is an Australian poet (text and performance), writer, academic and musician. He has had a great deal of short stories and essays published about the place, most recently in the Canadian Journals 'The Antigonish Review', and Cougar Webworks. Also, Lotus magazine, The Bendigo Advertiser, VICE, Curiosity's Escape (US), The Resistance (NY) and Parabola Magazine of Myth and Tradition (NY). Over twenty poems from his recent self-published collection 'Facing the Demon of Noontide' are about to be (or have already been) published in a variety of Australian and international magazines and e-zines including the US journals ACME Poets (Kansas City), Kitty Kaboolas Diamond Life Magazine (Chicago), Island Life (Milwaukee), Apollo Online, Flies on the Ceiling, Gravity 22 and Conspire (New York). A great deal of other material is also currently being considered by publishers both in Australia and overseas. 'Facing the Demon of Noontide' will soon be released electronically (CD-Rom). Ian's reviews and poetry also appear regularly at the Australia's literary net site 'Ozlit'.
Ian is also co-editor of 'The Animist' electronic journal
of the arts http://www.diskotech.com.au/asphodel. The Animist
features some of Australia's (and increasingly other countries')
best writers, poets and thinkers and is archived by the
Australian National Library as a journal of national cultural
significance. The Animist may soon be available on CD-Rom. Ian
has just completed a PhD on ennui in European literature,
philosophy and sociology and the manuscript is currently being
reviewed for possible publication by Melbourne University Press.
He also has a novel and a play at both conventional and
electronic publishing houses. In former incarnations Ian was an
alternative rock singer/songwriter with a band called 'Goya's
Child' and a professional cricketer in England and New Zealand.
He has taught history, literature, sociology and mythology to
postgraduate levels at La Trobe University Bendigo.
Four Poems From 'Facing the Demon of Noontide' Copyright Ian Irvine, 1998, all rights reserved. Ian Irvine can be contacted through:
A seedy bar, triple whiskies
going down
looking for a lay, faithless,
choked up with sadness
buttoned up against the cold.
Same old genital ache,
frozen hands, insides chained,
inspiration? ... flown away
dreadfully alone - then
pissing into a blue latrine,
stained floor,
yellow or mustard? scarf loose about my neck
check the mirror, check my
dying hair,
step outside,
I'm supposed to meet you
where?
Years fly by like birds
how long ago?
I thought you were a Goddess
I thought you were the only one!
Guess I was wrong.
And what are these flowers
but the pieces of your soul
the hours of childhood
the melody of trees on a balmy afternoon
And in whose keeping were they left?
in whose many drawers safely stored
and filed, immortal and tagged
'To be retrieved.
'And what are these flowers Persephone but the pieces of your soul?
'Music can change the world'
or so I had to believe,
I'm still hanging on that last
diabolic riff,
sadness, madness infinity
, an assurance:
life is more than pain in
isolation.
The crowd gathers
soon there will be music,
I stare at the bubbles in
a glass of beer
blue lights, green lights, red
lights
not too bright-
darkness is fertile.
The night is over
... tattered notes in the palm
of my hand
This music
I write
got someone through the
day
someone through the
night
I said:
'Music can change the world.'
Naive?
... maybe ...
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