be blogging about? I know for sure it is not the blatant mundane ephemera that Curnow holds up as a shining example of his talents, Thar. It’s just ludicrous. When I think of the best blog postings in the universe, my mind naturally drifts to such posts as blogging / ethers / anti-coterie / installment 1, or cool as a criteria, or the poetic masterpiece i’ll wait in the car. Just compare these things with Thar. Nuff said.
So, all you need to know is your comments matter. Just comment. You don’t have to say anything at all profound. Just let me know you’re out there. (By the way Nathan I think we should disallow the counting of anonymous comments. Fair?) Despite all I’ve written, this will possibly not be too easy. Curnow tends to succeed at things. He has published a book, won some grants, had a few plays produced… Whatever low things he has to do to get the comments, you can be sure he will do them. Only you can stop him. Comment!
Since Curnow posted a little bit before me there has been some time for the online community to have their say. Let’s finish up by looking at a bit of the breaking commentary:
Marieke Hardy (literary semi-celebrity & noted semi-pioneer of the m-book): ‘I am following this contest. Derek Motion follows me on Twitter, & now that I know about the battle, I will most probably also follow him.’
Tara Moss (author & snake afficianado): ‘The facebook dance-train is crap. I am not interested in such things. I hope Derek Motion dances on the ashes of Curnow’s blog.’
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Kyle Sandilands (living epitome of ‘gaffe’): ‘Nathan Curnow has tuckshop lady arms.’
Kevin Rudd (PM): ‘I’d turn gay for Derek motion.’
(Ps. Comment!)
re anonymous comments… I agree.
and now that you have an OzCo grant I WANT MY $20 BUCKS!!!!!
Well I have to say I’m disappointed, Motion. I see this blogging about blogging competitions as blatent cheating within said competition. I’ve been swayed by your comments about Curnow, so now I expect that lad to cheat, but not you.
I reckon you should both lose points.
Okay Motion,
This could end up coming back to bite me, but here is my comment.
I would like to openly say first that Curnow’s poetry is definitely more accessible than yours, but on this one occasion, you win in the humour stakes. This may only be true because he went first and didn’t know what he was up against, but then he did (as far as us mere public know) spring this on you at very short notice.
Secondly, I wish to say that this is one very tough decision (but opting out by neither commenting or commenting on both seems something of a copout), as you both have been supportive of myself and my endeavours (including page seventeen, plug, oh, shameless plug) in several ways, and if I was to tally occasions of such support, Curnow would probably win. No, he would win, without doubt.
But,
it seems that you take your blog more seriously and indeed enjoy engaging with theonline community, so, while it would surely be sad to see ‘blog eats poet’ close down, it seems unjust that we should lose this typing space (regardless of whether we understand what you talk about). In fact, I did wonder, as per my FB comment, whether this challenge was indeed a ploy for Curnow to take his blog out with something of a bang.
On this note, I shall raise my purple NaNoWriMo pom poms in a single cheer for you in this contest, and wish you continue with… err motion.
this is very exciting. i am yet to read nathan’s salvo in this battle – and to be honest after such a convincing case i may not ever read his blog again – but my recent cautioning to ms. m. hardy about evoking the word “first” without due diligence is probably worth considering here derek. are you REALLY the first blog battlers? what evidence can you cite?
good luck by the way. i will miss whoever’s blog disappears at the end of this contest.
As someone who has published both Curnow and Motion — I have to support Typing Space all the way. In late 2008 I interviewed Curnow for an article for the Sydney street-press rag The Brag about Curnow’s upcoming performance of his Ghost Poetry Project to be held at TINA. The magazine came out a week before TINA was held and Curnow, living in Melbourne, would not be able to get a copy. So I kept one for him, cutting the article out with scissors and dating it. I then gave it to him at TINA. Since then, I haven’t a heard a word. He didn’t tell me what he thought of the article and he’s not since reciprocated and written am article about me. I know that if the time came Derek Motion would write a 600 word hagiography about me and that he would strive to have it published somewhere where you could pick it up for free. Therfore, perpetual Motion.
I’m very glad to hear both you finally admit that the numbers of comments a blog receives is a true measure of its literary merit.
Well, I don’t know this Derek Motion at all, not personally, not through his work, not at all. This blog post I’m commenting on is the first of his works I have ever read.
On the other hand, I learned of Nathan Curnow when, several years ago, he entered a poetry competition I was running for Adelaide Plains Poets Inc. I’d never heard of Nathan, but I read his poem and loved it (even though the judge didn’t give him first place). I then googled his name – as you do – and found a fresh-faced young man engaging with the poetic world in a way I’d love to do myself. And I like his poetry too. Not bad for a Victorian (Carn the Crows!).
