Category: Corfiatis, Thérèse

Seasonal Poets, Hobart, 17th July — A Taste of Poems from our Winter Poets

Dear Friends of Seasonal Poets,
Each of our featured poets, Pam Schindler, Therese Corfiatis and Susan Austin has provided a poem for you to ‘taste’ before the reading.
As usual, RSVPs are essential and admission is $10.00 (cash only) at the door.
We look forward to seeing you at Hadley’s on Monday, July 17th at 6:00.
Cheers,
Irene, Anne and Gina
Anne Collins, Gina Mercer, Irene McGuire
co-curators: Seasonal Poets at Hadley’s

Silent Hands by Therese Corfiatis

gums form a swaying fabric –

pale grey, silvery olive leaves

meld and merge

into the sky’s blue loom

clouds unwind their threads –

long milky fingers

weave the wind’s rhythms

with silent hands

Half a moon by Pam Schindler

Come and stay,

there’ll be half a moon by Sunday,

a gleaming bowlful of dark

enough to feed

the lover in me, the elusive

heart in you –

all the lost chances,

they are here still,

turning in sleep

in the dark bowl

the new moon comes carrying

like a gift.

Sonnet for lost lasts by Susan Austin

His class lines up in pairs at the berry farm.
His free hand is held out for me to find.
I’m surprised to feel his whole hand in my palm:
he used to curl his fingers round one of mine.
Another little last, like the daytime nap?
Last time I hold his hand to cross a street,
last picture book read snuggled in my lap,
the final time I help him brush his teeth.
When will be the last we share a bath?
No camera will snap the final trolley ride,
the moment plastic cups give way to glass.
His fluffy monkey comforter will slide –
with the glee he gets from using arms to fart –
into that chest of lost lasts in my heart.

08 Oct 2022—Thérèse Corfiatus, book launch (Ulverstone)

A new poetry collection, Bridge of Words—a collaboration between Thérèse Corfiatis of Ulverstone, and Britta Stenberg of Sweden—will be launched by Fay Forbes at the Red Cross Hall, 49 King Edward Street, Ulverstone, 2-4pm Saturday 8th October, 2022.

Thérèse is a featured guest of this month’s Tasmanian Poetry Festival (Launceston 30th Sept / 2nd Oct), while Britta—if I’ve interpreted google maps correctly—lives in the isolated town of Rentjarn, a community of some 71 souls in Sweden’s north.

I’m reminded of a 2006 writing collaboration between Karen Knight and Scottish poet Delys Rose, imagining the similarities of their experiences with those of Thérèse and Britta. Karen—from her home in Hobart, and Delys, comfortably ensconced in Scotland—were writing a poem a month. ‘Neither of us was particularly keen on formal stipulations and have found that the more open the remit, the better the results,’ wrote Delys at the time. ‘We began very simply with a poem about midsummer/midwinter because it was happening, at the moment we committed ourselves. It’s been a great way to keep up a long distance correspondence, not to mention generating new work.’ 

A key difference is that Karen and Delys had already met in Australia; and some time later, Karen travelled to visit Delys in Scotland.  Britta and Thérèse have never met, though perhaps that will change. In one of the pair’s many online conversations (as reported by the ABC here), Britta suggests that it’s been exciting to get to know Tasmania and Therese. “Bye-bye from Sweden, come and see me some day.”

 

Two women. Two poets. Two countries. One man. Thérèse Corfiatis lives in Ulverstone, Tasmania; Britta Stenberg lives in Rentjärn, Sweden – two women joined in friendship by Tom Langston, who introduced them to each other long distance, during a trip to Sweden. This collaboration is a tribute to his memory.
 
This evocative collection written over the course of a year, from opposite ends of the earth, holds a fervent hope for readers to discover a moment caught in time.
 
Britta Stenberg is a published writer from Swedish Lapland with a number of novels and poetry to her name. She also writes for the stage. This is Britta’s first publication in Australia.
 
Thérèse Corfiatis lives and writes in Ulverstone on Tasmania’s beautiful north-west coast. She is a cat lover, avid cloud gazer, watcher of oceans and worshipper of the night sky.
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