by Mark Pirie
Interactive Press
Voyagers
Mark Pirie is a Wellington, New Zealand writer, editor, publisher and critic. From 1995-2005 he initiated, co-edited and produced the literary magazine JAAM (Just Another Art Movement).
His works include 21 books of poems, a book of song lyrics, and a book of short fi ction. In 1998 he edited Th
e NeXt Wave anthology of New Zealand
‘Generation X’ writing. He currently edits the HeadworX New Poetry
Series (http://headworx.eyesis.co.nz ) and the poetry journal broadsheet, and co-organizes the Winter Readings series of events in Wellington.
A verse novel, Tom, will be published by Poets Group, Christchurch in 2009.
Tim Jones is a poet, short story writer and novelist. His most recent books are the short story collection Transported (Vintage, 2008), which was long-listed for the 2008 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award; the poetry collection All Blacks’ Kitchen Gardens (HeadworX, 2007); and the fantasy novel Anarya’s Secret (RedBrick, 2007). More information: http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com
Interactive Press
Th
e Literature Series
Mark Pirie
Tim Jones
Voyagers
Science Fiction Poetry
from New Zealand
edited by Mark Pirie and Tim Jones
Interactive Press
Brisbane
Interactive Press
an imprint of IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)
Treetop Studio • 9 Kuhler Court
Carindale, Queensland, Australia 4152
[email protected]
ipoz.biz/IP/IP.htm
First published by IP in 2009
Introduction, arrangement and selection © Mark Pirie and Tim Jones, 2009; poems as acknowledged.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
Printed in 11 pt Cochin on 12 pt Myriad Pro.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Title:
Voyagers : a New Zealand science fi ction poetry anthology /
Editors, Mark Pirie and Tim Jones.
ISBN:
9781921479212 (pbk.)
Notes:
Includes index.
Subjects:
Science fi ction, New Zealand--Poetry.
Other Authors/Contributors:
Pirie, Mark, 1974-
Jones, Tim, 1959-
Dewey Number: NZ821.100993
Acknowledgements
Jacket Images: Spectral-Design ( fr ont cover); Clint Spencer (back cover)
Jacket Design: David Reiter
Mark Pirie Photo: Michael O’ Leary (2009)
Tim Jones Photo: Sonali Mukherji (2007)
Th
e editors thank Dr David Reiter at IP for taking on the project and for publishing this anthology, and his editors and designers such as Emily Brinkworth for their work on the book. Th
anks to Mallinson Rendel
publishers, Wellington, New Zealand, for their assistance with an earlier version of this book. Niel Wright, Original Books, helped with the permission for the Ruth Gilbert poem, Anna Hodge provided help with the Auckland University Press (AUP) permissions. Th
e Alexander Turnbull Library staff
provided assistance in tracking down the Louis Johnson manuscript poems, and thanks is given to Cecilia Johnson for their reproduction.
Rachel Bush’s unpublished poem ‘Voyagers’ was originally written for John Rimmer who had been commissioned to compose a song to be sung by Year 9
students at the opening of Botany Downs Secondary College, Auckland, New Zealand, in 2004.
Th
anks too to the poets or executors (and their publishers) who generously agreed to letting their work appear here and for foregoing royalties in this instance.
– Mark Pirie and Tim Jones
For permission to reprint the poems in this anthology, acknowledgement is made to the following:
Fleur Adcock: excerpts from ‘Gas’ and ‘Last Song’ from Poems 1960-2000 (2000), Bloodaxe Books, UK, to the author. Raewyn Alexander: ‘in the future when we grow new brains’ to the author. Puri Alvarez: ‘Saturn’s Rings’ to the author. Jenny Argante:
‘Space Age Lover’ to the author. Tony Beyer: ‘Kron’ from Craccum, Volume 49, Issue 21, 30 September 1975 to the author. Peter Bland: ‘An Old Man and Science Fiction’
vi
revised from Habitual Fevers in 3 Poets: Peter Bland, John Boyd and Victor O’Leary (1958), Capricorn Press to the author. Iain Britton: ‘Departing Takaparawha’ to the author. Alan Brunton: ‘Vis Imaginitiva’ from Slow Passes: 1978-1988 (1991), Auckland University Press (AUP); and ‘F/S’ from Ecstasy (2001), Bumper Books, to the executor Michele Leggott. Dana Bryce: ‘Dreams of Alien Love’ from Aliens and Lovers (1983) ed. Millea Kenin, Unique Graphics, USA, to the author. Rachel Bush: ‘Voyagers’ to the author. Alistair Te Ariki Campbell: ‘Looking at Kapiti’ from Th e Dark Lord of Savaiki:
Collected Poems (2005), Hazard Press to the author. Meg Campbell: ‘Th e End of the
World’ from Th
e Better Part (2000), Hazard Press to the executor Alistair Te Ariki Campbell. Gordon Challis: ‘Th
e Th
ermostatic Man’ from Building (1963), Caxton
Press to the author. Janet Charman: ‘in your dreams’ to the author. Mary Cresswell:
‘Metastasis’ to the author. James Dignan: ‘Great Minds’ to the author. John Dolan: ‘In Which I Materialize, Horribly Maimed, in the Transporter Room of the Enterprise’
from Stuck Up: poems fr om Great Central Lake (1995), AUP; and ‘Th e Siege of
Dunedin’ from People with Real Lives Don’t Need landscapes (2003), AUP to the author.
