Editorial

Vale Dorothy Porter, 1954–2008, by Judith Beveridge

On 10 December 2008 Australia lost one of its finest poets. Dorothy Porter died of complications from breast cancer at St Vincents Private Hospital, Melbourne. Dorothy was one of the most popular and most loved of contemporary Australian writers. She was also highly acclaimed by critics. Two of her verse novels, What a Piece of Work and Wild Surmise, were short-listed for the Miles Franklin Award. Her most recent verse novel, El Dorado, was short-listed for the prestigious Prime Minister’s Award. Dorothy always believed that poetry and poets deserved a wide readership and she set about capturing the minds and hearts of readers with her passionate, ambitious, page-turning books.

Dorothy Porter’s early death has deeply shocked and saddened the literary community. Those who knew her could attest to her vigour and her distinctive elan. She was gifted with a vibrant sense of humour and a mercurial and zestful imagination. To be in her company was to be in a charmed and charged space. She rose to public prominence after the publication in 1996 of The Monkey’s Mask, which achieved extraordinary sales and was made into a film by Samantha Lang. She also wrote two libretti for composer Jonathan Mills, The Ghost Wife and The Eternity Man, which has also been made into a film, directed by Julien Temple. It was screened at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2008 and on ABC TV on 18 January 2009. One of Dorothy’s great passions was rock music. In her last months she was finishing the narrative development for a rock opera, January, with Tim Finn, having written the lyrics some years ago. She had also completed a book for MUP, On Passion, and her twelfth collection of poems, The Beehut, which will published in September 2009. Her poem ‘Wolfgang’ from that volume appears in this issue. This new collection is one of her most searingly compelling and haunting books.

I first met Dorothy in 1980 on a train trip to Bathurst. We had been invited to read by the NSW Poets Union. Dorothy by this stage had already published three poetry collections, I was still some way off finishing my first collection. A couple of weeks after the trip Dorothy phoned me and invited me to her place in Avalon, Sydney. From then on until her death we were very close friends, at one stage sharing a house. Over the years, I was privileged to be among the first readers of her manuscripts and poems. I always felt a sense of excitement if I saw an email from Dot with an attachment. I knew it was highly likely to be a new poem. Similarly, Dot was always the first person I would send a new work to. As a friend Dot was devoted, loyal and very loving.

She left Sydney for Melbourne in 1994 to be with her partner, Andrea Goldsmith, but over the years we still managed to spend quite a bit of time together and we travelled to Berlin and Medellín to attend poetry festivals. I will miss her invigorating company, her trenchant wit, her beautiful generous heart, her sparkling intelligence more than I can ever say. Her contribution to Australian poetry has been most poignant and dynamic, and she has undoubtedly been one of the most influential poets of the last fifty years. I am sure her work will continue to be admired for its versatility and gutsy accomplishment for a long time to come.

Contents

Editorial by Judith Beveridge

Newsreel

• With Jacinta Le Plastrier Aboukhater, Joseph Pearson and Eleanor Hogan

Meanjin in Colour

• The Written Image by George Dunford

• Light becomes the Medium by Stephen Jones

• No Deaf Ears by Declan Kelly

Essays

• CAL/Meanjin Essay: An Implosion of Knowledge by Humphrey McQueen

• Sickness and the Art of Healing by Adrienne Eberhard

• The Politics of Prizes by Beth Driscoll

• Genre and Generalities by Brian McFarlane

• Losing Iris by Rachel Watts

• Living Their Lives in Cages: A South African Notebook by Jim Davidson

• A Portrait of the Writer as Half a Dozen Places by Mark Treddenick

• Their hooks find hold deep in our flesh: Part Four by Kate Fielding, Clint Cure and Mandy Ord

• Walks at Ground Zero by J.M. Tyree

Interview

• The Friction Zone: Sophie Cunningham speaks to Nam Le

Fiction

• Futures by J.M. Tyree

• Salt by Daniel Kent

• Something’s Gotta Give by Sunil Badami

• In the Shade of the Shady Tree by John Kinsella

• At Some Point You Have to Run by Louise Swinn

• Stripped: Part Four by Caroline Lee

Poetry

• Wolfgang by Dorothy Porter

• Mingmarriya Country by Margaret Bradstock

• Breast Strokes; The Maze by Adrienne Eberhard

• Meteor IV, at Cowes,1913 by Clive James

• Chatter-Box by Evan Jones

• The Bond Poem by S.K.Kelen

• Studies for a Nude: A Diptych by Anna Kerdijk Nicholson

• Spring Cafe by Mike Ladd

• Triptych by Andrew Slattery

• Crop; Grace by Todd Turner

• Girilan by Les Wicks