Jennifer Liston

I wrote this quite some time ago.

It was included in my first poetry collection, Exposure, which was published by Ginninderra Press in 2003.

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© Jennifer Liston 2003

Posted by Jennifer Liston

Click on the title to hear a short sample of that poem read by me.

Extracts from 17 poems: one for every year of innocence


confession_extract.mp3

daddys_girl_extract.mp3

flashback_extract.mp3

Posted by Jennifer Liston

Exposure (2003)

Growing pains
Eveleigh Street
White Cliffs
A backpacking verse
Outback horizons
Christmas at home
The questions of war

Within and without
Fumes to forget by
Daylight robbery (i)
Daylight robbery (ii)
Daylight robbery (iii)
In your garden
Release
Another takes leave
No winners
Six weeks
Wishing
The holy mountain’s shadow
Kilmurray cemetery (i)

A thin veneer
Half life
If...
That moment
Harbour views
Solstice charm
Kilmurray cemetery (ii)
Awake
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Little or nothing
Night shadows
All at sea
Letting go
A matter of time
Dead kind
Betrayal

Friendship (i)
Friendship (ii)
Friendship (iii)
Warning

A prayer
Shooting star
Rites of spring
God’s prayer
This barren land
I came to my senses
Literary reflections at Bewleys
Poetical purpose
Guessing game

17 poems: one for every year of innocence (2008)

Confession of an addict
A question of sex
Bed of guilt
Garden
We live poetry
Read between the lies
Freedom’s chains
25-year anniversary of a hat
Happy birthday
We live poetry (ii)
Unravelling love-knots
Daddy’s girl
Telegram time
Linen cupboard
Jack
We live poetry (iii)
Flashback

Lead Skeletons (2010)

Ghosts in the machine
Reeling back those years
How could I forget?
Through the eyes of a child
Persistent dream
On reflection
Note to him/self
Our one point in time
Sculpture at 2am
Hollow present
Rain
A stranger named Philip
One Million Paws Walk
Vintage bliss
Overheard
One of those mice
Edithburgh evening
Heat speaks
Egg
Pick-up
River dreaming
Meandering prayer
Adrift
Voyage to source
Trains of thought
Equation of a lifetime
Our grammatical lives
Crumbling
Chaos
Sunday walk with my father
Memory
Dimensions of breath

Lycanthrope (2018)

Lycanthrope
stranger in astrangerland
Away and home
Western postcard
…a poem is a river…
Snow White
The story of purple
The ballad of one bird crossing
Egg
Duality
Sampling Lily
Mrs Noah

Grace Notes (2024)

