Chris Arnold

Chris Arnold reviews 'I Have Decided to Remain Vertical' by Gaylene Carbis and 'The Drama Student' by Autumn Royal

July 2023, no. 455 • 27 June 2023

There are striking parallels between I Have Decided to Remain Vertical by Gayelene Carbis and The Drama Student by Autumn Royal. Both are new collections from experienced Melbourne poets; both think through women’s places in social and material contexts; both display an intense interest in material things and material places; both engage with works of art beyond their own pages. I Have Decided ... (read more)

Chris Arnold reviews 'Where We Are' by Alison Flett and 'ecliptical' by Hazel Smith

August 2022, no. 445 • 28 July 2022

Hazel Smith’s ecliptical features an image of a Sieglinde Karl-Spence work of art, ‘Becoming’, a pair of ‘winged feet woven with allocasuarina needles’. It is a striking image, evocative of Mercury, with one foot resting on the other, as if the right foot’s instep is itchy. The idea of ‘itchy feet’ is something that ties ecliptical to Alison Flett’s Where We Are. Flett and Smith ... (read more)

Chris Arnold reviews 'Stasis Shuffle' by Pam Brown

May 2022, no. 442 • 24 April 2022

The reader of Stasis Shuffle is immediately confronted with the collection’s naming convention. Titles of poems and sections are parenthesised, for example, ‘(best before)’, ‘(weevils)’, ‘(& then). More than simple stylisation, this convention suggests that every poem is a fragment, a meander through consciousness. The first poem, ‘(best before)’, begins ‘liberated / from the ... (read more)

'Reason Six' by Chris Arnold | States of Poetry WA - Series Two

States of Poetry Western Australia - Series Two • 13 October 2017

the text read:Kissing you under an umbrella in rainmakes my list of favourite things;a lunch crowd streamed around us.we, dry in a cylinder,sealed with that old golf umbrella’snylon night sky far from city lights –I don’t recall why I didn’t walk you.maybe the rain put its hands in pockets,whistled east on Murray Street.you left behind the scent of magnolia,powder on a dark blue suit –ch ... (read more)

'&' by Chris Arnold | States of Poetry WA - Series Two

States of Poetry Western Australia - Series Two • 13 October 2017

you opt for form over colourmakeup smudged lensespale bare planes by the lakes;a cygnet ellipsis in blackparenthetical necks;white sky reflected in high water. we sit where I have stayedand watched an oak open and close –green again – the benchsuspended on ampersands. Chris Arnold ... (read more)

'derailed' by Chris Arnold | States of Poetry WA - Series Two

States of Poetry Western Australia - Series Two • 13 October 2017

excerpt from Ligature he drops his shoulderslets out his breathfinds himself benchedbetween green wood slats anda black plastic platter of sushi,disposable sticks in his hand.ache on his right eye like a river stonethinking like five handsat the piano.     city stratified in fronthis eye’s diametercurves the park – half-moons grassbefore his brain corrects,sets it back fla ... (read more)

'pinned' by Chris Arnold | States of Poetry WA - Series Two

States of Poetry Western Australia - Series Two • 13 October 2017

excerpt from Ligature her office           kept coldshe shivers          exhalesbut never the satisfactionof seeing her breath a red-black plaid blanket wrapsher legs               patternreminiscent of red dust picnics –she’d pick spinifex spearsand snap them againstthumbnails ... (read more)