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Hi, I’m Liana Joy Christensen and the following poem appeared online in Les Wicks’ Australian poetry collaboration no. 15. It’s called “Imp Spinning”.
Imp Spinning
The thing is, you see, I’m no princess-to-be
you won’t catch menopausal me easily
with your devil’s deals
I’ll do what I must
trapped in this barn
dust motes glitter briefly
as each afternoon the door cranks open
just enough to admit the forklift carrying
forms, forms, forms
You expected donkeys?
This is the 21st century!
Still the central facts stay static
say, a woman in a barn labouring
against impossible odds to produce
the expected miracle
Alone in a barn
in despair
the air grows ever drier
the towers of silent paperwork attract
vultures that fastidiously eviscerate sleep
a sinewy thread of dream dangles
from the lammergeyer’s beak
while in the furthest reaches of nightmare
forms perform unspeakable acts
with white trash junkmail
spawning triplicates
Chaos
Entropy
Death
who from birth defy their Father Bureaucracy
I’ve been around a time or two
so it’s no surprise when
right on cue the imp appears
and with a flourish bows low
“Alzheimer’s at your service”
Now here’s a new twist
The imp shrugs theatrically
“Rumplestiltskin’s strictly for entry.
Me I work with exits.
The deal’s the same either way”
I sigh and sign
then together we make a wheel of words
and spin
and spin
and spin
the forms into gold.
ABOUT LIANA CHRISTENSEN:
Liana Joy Christensen writes poetry and prose. Her work has appeared in the Science Made Marvellous poetry anthology published as part of National Science Discovery Week. The first editor of Landscope magazine, she went on to pursue a career in creative writing and was awarded a Creative Arts Doctorate for her stories about the plants, animals and people of the South West of Western Australia. Liana has performed her poetry in European and Australian venues, and had her work published in literary and scientific journals around the world. She has a longstanding interest in collaboration across different art forms and the interconnections between science and writing. Liana’s poetry will be part of the upcoming Fremantle Press Performance Poets Collection, due for release in 2012. Her new non-fiction book Deadly Beautiful was released by Exisle in November 2011.
PUBLICATIONS:
My writing has appeared in the following publications: The West Australian; Australasian GEO; Reader’s Digest’s Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife; ECOS; Southerly; Arena magazine; Energy Matters; Indigo Journal; Prosopisia International Journal of Creative Arts; Australian Zoologist; Tamkang Review; Organisation and the Environment; Ascent; Thirst; Lemuria; Dot Dot Dash; The Word is Out; A Forest Consciousness; Earthly Matters; Local Global; and Country – Visions of Land and People in Western Australia.
“I’ve had the great good fortune of having two Longlines consultations in my home state, and – best of all – a resident place in the Longlines Different Voices workshop in 2009. Varuna has made all the difference to my ongoing journey as a writer — offering invaluable encouragement and advice.” Liana Joy Christensen
CONTACT:
http://nomadpoet.wordpress.com/
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Oh Lianna, this poem is just wonderful. I loved it, and am in awe of your talent with words!