Thursday, November 03, 2022

New Poetry by Anthony Lawrence











Security Measures

In the interests of Personal Safety,
should you encounter behaviour, 
objects, or items you consider
to be literature, contact Security, 
the Police, the Mental Health 
Hotline, or approach any uniform,
including pilots, Quarantine
inspectors or cabin crew,even
carousel sniffer dogs have been 
known to sit down beside luggage 
containing books by Rupi Kaur. 
Please report the following: 
a passenger nodding sagely 
while reading 'The Complete 
John Ashbery’; those who swear 
they can find acrostic poetry 
on Flight Information boards; 
a limousine driver at Arrivals 
holding a sign: Lagavulin Lovers 
Welcome Geoffrey Hill;
a First Officer introducing
the captain, then giving an update 
on conditions in rhyming couplets;
people who are close to coming 
to blows over whether 
performance poetry translates 
well on the page, or those 
already throwing punches after
being told the stage is anathema
to any understanding of where


- © Anthony Lawrence 2022


Anthony Lawrence’s most recent book of poems is ‘Ordinary Time,’ a collaboration with Audrey Molloy. His collection ‘Headwaters,’ won the 2017 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for poetry. He is a senior lecturer at Griffith university where he teaches Creative Writing. He lives on Moreton Bay.

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