The Curnow name is also well known to me – the Curnows are highly respected in the Lower North part of South Australia where I live. Curnows are excellent farmers and sportspeople – they start with tennis/cricket and finish up as excellent lawn bowlers.
I don’t know if Nathan plays lawn bowls, but I’m sure he would be good at it if he did play.
My question is, does Derek Motion play lawn bowls?
no comment.
Considering as I’ve never read Curnow’s blog, and his name always reminds me of the Victorian politician, I think you’re in the winning stakes right now Motion.
However, if Curnow wants some extra credit then he should market himself a bit more to friends of yours…. saying that, I found out about this blog post from a facebook status update of Laurinda’s.
It used to be that when I thought of Australian poetry, I’d remember Dorothy Hewett’s “The Murderers” and say to myself, “What an amazing poem. Too bad Oz keeps exporting that bastard, Murray, instead of the real talents.”
Now I can exhale with relief. It’s clear that This Grand Contest of Wills will re-assert Australian poetry at its finest, and into no sphere more relevant than the one often suffixed as “Blogo.” Greatness, once again, as only the people who once brought us Ern Malley could deliver.
That being said, I know nothing of you two. I decided to comment on your post since I always prefer the one who accepts the challenge over the one who levels it. Plus, you’re a poet named Motion and not named Andrew Motion. This, if nothing else, is to your credit.
Good luck.
Wow, this was a tough call. I’m a huge fan of Curnow in print and person, but his blog is not in my Google Reader – and yours is. So obviously I read your blog more. Actually, it’s one of my favourite blogs, so I’d be very upset if you got rid of it. So GO MOTION.
Hi Carolyn…
wow! thanks for that, and for following my work/blog. very sweet of you. and glad you’re weighin in to this extraordinary tussle.
(actually my family comes from Salisbury. our ancestors farmed out at Bolivar and we’ve had strong ties their ever since. I spent a couple of years living there too. might have been why i entered the Adelaide Plains comp.)
and I’m REALLY good at lawn bowls (not so much at farming)… hang on… wait.. what am I doing here? oops
Hi Carolyn
wow! thanks for that, and for following my work/blog. very sweet of you. and glad you’re weighin in to this extraordinary tussle.
(actually my family comes from Salisbury. our ancestors farmed out at Bolivar and we’ve had strong ties their ever since. I spent a couple of years living there too. might have been why i entered the Adelaide Plains comp.)
and I’m REALLY good at lawn bowls (not so much at farming)… hang on… wait.. what am I doing here? oops
odd – you posted your comment twice, once yusing your real profile… are you really trying to commit blog suicide?
& thanks everyone for the support. long way to go yet.
nathan, you great nong.
Why can’t the two of you do something reasonably literary, like a renga?
silly buggers – it sounds like both of you want to retire gracefully to me
dear god not a renga! you might as well suggest an exqusite corpse!
particopanting
reprosenting
gatherong
place of miny crows
wide opan road
a breakfast of pickelits
in transition or expansion?
Blogging until death – perhaps the competition should continue until you both expire. That would appear to fulfil the theme of the competition. I was intrigued by a FB friend’s link to this blog. Now then I would would to read your advertisement of you and your writings and not only the negative traits regarding Curnow. I must say though that it did get a reaction that someone may create a range of convenient stories simply to avoid making a donation to help others in need. I would suggest that Union Aid Abroad is a great development agency that help build communities and peace and isn’t in cahoots with money grubbing companies who end up getting richer through their consultancy. Perhaps some community service would be in order for Curnow? That would be an interesting role come to think of it. I would quite like to nominate a few people to go and labour in the remote communities of central Australia for a while – yes mostly they are politicians.
So now I wait with bated breath to continue to read of this engagement of minds.
Me, I am a no one but if it makes moves my heart and challenges my thinking then I will be happy.
Derek is definitely Werner Herzog and Curnow is totally Klaus Kinski.
poetry in the interior of NSW is vicious. much respect for your willingness to kill and die for your craft.
Blog suicide.
Now that’s a way to go.
Pity I originally misread it as bog suicide…..
oh man,
be strong derek.
seriously, here’s hoping that both you and nathan win.
from way away in california,
richard
I’m not keen on the white male ‘explorer’ (cum coloniser) analogy Derek, but I have to support fellow poetic allumni of the highschool on the hill….
