broadsheet 3 out now

The latest issue of broadsheet is out now. broadsheet is edited by Mark Pirie, and comes out twice a year. (It's invitation only, at this stage.)

This issue is kind of dedicated to US poet Robert Creeley. It includes a poem by Mark dedicated to Robert Creeley, and an interview/conversation between Creeley and poet and Poetry NZ editor Alistair Paterson from 1982. Creeley visited NZ in 1976, at the invitation of Paterson, and seemed to have had a significant influence on NZ poetry of the time. (Creeley also picked up his 3rd wife at a reading in Dunedin, so it was a fruitful trip for him too.) It's really interesting 'overhearing' Creeley and Paterson talk about poetry at the time, especially New Zealand poetry.

Another highlight of this issue for me was Harvey Molloy's poem 'Ghosts of St James', which I very much admired when I heard him read it last year. It's right up my alley - though almost too creepy for me! It tells the stories of two of the St James theatre's resident ghosts, Yuri and the woman in red.

I also particularly enjoyed two poems by Paul Wolffram, who was one of the other original JAAMers from back in 1995 when Mark kicked the whole thing off. I haven't seen that much of Paul lately - he spent a while hanging about in Papua New Guinea as an ethnomusciologist, and these two poems are about that time.

And there are two poems from Jenny Powell's upcoming book Viet Nam: A Poem Journey which I'm looking forward to the publication of sometime this year. I've been lucky enough to have a sneak preview.

You can also enjoy poems by Tim Jones, Barbara Strang, John O'Connor, James Norcliffe, Peter Olds, Rachel McAlpine, Riemke Ensing, Will Leadbeater, Laura Solomon, Richard Langston and Wanjiku Kiarie.

broadsheet 2 was a memorial issue for poet Louis Johnson, marking 20 years since his death. I had a couple of poems in that issue, along with Peter Bland, Marilyn Duckworth, Kevin Ireland, Louis Johnson, Miranda Johnson, Harvey McQueen, Vincent O'Sullivan, Alistair Paterson, Harry Ricketts, Martyn Sanderson, Nelson Wattie and F W N Wright. I wrote about broadsheet 1 back in June of last year.

You can find out more about it, including subscription info and even pdfs of each issue, on its page on the HeadworX site.