21 Aug 2010: ANTIPOET at the Moon

We've dragged him into town from the outer suburbs to perform for you... on a short break from tree planting, movie-starring, rocking, facebooking, web design, activism, parenting and teaching at some university or other... the one and only ANTIPOET! AKA allan boyd. 2-4pm Saturday 21 August at The Moon, 323 William St, Northbridge. Plus open mike. There will be two bursts of boydtext, one in each half, so those who insist on rocking up halfway thru will miss half the action.

allan boyd (the antipoet)... for those who don't know...

has been delivering performance poetry at and organising dynamic poetry arts and music events since 1995.

He has performed his "difficult and acerbic words" as featured guest of the Queensland Poetry Festival; Melbourne Overload Poetry Festival; Newcastle This Is Not Art; Electrofringe and National Young Writers Festivals; the WA Poetry Festival; Artrage; Perth International Arts Festival; WA Fringe and others.

He is also singer/songwriter/guitarist for Perth original bands, MiteyKo and Blac Blocs - and creates music and soundscapes for film, theatre, tv and radio as well as live laptop sonics as Bozo.

Whilst studying creative writing at Curtin University he founded the popular Openmouth Poetry sessions at PICA Bar in Perth from 1996-2001, published a regular poetzine: Woodwork - as well as organised countless other poetry/music events since in WA, NSW and Melbourne.

His radical poetry and experimental short stories have been published in various journals and underground publications around Australia.

More words about and by allan at antipoet.blogspot.com

fuck this city

this is the page of the city
a haze of cigarette smokers at doors
a bitumen testament to freeway bruises
a piece of wet paper in the street gloss
there's a taste of cut copper here, salt
a sour mash remedy - a bitumen foundation
a new dead friend - steel in our skins

as we breathe
we breathe in
particles of stars
breathe out
words, inhale ourselves

we all fuck in neat packs
all dominant cultural microphone stance
our avant garde handshake in the light of god
a chemical mortgage
a pre-paid funeral plan
burning dinosaurs
in mountain-tops
as city skylines rise
these granules of once
bold black rock-face
squeezed and flogged into chains
and stains and stories

and i wish i wasn't dead
or regurgitating in today tonight
monstrosities
our corporate slaves
and capital philosophy
all our anarchisms
empty and flake
all our relationships
devoid of taste, our gods
of products, an autotune body

the pages of this city
are digital

(written for Travis - The Ballad of Nick Chopper)

The Ballad of Nick Chopper

Here is a synopsis of the film. I'm playing the part of Travis.

"The Ballad of Nick Chopper is the story of people who have lost direction in their lives.

It is the journey of Travis; a lost voice, someone who reaches boiling point and Amie; a teacher who has lost the passion she has for her job and her life and is searching for more.

Throughout their journey we meet other characters that fill the world of Nick Chopper who represent the decline of the society they are a part of.

All of these different characters lives collide in a story about staying true to yourself and finding the right path to realize your dreams. "

beginning again bear

watchin these trucks go by
makin my throat go dry
feelin the barbecue sickness
this cancer cloud over us
I'm rattlin round the back of this ute
my masculinity burtstin
a brutal blue pill frenzy not the red pill terrorism
I've shot my share of loads on lounges
over all your optimus transformer
a prime beef reformist - I'm fatter than angus
rounder than a bank manager's anus
I'm sittin in this chair but floatin on the ceiling
these mushroom dusters kickin in like heeling
camel seedlings in wheatbelt regions
wishin sage was a tradie
shouldn't listen to the bleeding
I'm a youtube junkie
yr a facebook monkey
a cyber sex function
beginning again
begin again
begin again
again
bear

I'm a pop-up shadow puppet
a ghost in the paddock - fuckit
bones of foxes and feathers here tell stories
a narrative of dreamers
but the weather keeps hittin
nothing better than squatting here
after breakfast bacon hot coffee and smoking
dug this hole just deep enough
to fit my human waste
I'm not brave enough to build a shower
wait days to hit the public bar
and shout shit at the flannos
the reffo-hating spanners
beginning again
begin again
begin again
again
bear

and I'm getting vertiginous
needing 10 beers to get near the finish
I can't finish this - how can I finish this
can somebody help me
kill this poetry - let me finish this - let me finish this
struggle over the wandoo sheoak
my stick not big enough, wide enough
to please the blokes
anyway I was fucking this bloke
it was a reach-around - a hip n shoulder
to the ground like a full-forward on the run
at 25 metres out - a mark on the goal square
I'm strugglin to hit the line
before I need to begin again
beginning again
begin again
begin again
again
bear

and this thing is not a picnic
my life is is not a jpeg or a ping pic
an xbox joystick
not a vimeo page
not a guest spot on rage
wish I was back on the paddock
smashing trees in the ripline
not drillin for words like peak oil philosophy
not eatin stale sandwiches
wishin I was the masterchef
servin up treble clefs
plating up poetry
and and and
beginning again
begin again
begin again
again
bear

this must be the end
this must be the end
it is

manufactured treated compounds

card hard against my flesh
micro hair-scrape cross my chest
a plastic history - an echoic festival
i'm molded n melted, stiff n shifted
wading thru this sea of idiots
in a ben hur chariot
having a my bad moment
thrown into the wastebin
clutchin my coin-purse of 3 cent pieces
listenin to the compounds
resonators are my sisters
interpret the systems
waiting
for the
football