stories, poems, reviews, articles

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STORIES, POEMS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES
FREMANTlE ARTS CENTRE • THE WOOD CHIP DISASTER
POEMS BY AUSTRALIANS ABROAD • COLIN JOHNSON'S INDIA
WOMEN'S VERSE • MIRIAM STANNAGE-ARTIST • WRITING
IN AUSTRALIA-BARRY OAKLEY, A. D. HOPE.

westerly
•
a quarterly review
EDITORS: Bruce Bennettand Peter Cowan
EDITORIALCOMMITTEE: Bruce Bennett, PeterCowan, PatrickHutchings,
Leonardlolley, Margot Luke
Westerly ispublished quarterly by the English Department, University of Western Australia,
with assistance from the Literature Board of the Australia Council. The opinions expressed in
Westerly are those of individual contributors and not of any member of the above Committee.
Correspondence should be addressed to the Editorial Committee, Westerly, Department
of English, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009 (telephone
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typed (double-spaced) on one side of the paper only. Whilst every care is taken of manu
scripts, the Editorial Committee can take no final responsibility for their return; contributors
are consequentlyurged to retain copies of all work submitted. Minimum rates for contributions
-poems $7.00; prose pieces $7.00; reviews, articles $15.00; short stories $30.00. It is stressed
that these are minimum rates, based on the fact that very brief contributions in any field are
acceptable. In practice the Committee aims to pay more, and will discuss payment where
required.
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Synopses of literary articles published in Westerly appear regularly in Abstracts of English
Studies (published by the American National Council of Teachers of English).

westerly
No.3, September, 1975
CONTENTS
Australians Abroad-Poems 5 CAROL COHN
6 E.A.K.ROBERTS
10
CHARLES HIGHAM
15
KEITH HARRISON
18
CAROL COHN
PROSE
A Lover's Knot 19 KENNETH SIMPSON
Seeing Darrell 27 KEN LINNETT
POEMS
NOEL MACAINSH DAVID LAKE
KEVIN BOWDEN WILLIAM COSGRAVE
MARK ENGLISH SHANE MCCAULEY
HALCOLEBATCH ALAN ALEXANDER
R. F. BRISSENDEN FAY ZWICKY
KEVIN HART
ARTICLES
Colin Johnson: An Interview 33 BRUCEBENNETTand
LAURIE LOCKWOOD
The Fremantle Arts Centre 39 IAN TEMPLEMAN
Miriam Stannage, Kodakist 49 PATRICK HUTCHINGS
Poetry as Joumalism 59 A. D. HOPE
The Writer in Australia 65 BARRY OAKLEY
Woodchips: Perspectives for the Future 71 ARTHUR TONKIN
WOMAN POETS
Kate Jennings (ed.), Mother ]'m Rooted 75 CARL HARRISON-FORD
KateJennings, Corne to Me My
Melancholy Baby
Dorothy Hewett, Rapunzel in Suburbia 80 HAL COLEBATCH
BOOKS
Abortion: The Bobigny Affair 85 CAROLBOLTON
Colin Talbot, Massive Road Trau'J1W,
87
Michael Wilding, The Short Story Embassy VERONICA BRADY
Leslie Marchant, To Phoenix Seat 89 HAL COLEBATCH
Miscellany 94
Cover: The Fremantle Arts Centre (see article). Photo by Noel Doyle.

AUSTRALIANS ABROAD-POEMS
CAROL COHN
Monte Carlo 1972
There's a kind of grace in such venality,
uncompromising richness as distant from
vulgarity as faith from superstition.
This sun beaming down on the streets
could be a solid gold sovereign.
These tanned bodies passing have a gloss
like the rump of an Arab stallion.
In shops are elaborate marzipan confections,
inedibly precious, beyond any child's fantasy.
Even the parrot, enormous multi-jewelled evil-eyed,
outsideSolarni's,viewsmewithaduchess'hauteur.
Icy chandeliers hang over us, making
radiant heavens of the gaming rooms.
Round the tables, the figures have the still
solemnity of acolytes attending on a sacrifice.
Flawlessly rich, this mediterranean Petra.
her villas, hotels and casino caught
in the pink of a perpetual sunset.
WESTERLY, No.3, SEPTEMBER, 1975 5
E. A. K. ROBERTS
Lantzville: Winter
the last of last years cord
breaks into coals
flares a moment telling me
I have to split the alder
I bucked last week
on the shore of Nanoose Bay
silly that I waited this long
the cold as predictable as
my unwillingness
to prepare for it
in the yard a poplar
struggles to clench its
thin fingers for warmth
in the frozen slush
I stumble on a deer's hoofprint
so hard I can't stamp out
a bit of its direction
and the moon grins like a luny
at the sea
in brightness coldas a
wowser's smile
the alder splits open
quick as a dream
falls in two honey-coloured
pieces
smelling of summer.
6 WESTERLY, No.3, SEPTEMBER, 1975
E.A. K. ROBERTS
England again
atGatwick its
the waiting
makes you realise
the national stance
is a stoop in a queue
inbayswaterthegrimethatseeps
into the collar of your shirt
goes deeper than
a waiter's sniff or a flick
of a serviette down a Surrey nose
to a discussion in the Northcott bar
a propos the Hyacinth girl and
the white trembling thumb and
forefinger that picks up
someone's idea by its tail
turns it slowly about
like a dead mouse
drops itcarefullyinthebin
Desiccated bastards says Wacker
sinking a pint of Fosters in
the Earls Court Arms
wouldna won the bloody war
without the Septics n our blokes
n theCanucksyawonderhowthefuck
they getaround to
reproducing themselves
these girls who are rarely
silly
but pretty
and really quite bright
sad boys in Cambridge market
walking hand in hand
the country has buried them
long before they're dead.
WESTERLY, No.3, SEPTEMBER, 1975 7
E.A.K. ROBERTS
The Bastion
a small white-washed tower
on Front Street
fir logs three feet thick
handcut
adzed and fitted by eye
impenetrable in those times
1859and the townsfolk ofColville
straining to hear the manager
in mutton chops on tip toe
moleskin trousers stripedwork
shirts flyaway coats bonnets
bobbing and a child squalling
and squalling and the rumour of
an Indian raid and the child hushed
and wide-eyed
and hushed
cHmbing the circular stairs
to the secondfloor lookout
in the light of narrow chinks
cut for cannon that fired
grapeshot and chainshot
at Protection Island opposite
smashing a jaggedrent
a smoking scar through the trees
a warning to
Haida Indians sitting offshore
in war canoes
hushed
by the severedfirs mangled boughs
stunned by a voice that
shouted such hate
turned out of Sne-ny-mo harbour
paddledthoughtfullyNorth again
8 WESTERLY, No.3, SEPTEMBER, 1975