Marilyn Duckworth: ‘Th
in Air’ from Other Lovers’ Children (1975), Pegasus Press to the author. David Eggleton: ‘60-Second Warning’ from People of the Land (1988), Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd; and ‘Overseasia’ from Rhyming Planet (2001), Steele Roberts Ltd to the author. Chris Else: ‘Hypnogogia’ to the author. Andrew Fagan: ‘A Spaceship Has Landed Near Nuhaka’ from Take the Chocolates and Run (1984), David Cohen Publications to the author. A.R.D. Fairburn: ‘2000 A.D.’ from Collected Poems (1966), Pegasus Press to the executor Dinah Holman. Cliff Fell: ‘In Truth or Consequences’
from Beauty of the Badlands (2008), Victoria University Press (VUP) to the author.
Gary Forrester: ‘Th
e Th
irst Th
at Can Never Be Slaked’ to the author. Janis Freegard:
‘Beside the Laughing Kitchen’ to the author. Robin Fry: ‘Lift -off ’ from Weather Report (2001), Inkweed to the author. Ruth Gilbert: ‘Still Centre’ from Selected Poems, 1941-1998 (2008), Original Books to the author. David Gregory: ‘Einstein’s Th eory Simply
Explained’ to the author. Nic Hill: ‘Somewhere Else’ to the author. Kevin Ireland:
‘Instructions About Global Warming’ from How to Survive the Morning (2008), Cape Catley to the author. Rob Jackaman: excerpt from Lee: A Science Fiction Poem (1976), Underoak Press to the author. Anna Jackson: ‘Death Star’, from Th e Pastoral Kitchen
(2001), AUP to the author. Louis Johnson: ‘Four Poems from the Strontium Age’ from New Worlds for Old (1957), Capricorn Press and Selected Poems (2000), VUP; ‘Love Among the Daleks’ from ATL, MS-Papers-8095-030; and ‘To a Science-
Fiction Writer’
from ATL, MS-Papers-8095-017 to the executor Cecilia Johnson and the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. Tim Jones: ‘Th
e stars, Natasha’ from Boat
People (2002), HeadworX; and ‘Good Solid Work’, ‘Th e First Artist on Mars’, and
‘Touchdown’ from All Blacks’ Kitchen Gardens (2007), HeadworX to the author. David Kārena-Holmes: ‘Your Being’ from From the Antipodes (2002), Maungatua Press to the author. Phil Kawana: ‘Th
is machine kills aliens’ from Jewels in the Water ed. Terry Locke (2000), Leaders Press, University of Waikato to the author. Fiona Kidman: ‘An aft ermath’ from Wakeful Nights: Selected Poems (1991), Vintage/Random House to the author. Hilaire Kirkland: ‘Th
ree Poems’ from Blood Clear and Apple Red (1981),
Wai-te-ata Press to the executor Michael Neill. Katherine Liddy: ‘Crab Nebula’ from vii
AUP New Poets 3 (2008), AUP to the author. Rachel McAlpine: ‘Satellites’ from Selected Poems (1988), Mallinson Rendel to the author. Tracie McBride: ‘Contact’ to the author. Seán McMahon: ‘planet one’ from Apocalyptic Bodies (c.1994), self-published to the author. Harvey McQueen: ‘Aft er the Disaster’ from Recessional (2004), HeadworX; and ‘Return’ from broadsheet 2: new new zealand poetry (2008), Th e Night Press to the
author. Owen Marshall: ‘Awakening’ from Occasional: 50 Poems (2004), Hazard Press to the author. Jane Matheson: ‘An Alien’s Notes on fi rst seeing a prunus-plum tree’ to the author. Th
omas Mitchell: ‘Rituals’ to the author. Harvey Molloy: ‘Nanosphere’
from Th
e White Album Readings ed. Mark Pirie (2008), ESAW and Moonshot (2008), Steele Roberts Ltd to the author. Michael Morrissey: ‘UFOs in Autumn’ from Taking in the View (1986), AUP; and ‘Are the Andromedans Like Us’ from Th e American Hero
Loosens His Tie (1988), VanGuard Xpress to the author. James Norcliff e: ‘the ascent’
from Villon in Millerton (2007), AUP to the author. Michael O’Leary: ‘Hey man, Wow!
