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Jane Williams

Jane Williams

Jane Williams’s poems have been published widely since the early 1990s. She is the author of five collections of poems and one of short stories. Her most recent book is Days Like These: New and selected poems. Awards for her poetry include the Anne Elder Award, the D.J. O’Hearn Memorial Fellowship, and the Bruce Dawe Prize. She has read her poetry in several countries including United States, Ireland, Malaysia, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. While best known for her poetry, she enjoys writing in a variety of forms, combining photography and creative writing and collaborating with other artists. She has a Masters of Creative Writing from the University of Canberra and coedits the online literary and arts journal Communion with her partner Ralph Wessman.

States of Poetry 2016 - TAS | 'The insistence of now' by Jane Williams

States of Poetry Tasmania - Series One • 22 February 2016
The insistence of now   An almost-noir chill day in the cemetery. A service just finishing, no one I knew.I walk the line - observer/interloper,drawn to incongruities, ambiguities. The way graveside life teems - regardless,causal. A priest walks by swinginghis thurible, black robes, black puffer jacket. A child forages tidbits from a mother’s pocket. An intermittent breeze flapsthe ca ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2016 - TAS | 'Swallowing the Sky' by Jane Williams

States of Poetry Tasmania - Series One • 22 February 2016
Swallowing the sky What can I say about thisspring day but that the leapingdog cloud has stolen my attentionaway from all earthly blooms.Such fine points of ears,legs built for speed, for the hunt,tail set to thump nothing into being,open jawed, tasting life on the hop.Yet even as this poem takes shape,its inevitable dissolve has begun:a quiver in the back legs then the front,a reluctant heel to ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2016 - TAS | 'Part of the main' by Jane Williams

States of Poetry Tasmania - Series One • 22 February 2016
Part of the main   is what Donne wrote when he wrote about mennot being islands and what I’d been thinkingwhen my friend posted the photo. Our Lady Help of Christians, Grade 1 -thirty five six year olds in pigeon greywith a hint of ascension blue. Those faces exactly as I remember them -crushed or beaming, self contained, apologetic,all burgeoning with mimicry and invention: the bully, ... (read more)

States of Poetry 2016 - TAS | 'On World Heart Day' by Jane Williams

States of Poetry Tasmania - Series One • 22 February 2016
On World Heart Day I notice your scars more than usual -life-saving stuck zippers. I want to plant kisseslike votives along each one: along the delicate ribbon of lightbetween your extroverted nipples, along the scythe shaped slashde-freckling your right calf. Hospital flowers bloomed, petals fellin the sterile-fresh air that day. I wove endearments like chainmailacross the terrible divide ... (read more)