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My translation of ‘Penthesilea’ by Greek poet, artist and translator Katerina Iliopoulou has been published in the anthology Austerity Measures: The New Greek Poetry, edited by Karen Van Dyck.

‘I remember caresses, kisses, touching
each other’s hair. We had no sense that
anything else existed’
– Elena Penga, ‘Heads’

‘Nothing, not even the drowning of a child
Stops the perpetual motion of the world’
– Stamatis Polenakis, ‘Elegy’

Since the crisis hit in 2008, Greece has played host to a cultural renaissance unlike anything seen in the country for over thirty years. Poems of startling depth and originality are being written by native Greeks, émigrés and migrants alike. They grapple with the personal and the political; with the small revelations of gardening and the viciousness of streetfights; with bodies, love, myth, migration and economic crisis.

In Austerity Measures, the very best of the writing to emerge from that creative ferment – much of it never before translated into English – is gathered for the first time. The result is a map to the complex territory of a still-evolving scene – and a unique window onto the lived experience of Greek society now.

My poem ‘To See It You Have To Look Hard’ is in the international anthology Return Flight MEL>EDI, published in Australia by Going Down Swinging.

If you’d like to read the poem, it is here.

Ten artists. Ten writers. Almost 17,000 kilometres of planet in between.

Meet ​Return Flight MEL>EDI​: a cross-continental creative exchange between twenty artists and writers in Melbourne and Edinburgh.

Lap up new art, interviews and words from the likes of Tony Birch, Matto Lucas, Chloe Wilson, Ryan Van Winkle, Jane Flett, Mitch Walder, Roz Bellamy​ and Aimee Fairman​.

Design by Jacqui Hagen.

Curated by Elizaveta Maltseva and produced by Going Down Swinging.

Thanks to our sponsors for making this edition possible.

I’ll be reading alongside Iona Lee, Sam Small, Leyla Josephine, Katherine Macfarlane, Liam McCormick and Mark McGhee at this year’s Kelburn Garden Party, this Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 July. You can find us at:

Saturday Beach Plateau – 2pm
Saturday Fort Bar 7 – 8pm
Sunday Twin Peak Cabaret Tent – 7 – 8pm

Hope to see you there.

My work will be featured this Friday night at the Number Shop – Studios and Gallery. Doors open at 7pm, close late, with a bar run by Edinbrew.

