As noted by Angela, the launch of Nathan Curnow's
Ghost Poetry Project,
a work over three years in the making, was held at the Old Melbourne Gaol
last last Friday night, and I was suitably spooked by the setting for starters. The sepulchral mood was also enhanced by the presentation of one poem, in as much darkness as the custodians of Ned's bits and pieces would allow, as a call and answer piece, with assistance from
Geoff Lemon; and by Nathan's observation that his four little daughters and their mum, Kerryn, were sitting under the gallows where Ned swung. (I can haz Ned and Four Little Girls LOLCAT? Cannot Haz, so the book cover will just have to do.)
Good red wine served by Sean M. Whelan himself doesn't quite cut the chill of a space like the gaol in the half-light - I once visited the chapel which is now used by RMIT students and staff, elsewhere in the building, and that was upsetting enough. (Not so for Simonne Michelle-Wells, who assured me she loves prisons.)
In performing the launch rites, Kevin Brophy told us that Nathan's father was a minister in a remote Mallee town, Pinaroo, and prior to that had been a Tivoli vaudeville artist, from which he drew the engaging conclusion that ministers were performance artists. He had many other good things to say and I was rather distracted by the possibility of taking a photograph, so missed some of them, but take issue with his description of Nathan's work as somehow tidy, careful, his poems wearing 'clean jeans and sneakers.'
This is not the impression I carry of the work in The Ghost Poetry Project, but perhaps I'm old-fashioned. At a quick look, high points are certainly the Monte Cristo section, and the poems 'Ultrasound' and 'Whale Song'. There will be more on this anon as I have lent my copy to a librarian. You can read a poem, 'Denial', from the Richmond Bridge suite online, as well as 'Bed and Breakfast' (in the Old Adelaide Gaol, if you don't mind.)
Nathan
was interviewed on the Book Show by Radio National last August (you will need to download the whole program, and start it about halfway through.) He is currently working on a play with its roots in convict stories and escape myths. You can also catch him at The Toff In Town during MWF for a
very special event in homage to one of the larger spirits of the last century.
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