In the interests of fairness (har har) I should like to point out that one of the first Blog Battles that I read was dated Feb 18th 2009 on http://blog.boonebridgebooks.com – which is a highly recommended site for its ranging subject matter and the odd poem by William Carlos Williams. But, I suspect that this blog battle (or Blogbat as I am sure they will come to be known) will no doubt raise the bar, shock, stir and sting in all its bloodthirsty furore, like the first drop of lemon juice in the cut fingers of bloggers everywhere. I look forward to the gloves-off punching below the belt, the sneak attacks on manly pride, and the final telling blows that will send the loser home with his blog in stitches. Death or glory.
Whatever happened to King? ‘Burke n Wills n King’! He is the forgotten blogger, p’raps because he lived to tell the tale. I just read the Patten review to see whether your persuasive argument about NC’s poetry had any traction. Maybe you’re right, maybe he’s not popular and accessible enough. & goodness knows the world never has enough popular and accessible poems. NEVER. This is the sentence in Patten I find most perplexing: “From my reading of this collection, the poems that emerge as both engaging and challenging are those that steer clear of the lyrical, the ostentatiously experimental, and the formal.” I was wondering what kinds of poems were left. Pioneering blogopoems thank frick! I might have to comment on NC’s blog too but if I do it won’t be lyrical or experimental or formal. Love x kate f
i don’t think it was stipulated, but comments by the blogger himself don’t count. this aside, i did a quick count & disregarding multiple comments, & anonymous comments, i think i’m ahead 20-14. is this lead enough though friends? should we rest now? what else will the devious curnow do? a t-shirt with his blog address printed on it? i wouldn’t put it past him…
i don’t know if i can respond to everything that’s been said. perhaps just the most recent few.
keri: i am altogether shocked at how easily i will fall into using the colonial analogies, when it suits my ironic purpose. my excuse though is that i was never a student of yours. & i can’t remember the english dept. at wwhs ever speaking of such things…
penny: the battle between wit1 & wit2 didn’t seem to have much at stake though. nevertheless, i appreciate that there is at least some precedent for this sort of online rivalry.
kate: i’m glad that you thought perhaps my ridiculously shallow attack on curnow’s poetry had some traction. it took a while to come up with an attack that would usually be levelled at other say, more ‘impenetrable’ poets, & provide evidence for it.
[...] About « Motion silences Curnow (Blog Battle) [...]
I for one, support the brave Mr Curnow’s stand against the looters and moochers at Oxfam. No doubt the people to whom he referred this parasitic communist, did indeed have plenty of spare cash,obtained from a lifetime of looting and mooching, or “looching”, as I rationally prefer to call it. People who work for and/or support charity are irrational, operating on emotion rather than reason. Another person who acted irrationally was Hitler. That’s right, I said HITLER!!
Why then is Mr Motion critical of Mr Curnow’s rejection of nazism? The only logical explanation, is that DEREK LOVES HITLER!! Well Derek? Do you really love Hitler? Do you want to change your name to “Eva Braun II”? When you were young, did all the kids at school like to taunt you with ryhmes such as…
“Derek and Hitler
Sitting in a tree
Invading Czechoslovakia
Acting irrationally”?
I have no doubt that you shall evade these questions with the same type of proficiency that was shown by nazi war criminals who evaded justice and escaped to South America. Are you planning an escape to South America, in order that you might evade these probing questions?
Hey Derek. You have my vote. Very funny post. I’m all for the guy who attempts to beat his opponent by highlighting their weaknesses.
Nic
Derek,
It’s your friend who keeps the spiders alive in Boroonga, Wagga Wagga. I think your blog rocks. I’m not going to attack Nathan because I don’t know him, but I know you and Laurinda and Violet and you are really nice people, and I like you all. I also like your poems, and how fast your mind works. Your images are so vivid they linger behind the eyelids long afterwards
Also I will never forget the piece you wrote in my workshop about riding your bikes around and around the cul de sac in the neighbourhood. Pass on my love to Laurinda and Violet and the community at Wagga.
hi alice, lovely to hear from you again. hope iowa is getting your creative juices flowing.
i had to weigh in & comment once more, just to say, that poem is coming out in GDS29 this month: http://www.goingdownswinging.org.au/news/?article=22
i’ll see if i can get you a copy.
Derek,
Point one: if you think that was a ‘yes’ from Marieke Hardy you may well be deluded.
Point two: Michael Cathcart (The Water Dreamers) suggests we have too long suffered from Necronationalism -our national ideal encapsulated by the image of all those loopy Colonials who died in the desert while searching for real estate with water views.
But I wish you well, Derek, and your youth may well give you an outside chance.
The Patten review seems to yearn, at the end, for poets “to believe in the worth of an individual voice”. I wasn’t quite sure what this meant, especially if it was best not to be lyrical, experimental or formal – sort of casual, straightforward and prosaically univocal? Well, Motion and Curnow are neither of those. Perhaps they should join forces.