Introduction
Prologue – The Voices Sing
Girl Overboard, 1536 AD
…blessed are their virgin births…
…someone’s in my head. An ancestor…
…pagan waters…
My Father’s Daughter, 1540 AD
…miles of stars and lovelorn sweethearts…
…feeling of impossible joy…
Wedding Day, Murrisk Abbey, 1546 AD
…that noteless night…
…drown in deepest water of sorry…
Death of a husband, 1560 AD
…drifting under the glass sea…
Fowl on Lough Corrib, 1561 AD
…eyes saw everything, all of the water…
Clew bay boat Song, 1563 AD
…a poem is a river…
…slow hurt became dangerous mishap…
…cathedral of stars…
Hugh de Lacy, 1565 AD
…soft and damp the rapture…
…mighty ride…
My Murdered Lover, 1565 AD
My Lament, 1565 AD
…watching sky…
…salt-of-the-earth regret…
Revenge Will Wait, 1566 AD
…wrinkled instinct…
Heptad; or Seven reasons / to Divorce Iron Richard / 1566 AD
…gathered, armoured darkness…
Birth of Tibbott, 1567 AD
…spirits from the old mountains…
Being Woman, 1568 AD
…only the queer surface of it…
Mother and Daughter, 1572 AD
…time for the white fox to fly…
A Lesson in Brehon Law Hospitality, 1576 AD
…time kicks the soles…
Imprisonment, and a Comet, 1577 AD
…beliefs are blue openings…
…wake of a ship…
…say the word…
Creidim, 1579 AD
…forgotten town…
Splintered Colour, 1581 AD 72
…weave the miserable truth…
State of Land, 1582 AD
…force of weather…
…fight in your eyes…
Lament for Owen, 1586 AD
…time a river…
The Careless Sea, 1588 AD
…gods are coming…
Weather Eye, 1589 AD
…agony on your spoken skin…
Teaching my Caffler Son a Lesson, 1590 AD
…middle-aged redbeard…
…wee green and gray stones…
Two Worlds Collide, 1593 AD
…witchcraft tidings…
…splendid red majesty of a (word)…
Possibility of Unity, 1595 AD
…souls like galleys aground…
The Onset, 1597 AD
…sometimes it’s faery-land…
Muscle, 1600 AD
…loaded history…
…storm of miracles…
Turning Point, 1601 AD
…thin shilling moon…
Burrishoole Communion, 1602 AD
Triallach’s Little Lock, 759 AD
…water that whispered of treachery…
Muirenn Bán, 823 AD
…moon-white pearl in the long black suck…
Cruachán Aighle, 1113 AD
…slaughter her status…
Shooting the Gulf, 1211 AD
…struck fire…
Dún Briste Rescue, 1393 AD
…punched-velvet voice…
Witnessing the Starved and Dispossessed, 1849 AD
…starving heart…
Women of the Easter Rising, 1916 AD
…singing fire and trouble…
…buttery light of the candles…
Molly Unleashed, 1921 AD
…queer as a copper shilling…
Carraigahowley Banshee, 1603 AD
Epilogue

Posted by Jennifer Liston

Jennifer Liston grew up in Co Galway, Ireland and has returned to live in Ireland after more than 30 years in Australia (Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide).

She is author of a chapbook, Lycanthrope (Garron Publishing, 2018) and three poetry collections: Lead Skeletons (White Wave Press, 2010), 17 poems: one for every year of innocence (White Wave Press, 2008), and Exposure (Ginninderra Press, 2003).

Her fourth full collection, Grace Notes - Giving voice to Gráinne Mhaol, Ireland's Pirate Queen, was published by Salmon Poetry in October 2024. This collection was part of the outcome of her PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide, for which she received a Doctoral Commendation. Jennifer performed some of the poems and songs from this collection in her five sold-out solo shows ‘Grace O’Malley, Irish Rebel, Pirate Queen’ at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2020 and in regional South Australia.

Jennifer's poems have been published in many journals and anthologies including Jacket2, The Canberra Times, The Australian Poetry Anthology, Best Australian Poems, Cordite Poetry Review, Verity La, Transnational Literature, The Found Poetry Review, Young Ravens Literary Review, The Mozzie, InDaily, Patterns of Living, Light and Glorie, and Poems in Perspex .

Her poem 'Egg' was shortlisted for the Max Harris 2007 Poetry Award. Her poem 'Yesterday's images' was published as part of the Letter.Box.Stamp.Collect. installation by Pascalle Burton for the Queensland Poetry Festival in August 2013. Her poetry featured in the Raining Poetry in Adelaide project in 2017 and 2018.

She has read at several Irish and Australian poetry events and on radio in Ireland and Australia.

Jennifer is an electronic engineer, a singer songwriter and keyboard player. She played keyboards and sang backing vocals in many originals bands while living in Australia. In Adelaide she was lead singer of ‘Talk on Corners’, a tribute band to popular Irish group The Corrs. The band performed regularly around the city. Some of her original songs have been played on commercial radio in Australia.

Adelaide Fringe 2020 reviews

https://jenniferliston.com/archives/245-Tulpa-magazine-In-a-captivating-feat-of-storytelling,-Jennifer-Liston-entrances-her-audience....html


https://jenniferliston.com/archives/244-The-Advertiser-a-moving-tribute-...lets-hope-she-takes-this-little-masterpiece-global.html


https://jenniferliston.com/archives/243-AU-Review-Liston-is-a-captivating-storyteller...-...a-fascinating-insight-into-a-remarkable-pirate-queen....html

Posted by Jennifer Liston