Entries by Jennifer Liston

A poem that I'm playing around with at the moment could look like this:

thatcriticdetonatedatom-bomb-likewarhead-wordsandemerging-confidence-seekingmissilesonmyself-beliefandnuclear-mushroomedsecretsexposedwiththeabolitionofexclamation-markslaverymywordstreamflowshereunadornedunashameduncluttered.

© Jennifer Liston 2006

or it could look like this:

that critic
detonated
atom-bomb-like
warhead-words
and emerging-confidence-seeking missiles
on my self-belief
and nuclear-mushroomed
secrets
exposed

with the abolition
of exclamation-mark
slavery
my wordstream
flows
here
unadorned
unashamed uncluttered.

© Jennifer Liston 2006

I'm not sure which one I prefer (if any).

What do you think?

Posted by Jennifer Liston

I wrote this 20 years ago, and it was included in my first poetry collection, Exposure, which was published by Ginninderra Press in 2003.

I took a big red pen to it recently, however, and I feel it's a bit better now, even though it could probably still do with more editing.

A prayer

By the light of the moon
in this sacred place
no glorious visitation
enthralls me.
No wondrous vision
assails my eyes
and clears this clouded mind.
As I talk to you
(half-expecting an answer),
all is quiet.

Can you hear me whisper in the shadows of night?
Do you see my hopes and dreams take flight?
Can you hear the pleas of my heart?
Do you feel the pain we feel, being apart?

Still,
no sound.
No startling revelation
comforts my soul
and enlightens my mind.
With heavy heart
and limbs growing cold
I turn down the path towards home.

And softly you follow.

© Jennifer Liston 2006

Posted by Jennifer Liston

Because of the day that’s in it, here’s a poem from one of my favourite French poets, Jacques Prévert.

It’s called Je suis comme je suis (I am as I am), from a collection of his called Paroles. The book was given to me a long time ago by my dear friend Marie-Laure. Enjoy.

Je suis comme je suis

Je suis comme je suis
Je suis faite comme ça
Quand j'ai envie de rire
Oui je ris aux éclats
J'aime celui qui m'aime
Est-ce ma faute à moi
Si ce n'est pas le même
Que j'aime à chaque fois
Je suis comme je suis
Je suis faite comme ça
Que voulez-vous de plus
Que voulez-vous de moi

Je suis faite pour plaire
Et n'y puis rien changer
Mes talons sont trop hauts
Ma taille trop cambrée
Mes seins beaucoup trop durs
Et mes yeux trop cernés
Et puis après
Qu'est-ce que ça peut vous faire

Je suis comme je suis
Je plais à qui je plais
Qu'est-ce que ça peut vous faire
Ce qui m'est arrivé
Oui j'ai aimé quelqu'un
Oui quelqu'un m'a aimée
Comme les enfants qui s'aiment
Simplement savent aimer
Aimer aimer...
Pourquoi me questionner
Je suis là pour vous plaire
Et n'y puis rien changer.

Posted by Jennifer Liston

How do we measure
the pleasure
of the population’s
copulation?
Is passion
a fashion?
...

...if you want to read the rest of this poem, you'll just have to buy my second poetry collection when it's published.

Posted by Jennifer Liston

...you can do or dream you can, begin it!

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

--- Goethe

Posted by Jennifer Liston

Each moment is a
BIG
BANG:

the creation
of an infinite number
of possible futures
that extend
g l o r i o u s l y.

© Jennifer Liston 2006

Posted by Jennifer Liston

The Beautiful One has a beautiful little girl. She's a chip off the old block, that's for sure. I hope this captures the essence of their beautiful relationship.

This poem will probably be included in my second collection.

Daddy's girl

Gold head
blue-eyed replica
of your beautiful father.
You carry
your Daddy’s dreams
in miniature.
Fine blonde strands
delicate threads
of hope.
He swaddles your
honey’d limbs
and winning grins
in carefully woven
cloths of aspiration,
willing you
a glowing future.
He lullabies you
to dreams
so that you may wake
to a perfect world.
Every beat
of your little-girl heart
reverberates
in his big-man halls of music.

© Jennifer Liston 2006

Posted by Jennifer Liston

A beautiful, simple Irish poem by Seamas O'Neill (1910-1981) that I learned at school (taken from Favourite Poems We Learned In School As Gaeilge, compiled by Thomas F. Walsh, Mercier Press 1994):

Subh Mhilis

Bhí subh mhilis
Ar bhoschrann an dorais,
Ach mhúch me an corraí
Ionam a d'éirigh,

Mar smaoinigh mé ar an lá
A bheas an bhoschrann glan,
Agus an lámh bheag
Ar iarraidh.

And here's my doesn't-do-it-justice translation:

Jam

There was jam
on the door handle
but I held back the anger
that was beginning to rise

because I thought of the day
when the door handle would be clean
and the little hand
gone away.


© Jennifer Liston 2002

Posted by Jennifer Liston

Why is it
so difficult
to break out
of the nightmares
we create
so easily?

Posted by Jennifer Liston

This little poem is from the vault, and was also included in my first poetry collection, Exposure, which was published by Ginninderra Press in 2003.

Half life

A half promise in his eyes,
a half-tone in his voice
and I die
in anticipation:
life seems to be
a series of deaths.

© Jennifer Liston 2003

Posted by Jennifer Liston

An appropriate poem for the day that's in it.... this is also in my collection, Exposure, which was published by Ginninderra Press in 2003. Enjoy.

Solstice charm

On a June evening
the day almost ended
magic descended.
In an Adelaide hotel
a mysterious spell
weaved its way
between two struggling souls.
Angels
in mortals' guise
rendered surprise
assistance.
A sensual kiss
mystical recognition
of what was past
and what might be.
Warmth,
fire,
desire
and strange symbols
stir up
a witches' brew
of possibilities.
Between enchanted smiles
and sighs
they tentatively step
on the path to repair.
Bewitched lips
and eyes
beg for guidance
and healing.
Irrepressible grins
belie the sins
beneath.
Both charmed,
both disarmed
by the gentle fragility
and perfect clarity
of those tender moments
one June evening.

© Jennifer Liston 2003

Posted by 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.

Short ad

Welcome to the theatre of my soul
strictly limited viewing.
Watch the dreams unfold
no two the same,
but some recurrent themes.
(Half-price after 3am, when the flesh is at its weakest...but you still have to be in the know)

© 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
Short ad

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, was published by Salmon Poetry in October 2024. 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. She is an electronic engineer and holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide.

Jennifer is 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.

Posted by Jennifer Liston