In that case, I’m not sure why there has to be a blog battle. Is it a boy thing?
I had forgotten about the prepolymer ‘pineapple’ – portraits of those science guys. If Nathan has a spare I wouldn’t mind it. I’ll swap a plakky pineapple for it after my next pay cheque.
You two are having a duel. How quaint. WHo says chivalry is dead?
nathan derek will beat you of course i thought you where smarter oh well!
Nathan man, jeeze i thought u knew better you will never win this is your last chance to give up if i were you i would take the offer to save you the embarrasment !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
come on derek – give us more reasons to post a comment – im not going to be trapped that easily. that poem about derek & hitler is the best poem ive read since the war
[...] rules are simple: both Curnow and Motion have set up a blog post and invited comments upon that post. At the end of three weeks (ie, [...]
I thought you guys deserved some kind of visual stimulus to see you thru the next two weeks.
http://theotheradamford.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/two-blogs-enter-one-blog-leaves/
Even though I don’t agree with this at all… and as mutual friend and fan have been reluctant to side with either participant in this duel, I guess I’m throwing my vote derek’s way. Sorry Curnow. I like your photo… but a vague recollection of some talk about you abandoning your blog some time ago sent me typing my way to typingspace. Can’t let Derek lose his blog. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself and would consequently spend more time on twitter, facebook and myspace thus sending him into a spiral of virtual oblivion. Yes. That said, I think you should both give each other a cuddle and call it even. Derek loves cuddles.
You can have my vote Derek, just because you’re my brother-in-law and I don’t even know the other fellow.
(I’m posting this comment on both blogs b/c I’m an idle fence-sitter)
Questionable colonialist metaphors and Thars aside, Derek and Nathan are a pair of battlers ‘in the true sense’.
They may actually be the same person… taking self-promotion to uncharted heights.
Prediction: the loser will start a new blog under a tasteless pseudonym and do for bush poetry what Ern Malley did for modernism.
Well, if it goes on the number of words, the Big D wins hands down. If it goes on humour, the Big D wins hands down. If it goes on rubbishing his opponent, the Big D wins hands down. I think the Big D wins, hands down.
Well, I’m not sure about popularity contests… but then again I’m the kind of person who can’t watch races because the pressure is too much. And cries when the winner gets up to receive a medal. So I may not want to know which one of you wins, but I decided to comment on your blog because I like your name and I am afraid of ghosts.
when i first heard the news that nathan and derek were blog duelling…i was non-committal….would i delve into blog world and show an interest in my husband writing pursuits? i never really had been on his blog before…look im a busy lady…facebook twice a day (as i do)…takes up enough of my precious time…would my time be well spent pursuing this crazy sideshow of a blog duel? or could i fit in an extra load of washing?
anyhow…
the facebook coverage of this duel was disappointing at the very least…it didnt really capture my enthusiasm…i commented on derek’s thread…lisa wardle suggested that this competition was somehwere between high school and primary school in terms of worth.. i agreed with lisa..in fact i confirmed that the duel was closer to the primary end of spectrum (given my occupation i felt qualified to comment)
perhaps nathan’s right !
why didnt the wives intervene sooner?
or maybe belindas right! (as she rightly suggests derek does love cuddles)
i am eagerly awaiting the melbourne 4 w launch when face to face derek and nathan together realise ayn rand’s ghost has outshone the whole competition with his wit and snappy terse words.. hahahahaha!
thanks ayn rand’s ghost for making me read this blog duel…
you win
( and runner up to adam ford
the poster is great..
i love how anti photoshop it is )
woot! runner up!
hang on… antiphotoshop? was that a diss?
As a graphic designer I make a great poet, hey?
make
choose
you
okay?
[see the other half at the other blog]
I say you both should pack up your words and get down/over to Castlemaine, the HotRod capital of Australia. Start your engines and see who eats who’s dust. I’m a huge fan of both wordsmiths, but you know, there’s really only room in this world for one HotRod champion…
With so many choices of battles (e.g. hand-to-hand combat, swords, break-dancing, playing chicken on tractors, staring at each other, etc), I want to express my admiration for both combatants for choosing the most gruelling battle type of all.
P.S. I want to stay neutral in all of this, but because Derek has my own blog on his Blogroll, I think it’s best I support him.
Arse-crack to Curnow too…
luck!
I hope it’s a draw! Cause I’m contrary like that!
I like Derek and his work and his guts. He’s what
words are about.
Way to go D-Man! Daniel Gallik
What? The other guy must be trying to sabotage this.