The Number Shop – Studios and Gallery is proud to present RETURN FLIGHT: a cross-continental exhibition, publication and creative exchange between artists and writers in Edinburgh and Melbourne.

~~~ Opening FRIDAY 9th JUNE 7pm – late ~~~
Local heroes Edinbrew will be running a bar on the opening night and we will be selling copies of the project publication also.
Open 10th – 23rd June. 12-5pm daily. Open until 8pm on 23rd.

*****

ABOUT RETURN FLIGHT:
Artists are often asked to illustrate writing. In RETURN FLIGHT, the process is reversed. We asked ten artists to respond to the idea of ‘place’, before assigning each work to a writer from the opposite city. The writers could respond however they liked, but without the luxury of context: both artwork and artist names were withheld until the end.

The result? A series of compelling and surprising works that suggest our global creative community is tighter than we think.

FEATURING (MEL <> EDI) :
Roz Bellamy << Molly McEwan
Tony Birch << Alessandro Di Massimo
Aimee Fairman >> Katherine McMahon
Madison Griffiths << Flo Gordon
Phoebe Hearps >> Nick Holdstock
Matto Lucas >> Harry Giles
Mardi Nowak >> Jenny Lindsay
Robert Skinner << Lewis Matheson
Mitch Walder >> Ryan Van Winkle
Chloe Wilson << Natasha Russell
Jane Flett >> Devika Bilimoria

*****

– RETURN FLIGHT MEL-EDI publication is hot off the press, featuring new art and words from the likes of Natasha Russell, Alessandro Di Massimo, Flo Gordon, Molly McEwan and Lewis Matheson.

– The Number Shop is a wheelchair-accessible venue, please find our further accessibility details on Euan’s Guide. If you have any particular access requirements let us know – we want you there.

*****
CURATED BY ELIZAVETA MALTSEVA | PRODUCED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GOING DOWN SWINGING

I’ll be reading with Latvian poets Inga Gaile and Valts Ernstreits at the Mac Birmingham on Thursday 1 June and The Brink, Liverpool on Friday 2. The show starts at 6.30pm, it’s free entry, hope to see you there.

Poetry connections brings together the leading lights of vibrant poetry from Latvia, Scotland and Wales for a unique reading in three languages – Latvian, English and Welsh.

These award-winning poets will share newly translated poems, collaborations and experiments in a special event which reflects their friendship and celebrates the role art plays in building bridges between cultures.

Poetry reading by four poets in the original and in translation with a chat about how the event came together.

With Inga Gaile, Valts Ernštreits, Rhyan van Winkle and Rhys Trimble.

Presented by International Writers and Translators House of Latvia and kindly supported by Latvia100 and Embassy of the Republic of Latvia in the UK and Northern Ireland.

On Wednesday 10 May my poem will be in Melbourne for the launch of Return Flight, a cross-continental exhibition, publication and creative exchange between artists and writers in Melbourne and Edinburgh. The show kicks off at 6pm local time. I won’t be there but Tony Birch, Matto Lucas, Chloe Wilson, Robert Skinner, Roz Bellamy and Aimee Fairman will be.

Enjoy a dram in the Fed Square Atrium to celebrate the launch of RETURN FLIGHT: a cross-continental exhibition, publication and creative exchange between artists and writers in Melbourne and Edinburgh.

WHY LAUNCH WITH US?
– Free entry.
– An easy $15 gets you a copy of RETURN FLIGHT MEL>EDI hot off the press, featuring new art and words from the likes of Tony Birch, Matto Lucas, Chloe Wilson, Ryan Van Winkle, Robert Skinner, Roz Bellamy and Aimee Fairman.
– Whisky tastings thanks to Glenfiddich, who are also celebrating the opening of entries for their 2018 Artists in Residence Prize (winning artists get to work and live for three months at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland).
– $7 whisky cocktails.

EXHIBITION DATES:
May 10-21: Federation Square Atrium, Melbourne
June 9-23: The Number Shop – Studios and Gallery, Edinburgh

ABOUT RETURN FLIGHT:
Artists are often asked to illustrate writing. In RETURN FLIGHT, the process is reversed. We asked ten artists to respond to the idea of ‘place’, before assigning each work to a writer from the opposite city. The writers could respond however they liked, but without the luxury of context: both artwork and artist names were withheld until the end.

The result? A series of compelling and surprising works that suggest our global creative community is tighter than we think.

FEATURING (MEL<>EDI):
Roz Bellamy << Molly McEwan
Tony Birch << Alessandro Di Massimo
Aimee Fairman >> Katherine McMahon
Madison Griffiths << Flo Gordon
Phoebe Hearps >> Nick Holdstock
Matto Lucas >> Harry Giles
Mardi Nowak >> Jenny Lindsay
Robert Skinner << Lewis Matheson
Mitch Walder >> Ryan Van Winkle
Chloe Wilson << Natasha Russell
Jane Flett <> Devika Bilimoria

*****

Federation Square is a wheelchair-accessible venue. If you have any particular access requirements let us know – we want you there.

*****
PRESENTED BY FEDERATION SQUARE | CURATED BY ELIZAVETA MALTSEVA | PRODUCED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GOING DOWN SWINGING

On not being asked by anyone

Dave Coates & Ryan Van Winkle

On not being asked by anyone

I

sunset breathing fire
dangerous toxin levels
in the atmosphere

oh snowflake, embrace
the 19th century, feel

how nice it was, how nice

and it must be nice
to accept god’s silence

to grab what is yours
right off the shelf

amber boxes of grain
land of pilgrim’s pride
sorry, this soup
tastes of corpses

sorry
you have not emerged
as a significant
force

II

Moloch, what do you say to the colours on the street
Will they sing their purple songs till their faces are blue

Do you want to make a bet, Moloch, did we win
are we winning, Moloch! Losers! Haters! Poison!

Greased coins slip from our fingers! Moloch! Them women
ain’t going quiet!  It’s them Russians, them big bears, Moloch
you can wrestle. Moloch! Not weak! Not low energy!

Sad! It’s Sad!

Children wash up on sand. Chi-na children.
Syrian children. Are you scared of the beach, Moloch?

III

EU academics should
make preparations to leave,

we found three earth-like planets,
it is warm for february,

it is warm for mittens, for wooly hats,
for sheep in the meadows, for suckers.

My shoes need laces, they say
pull up your pants, wear a belt.

The world is elderly, the world has been elderly
since before you were born, my dear.

I hardly recognise you. That shirt, that colour
doesn’t suit you, I no longer trust your mustache.

This isn’t talking. This isn’t saying.
This is a fact. This is opinion.

Don’t call me sucker.

IV

sorry, i’m trying to stay
professional here, i know
there are children watching

sorry, this is traditional
sorry all this has a
grim familiarity

V.

we are living. we aren’t doing much. we were all sitting around.
a pack of poets finishing the black wine, dipping bread
into squid ink. and, of course, somebody says Syria,
and of course someone has an opinion. you see, we’ve thought
about this. we are sensitive and international. we know the news
from all points of the compass. we are whalers. we are at sea
for months at a time.

we are in serbia but the serbs are not talking about war.
but the dane is describing sleeping churches.
but the spaniard is articulating an algorithm – saying capacity capacity capacity
but the romanian sees refugee children with new schoolbags
but the american stays quiet because she is stoned. she went
out to the bay and watched lights twinkle on ripples.
but the greek breaks and reminds us there are bodies
washing up on the shore and the young boys in service
have to pull them out, line them up, count them
every day there are more numbers

so someone says ‘what can we do?’ as if there was a hotline.
nobody says ‘we should write a poem’. nobody says
we should just go on living. somebody says we should finish
this bottle and then get some sleep. someone says we
should finish this bottle, have a shot of schnapps
and then see where the night takes us. because we
are alive and this is what the living do.

VI

the clock doesn’t care
nor does the television
nor the talking heads

my life is a sofa, a love seat, a bed.

i read newsweek, i read time
counting up the names like mine
there are so many

i’m on a panel
i say some uncomfy things
i will not make friends

that is the best part – rowing the boat away

i will not make friends with you

VII

The ruins proclaim
our building was beautiful.

There were oranges.

Fact explains nothing.
2 + 2 = who gives a shit

where’s my phone?
have you seen my phone?

i remember standing with her
until he got bored and walked away

i remember the clerk saying
I would prefer not to

i remember i was carrying
a box of cereal
my favourite

the sky was red i had
a few minutes before work

i would prefer not to

On Tuesday 30 May I’ll be reading alongside Welsh poets Alys Conran and Rhys Trimble, and Latvian poets Valts Ernštreits and Inga Gaile at the Hay Festival. Tickets are £6.30 and we’ll be toasting with some regional specialties.

ALYS CONRAN, VALTS ERNŠTREITS, INGA GAILE, RHYS TRIMBLE AND RYAN VAN WINKLE

LITERATURE ACROSS FRONTIERS: THE EXCHANGE

Only Friends of Hay Festival may buy tickets for this event prior to public launch. If you are already a Friend please log in here. If you would like to become a Friend, you can do so here, or join our mailing list.