[ Jimi Hendrix]’ and ‘Nuclear Family – A Fragment’ from Toku Tinihanga: Selected Poems 1982-2002 (2003), HeadworX to the author. Stephen Oliver: ‘Manned Mission to the Green Planet’ from Night of Warehouses: New and Selected Poems 1978-2000 (2001), HeadworX; and ‘Letter to an Astronomer’ from Either Side the Horizon (2005), Titus Books to the author. Jacqueline Crompton Ottaway: ‘Black Hole’ to the author. Alistair Paterson: ‘Time traveller’ from Summer on the Côte d’Azur (2004), HeadworX to the author. Jack Perkins: ‘Out of Time’ to the author. Chris Pigott: ‘“We’re thinking of going into space”’ from JAAM 6 (1997), Wai-te ata Press to the author. Mark Pirie: ‘Dan and His Amazing Cat’; ‘Liam Going’ from Th
e Search: Poems & Stories (2007), ESAW; and
‘Th
e Rescue Mission’ to the author. Vivienne Plumb: ‘Signs of Activity’ and ‘Th e Last
Day of the World’ from Nefarious (2004), HeadworX to the author. Jenny Powell with John Dolan: ‘Note to the Aliens’ from Double Jointed (2003), Inkweed to the authors.
Cath Randle: ‘Th
e Purple fantastic, feels like elastic, spangled and plastic ray gun’ to the author. Trevor Reeves: ‘they’re keeping tabs’ from Apple Salt (1976), Caveman Press to the author. Helen Rickerby: ‘Tabloid Headlines’ from JAAM 2 (1995), Wai-te-ata Press to the author. Anna Rugis: ‘the poetry of the future’ to the author. Bill Sewell: ‘Space & Time’, ‘Th
e World Catastrophe’, ‘Th
e Imaginary Voyage’ and ‘Utopia’ from Solo Flight
(1982), University of Otago Press to the executor Amanda Powell. Iain Sharp: ‘Karen Carpenter Calls Interplanetary Craft ’ from Poetrymath ed. Mark Pirie (2006), ESAW to the author. Meliors Simms: ‘Two Kinds of Time’ to the author. Robert Sullivan: excerpts from Star Waka (1999), AUP to the author. Brian Turner: ‘Earth Star’ from Beyond (1992), John McIndoe to the author. Tze Ming Mok: ‘Lament of the imperfect copy of Ensign Harry Kim’ to the author. Richard von Sturmer: excerpt from ‘Mill Pond Poems’
from Suchness: Zen Poetry and Prose (2005), HeadworX to the author. Nelson Wattie:
‘Th
e Art of Translation’ from Th
e White Album Readings ed. Mark Pirie (2008), ESAW
to the author. Mike Webber: ‘My Personal Universe’ from Warm Primates (2003), self-published to the author. Simon Williamson: ‘Japan 2030’ from Storyteller: Poems 1988-1999 (2002), HeadworX to the executors Rob and Dianne Williamson. Sue Wootton:
‘the verdigris critic’ from Hourglass (2005), Steele Roberts Ltd to the author.
viii
Contents
Introduction
Back to the Future
Anna Rugis, the poetry of the future
Louis Johnson, To a Science-Fiction Writer
A.R.D. Fairburn, 2000 A.D.