I like D-Man a lot. Good stuff, good heart. Yeah,
Derek deserves a pat on the back! Dan Gallik
no adam no diss from me…
anti-photoshop in the sense that it wasnt all smooth edges and polished seamless cloning
I think a new term has been invented to replace writers Block….it is writers Blog…where the overwhelming desire to sit for hours and drivel to your friends instead of crafting a poetic masterpiece drives every creative juice from your body…. result …a drought…and it’s bloody hot out here…any sign of the boys and camels yet?
Regards,
King.
Go Team Motion!!!!!
Motion,
I’m sorely tempted not to post here because you stopped playing me in lexulous. But there you have it.
hope you win Motion
mmmmmm, yes.
Hi Derek, next year please advertise widely for 4W entries (eg thru Poets Union). Without reminders, we tend to forget it’s happening. & it’s a great journal.
with endorsements like that, how could one not ‘vote’ for you?
having read none of either of your poems, i cast no judgement here- however, as far as your blog’s about the battle, your smearing of curnow has convinced me that you should win.
You go Derek! Woop woop!
Motion over Curnow, simply because Derek Motion is a poet’s name. the ‘Derek’ part is so strong and it clicks all about the roof of my mouth, and ‘Motion’… you can go myriad ways with this – i’ll take it sexually and say that the word ‘motion’ makes me want to have rollicking sex on a rolling pirate ship, my circular thrusts moving in time with the ocean.
And Motion blogs more better than Curnow.
Blog on Derek!!!!
good lord, what a waste of time
Derek, I’ve never thought of you as a loser so you have my vote.
I support Derek
I just hope to never challenge him for fear of him revealing any uncouth acts he knows I performed
with no motion there is no movement, so how can a world continue to move on without motion?
Hey Derek, I suffer from motion sickness, truly, on bus, train, plane, however this aside a vote from me. Enjoyed your feature on Cordite, keep it coming.
word up!
Sorry it took me so long big brother but here’s my comment.
I’ve never met Nathan Curnow in person but have read some of his work and history would show that friends of my brother’s named Nathan are often people I like. However Derek must win!!!
I am immensely proud of Derek, his work and his achievements, but must be honest and say I love typingspace because every now and then there is a reference to something from our childhood that makes me smile. Perhaps a poem about Zoltar The Pea Derek??
xxxx
I support Motion!
How can I not support a talented young man who began his announcements to the world of his presence by riding a blue plastic motorbike yelling “bloody hell! bloody hell!” at the age of twoish? A humble beginning to become the catalyst for success in times to come. Regardless of the outcome Derek you’re already a champion!
Go Derek!
Going for Deadly Derek Motion,
All good in melb-town for your visit mate…
only the thong survive
does blogging rely on nastiness and one upmanship…or is that just sophistication?
Can’t think of anything pithy to say.
Love, Mum.
SUPPORT
Are you winning????
I am submitting this from a hostel in Buenos Aires… in a place that is technically in the past. I am unsure whether this contravenes the rules of your wager, however as I am taking the time out of my holiday to write this, I believe this compensates for any possible infraction.
Also, typing on a South American keyboard nullifies the inbuilt spell checker, with every word I type being flagged as incorrect.
I like turtles.
Best of British to you
supporting motion L-8-R kills c-ur-now
Good luck little brother!
Hey Derek,
this is an innovative strategy to support your PhD thesis about an ethic of failure in Australian poetry. I commend your creative subversion of literary discourses by invoking blogging to the (literary?) death. I knew you were keen to show that both Christopher Brennan and Michael Dransfield, for all their fame and creative intelligence never received the recognition they deserved, without severe qualification. Brennan: good/great but obscure, elitist, Eurocentric; Dransfield: brilliant, drug-influenced, self-obsessed, died young. But this is whole new territory – Motion: bent on poetic experimentation and googling his way to sonnets and odes now embraces blogging to the death, poetry-slamming, rising out of obscurity in Wagga to publication in the Age and now included in BAP 2009! Even if you lose, it’ll be a glorious success.
It was great having Nathan as writer-in-residence at Booranga, and I value a long poetic conversation we had on the return trip from Griffith after a workshop there – Nathan was trying out his performance piece for the melbourne writers festival – it was a great trip through the ghostly river gums and cypresses of the Riverina…
but I have to give you my vote, O esteemed colleague and friend.
david
[...] young Australian poets having a (no doubt very jocular and friendly, and hopefully mock) ‘poetry blogging battle to the death’ by seeing which poet receives the most reader comments? Wouldn’t gestures like this confirm [...]
[...] all remember the blog battle, where i shut down the career of poet-blogger nathan curnow FOR [...]