Fall/Winter 2009-10
tom oristaglio
scott summers
cindy childress
tom rechtin
james b. nicola
debra rymer
doug draime
corey mesler
rebecca schumejda
chris crittenden
arlene ang
joey nicoletti
brad johnson
lorie allred
elizabeth kay
alexander russo
nissa lee
kenneth gurney
jessi lee gaylord
keith brighouse
ajay vishwanathan
ethel rohan
william "cully" bryant
julie steiner
Steiner Interview
by Alex Nodopaka
Jennifer VanBuren
Jai Britton
Alex Nodopaka
Patrick Carrington
Mannequin Envy in memory of poet and artist Douglas Gamrath
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Thomas Kent
Winter Melt Issue 2009
Reflections in curved glass
The Nigerian poet
Seeming to bulge out
Beyond the confines of the television set
Told stories, how
His pink-cheeked English mother
Served cucumber sandwiches at high tea while
His father, purple-black blushed like an aubergine
Read Cato and Thucydides;
How at the age of eighteen
Wrongly suspected of coup involvement
He was imprisoned and tortured: "Don't
refuse to let your spirit break" he advised
"It only hurts more. Scream all you can."
He told of one boy of fourteen
Imprisoned as ransom for some uncle who could not be found
Who taught thieves and rapists to read
Using a Spiderman comic
Until the torturers
Nailed his penis to a table
Left him to die three days bleeding.
Most of my generation
Have enjoyed all our lives a strange immunity
Growing up
We were told our indiscretions would be more or less ignored
Until we were thirty
Provided we came from good homes that is
Because if we came from good homes
We were sure eventually to come right
And now that we are beyond fifty
We are viewed as harmless
Perhaps honorable old iron relics
And although we were tested in our turn
The fires that were used were less harsh
And though we suffered blows and blows enough
That society which had taught us to believe in our spirit
Did not to break us use such brutalities
Our belief that we could change the world
In the service of peace, love
Sex drugs and music
Still arrogant still relatively untarnished
Oh lovers oh younger peers my equals
You instead have been trained in
A perception of powerlessness
I see now that your poetry is your rebellion
Because an assertion of your right to think
And your right to an individual identity
By whatever means of stealth
Your refusal to become workslaves
Adopting corporate clothes
I celebrate you
Forgive my presumption
Although it is painful
While you can, remain unbroken
But scream, and scream again.
- 8 October 2008
The poet, writer, artist and musician Thomas Kent has been writing and reading poetry all his life, although he has only been using the pen name Thomas Kent since 2005. Born in New Zealand in 1956, he migrated to Australia in 1980, and has lived in Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, Bellingen, and (since 2005), Melbourne.
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He has worked as a kitchenhand, call centre operator, public servant, office manager, importer, disc jockey, wool store worker, editor and community worker. At present he works as a community worker and media relations consultant, and runs a small publishing and editing consultancy. He reads regularly in Melbourne, often appearing at events with many of Australia's best-known poets, and has featured at such venues as the Dan O'Connell Hotel, Melbourne. He has published six books of his work. |
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