With some technical assistance from my son Matt I’ve added an audio button to the dashboard above. You can use this to explore audio versions and music remixes (by me & others) of some of my work.

identical twins

Those twins are damn near identical
Those twins laugh like loons

Those twins have a sister who had matted hair
Those twins are almost as crazy as their father

Those twins shit their pants for fun
Those twins have identical snot on the upper lip

Those twins have canines like dracula
Those twins aren’t yet six

Those twins are ADHD
Those twins could go either way

Those twins may end up as standup comics

Or a pair of serial killers

Or maybe one

of each.

© rob walker, 2011

Thanks to debbizo and Gurdonark for the music which is as disturbing as the twins.

Hear it:

Thanks to Amelia for translating another of my poems into Dutch on her wooing a lady through an attorney blog.

This one’s from my first little collection sparrow in an airport in NEW POETS TEN (Friendly Street Poets/Wakefield Press, 2005.)

Read it in Dutch HERE.

.

I write solely in English, although previous poems have been translated into Spanish and Arabic.
It’s only a short one, but… my first poem translated into Dutch!
Fog on the Gordon, Strachan first appeared in my 2006 collection micromacro.
(I’ve written about Amelia’s blog wooing a lady through an attorney previously.)

Both the English and Dutch version are HERE

The discussion that follows gives us just a brief insight into the difficulties of translating a poem (even a little one!) into another language.

Thanks Amelia.

(Photo by Ben Walker)

Poets are the sorcerers and soothsayers of today. With their
creative and skilful use of words they weave their magic,
cast their spells and re-enchant our world. With their insight
they alert us to portents, sharpen our awareness of what
makes us human and envision for us a hopeful future.

So say John Pfitzner and Tracey Korsten, editors of Friendly Street’s 35th annual poetry reader which represents the best poetry read at Friendly Street’s monthly meetings (plus a number of regional events throughout South Australia) in 2010. Twenty of the 79 poets represented are FS ‘virgins’ which emphasizes Friendly Street’s commitment to publishing the best and encouraging emerging poets. It’s a long list, but I’m including everyone because I think poets aren’t acknowledged often enough in contemporary Australia and it’s especially significant if it’s your first poem in print.

So congratulations to David Adés, Gaetano Aiello, Kate Alder, Yahia Al-Samawy, Maeve Archibald, Henry Ashley-Brown, Avalanche, Elaine Barker, Bruce Bilney, Karen Blaylock, Belinda Broughton, Larry Buttrose, Julie Cahill, Karl H Cameron-Jackson, Aidan Coleman, Betty Collins, Dawn Colsey, David Cookson, David Cookson, Dorothy Cormack, Judy Dally, Sarah Daly, Kate Deller-Evans, Jo Dey, Jelena Dinic, Tess Driver, Andrew Ellery, M L Emmett, Steve Evans, Ian Gibbins, Jill Gower, Judith Haines, Simon Hanson, Lidija Šimkute, Bett Angel-Stawarz, Rob Hardy, Rory Harris, Alexander Hender, Mike Hopkins, Indigo, Geoff Johnston, Erica Jolly, Alan P Kelly, Sharon Kernot, Jules Leigh Koch, Tracey Korsten, Stephen Lawrence, Helen Lindstrom, Meryl McDougal, Margot McGovern, Louise McKenna, Keith MacNider, Gary MacRae, Kristin Martin, Deb Matthews-Zott, Rachael Mead, Jacqui Merckenschlager, Max Merckenschlager, Molly Murn, Graham Nunn, Susan O’Brien, Juliet A Paine, Anthony Parmee, John Pfitzner, Suzanne Reece, Philip Giles Reed, Royce, Ros Schulz, Veronica Shanks, Thom Sullivan, Athena Taylor, Jenny Toune, Valerie Volk, Maria Vouis, Julia Wakefield, G M Walker, Sarah Wauchope, Jill Wherry and Carmel Williams!

I was especially gratified to see the inclusion of two poems by Julia Wakefield (whom I had the honour of mentoring in 2010).

Thanks to John and Tracey for including two of my poems ‘A Better World’ and ‘Lines written in Himeji, 2008.’
[See here for Contents & Extract.]
The Wakefield Press book is launched officially at Friendly Street (the usual place) this Tuesday night from 7 pm.