Janet Charman, in your dreams
Bill Sewell, Utopia
Alistair Paterson, Time traveller
David Gregory, Einstein’s Theory Simply Explained
Jenny Powell with John Dolan, Note to the Aliens
Raewyn Alexander, in the future when we grow new brains
Alan Brunton, F/S
Harvey Molloy, Nanosphere
Meliors Simms, Two Kinds of Time
Jack Perkins, Out of Time
Jacqueline Crompton Ottaway, Black Hole
Tim Jones, Good Solid Work
Apocalypse Now
John Dolan, The Siege of Dunedin
David Eggleton, Overseasia
Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, Looking at Kapiti
Bill Sewell, The World Catastrophe
Rachel McAlpine, Satellites
David Eggleton, 60-Second Warning
Meg Campbell, The End of the World
Vivienne Plumb, The Last Day of the World
Louis Johnson, Four Poems from the Strontium Age
Michael O’Leary, Nuclear Family – A Fragment
ix
Ruth Gilbert, Still Centre
Fleur Adcock, Last Song
Rob Jackaman, from Lee: A Science Fiction Poem
Marilyn Duckworth, Thin Air
Fiona Kidman, An aftermath
Kevin Ireland, Instructions About Global Warming
Altered States
Iain Sharp, Karen Carpenter Calls Interplanetary Craft
Gordon Challis, The Thermostatic Man
Trevor Reeves, they’re keeping tabs
Mary Cresswell, Metastasis
Simon Williamson, Japan 2030
Tony Beyer, Kron
Louis Johnson, Love Among the Daleks
Seán McMahon, planet one
Janis Freegard, Beside the Laughing Kitchen
Thomas Mitchell, Rituals
Alan Brunton, Vis Imaginitiva
Harvey McQueen, After the Disaster
Jenny Argante, Space Age Lover
Chris Else, Hypnogogia
James Norcliffe, the ascent
Fleur Adcock, from Gas
ET
Vivienne Plumb, Signs of Activity
Michael Morrissey, UFOs in Autumn
Andrew Fagan, A Spaceship Has Landed Near Nuhaka
Dana Bryce, Dreams of Alien Love
Tracie McBride, Contact
Cliff Fell, In Truth or Consequences
Nelson Wattie, The Art of Translation
x
Phil Kawana, This machine kills aliens
Michael Morrissey, Are the Andromedans Like Us
Mark Pirie, Dan and His Amazing Cat
James Dignan, Great Minds
Cath Randle, The Purple fantastic, feels like elastic,
spangled and plastic ray gun
Jane Matheson, An Alien’s Notes on fi rst seeing a prunus-
plum tree
Harvey McQueen, Return
Owen Marshall, Awakening
Peter Bland, An Old Man and Science Fiction
When Worlds Collide
Katherine Liddy, Crab Nebula
Anna Jackson, Death Star
Stephen Oliver, Manned Mission to the Green Planet
Hilaire Kirkland, Three Poems
Michael O’Leary, Hey man, Wow! [Jimi Hendrix]
Robin Fry, Lift-off
Tim Jones, Touchdown
Tim Jones, The First Artist on Mars
Puri Alvarez, Saturn’s Rings
Robert Sullivan, from Star Waka
Chris Pigott, ‘We’re thinking of going into space’
Mark Pirie, Liam Going
Iain Britton, Departing Takaparawha
Bill Sewell, The Imaginary Voyage
Rachel Bush, Voyagers
Stephen Oliver, Letter to an Astronomer
The Final Frontier
Helen Rickerby, Tabloid Headlines
Sue Wootton, the verdigris critic
xi
Richard von Sturmer, from Mill Pond Poems Brian Turner, Earth Star
Gary Forrester, The Thirst That Can Never Be Slaked
David Kārena-Holmes, Your Being
John Dolan, In Which I Materialize, Horribly Maimed, in
the Transporter Room of the Enterprise
Mark Pirie, The Rescue Mission
Tze Ming Mok, Lament of the imperfect copy of Ensign
Harry Kim
Nic Hill, Somewhere Else
Tim Jones, The stars, Natasha
Mike Webber, My Personal Universe
Bill Sewell, Space & Time
Contributor Notes
Index of Poems (by Poet)
xii
Introduction
‘The scientist has marched in and taken the place of the poet. But one day somebody will fi nd the solution to the problems of the world and remember, it will be a poet, not a scientist.’
– Frank Lloyd Wright
‘Exchanging signals with planet Mars (not fantasizing, of course) is a task worthy of a lyric poet.’
– Osip Mandelstam
‘Imagination is the key to my lyrics. The rest is painted with a little science fi ction.’
– Jimi Hendrix
1
Selecting poems for this anthology would have been much easier if there was a universally-agreed defi nition of science fi ction. But there isn’t. A conservative defi nition might be that science fi ction is that genre of literature which speculates about the effects of changes to the universe we know, where those changes follow or are extrapolated from known scientifi c principles.
