Poems & Poets
Rose van Son in the spotlight
‘Poet in the Spotlight’ is a new feature from Liquid Amber in which one of the wonderful poets in our community tells us something about themselves, shares favourite poems, reflects on the business of writing and completes the pleasure by reading for us. Thanks heaps to Rose van Son, newly appointed Patron of the next Perth Poetry Festival for being our first poet to take the spotlight.
2022 Poetry Prize – ‘Encounter’
What moments startle us out of our understanding of ourselves and the world? The theme for our inaugural poetry prize has the provocation of ‘Encounter’. Established and emerging poets can win prizes (first prize is $500) and have their poems published in a high quality anthology. Be inspired.
Congrats Simone – Open Mic Star
One of our wonderful open mic poets in March was Simone King – and wow – a week later her poem ‘Surfing Again’ won the prestigious Blake Prize! Congratulations Simone – how wonderful is that. You can listen to Simone reading and all the other poets too.
Hear Peter Minter & Mark O’Flynn
Peter Minter’s launch of Mark O’Flynn’s latest poetry collection ‘Undercoat: Poems about Paintings’ plus Mark reading his poems and showing the images that inspired them – what’s not to love? If you missed them ‘real time’ at our last Zoom Poetry evening, or would like to read Peter’s launch speech, or watch again…
Undercoat | Virtual Gallery
Read the poems, find the art. An extra pleasure in reading Undercoat is finding the visual images that inspired Mark O’Flynn’s beautifully crafted, insightful and often playful poems. The companion virtual gallery gives links to all the publicly available art. Bookmark it!
Undercoat: Poems about Paintings
‘In this vivid collection Mark O’Flynn takes the painter’s spatial plane of colours and lines and adds the dimensions of time – story, character, the narrator’s voice – using the poet’s rhythmic mastery of sound’. Alice Major
Lockdown Poetry has landed
This new chapbook is a terrific milestone for us. It’s the first anthology published by Liquid Amber Press, with experiences and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic from 21 poets – established and emerging – from across the world. We read of ‘…moments of unexpected beauty and consolation amidst the desolation’ (Tricia Dearborn).
The launch is now on YouTube. And the book available in our shop – great Xmas present.
The joy of open mic
The opportunity to listen and to read is the heartbeat of poetry – in open mic sessions poets get to try out their latest work with an audience, and listeners hear new and emerging art – and Zoom has thrown the gallery wide open, geographically speaking. At our most recent Liquid Amber Press Zoom Poetry Reading we had readers and audience from across Australia and internationally. Listen to a dozen open mic readers sharing their poems.
Listen to Tricia Dearborn
Tricia Dearborn is a wonderful writer with ‘trademark finely balanced, masterfully honed poems’. Her third collection ‘Autobiochemistry’ is powerful, engaging in its directness and emotional honesty, further establishing Dearborn’s position as an important voice in Australian poetry.
We were super excited that Tricia was the feature poet at our November Zoom Reading. Now on our YouTube channel.
Sarah Rice reads + open mic
At our second Zoom Poetry Reading the fabulous Sarah Rice entranced us – the intersection of poetry and the visual embodied. The mood in the gallery: “blown away by Sarah Rice’s artistic and poetic convergence, her sheer energy and enthusiasm as well”. And there were a dozen open mic readers with powerful poems. All now available on YouTube.