leesmithwriter |poetry|

posted 8 January 2012


looking out across Victoria on my first full day as an Australian resident

looking out across Victoria on my first full day as an Australian resident

posted 7 December 2011


reading at The Compass in London, my final UK appearance for a while

reading at The Compass in London, my final UK appearance for a while

posted 16 November 2011


reading at The Compass, Islington - 14th November, 7.30pm

reading at The Compass, Islington - 14th November, 7.30pm

posted 28 October 2011


some poets have asked me questions

Mark Burnhope:

A lot of your poems seem rather minimal. When they’re not ‘short’, they often consist of taut, clipped lines, or short numbered sections. One of them is a haibun. There are photographs included in the collection too, which add to a kind of ’travel journal’ feel, where these elements might be collected together to chart a journey. Do you see visuals as an inherent part of your practice? Could you tell us something about your composition and organising principles?

Away from the City is indeed a travel journal, an account of a year spent in two cities. I wanted the poems to form a series of images, short instances of emotion, movement, or even nothingness, that transport the reader through these urban environments. This journey is very much a visual experience.

The photographs create an atmosphere within which the poems emerge. This process reflects how many of the poems were written - observing and capturing visual exchanges, and then interpreting these elements in poetic form.

I can’t write long poems. The images get lost in the writing. I don’t have a huge attention span, so the more immediate these observations are, the more they are allowed to resonate.

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posted 14 August 2011


posted 12 August 2011


I asked a poet some questions

Claire Trevien and I posed a few questions to fellow Salt poet JT Welsch, as part of an interview for our up-coming tour.

posted 3 August 2011


New camera is here!

New camera is here!

posted 1 August 2011


family

family

posted 3 July 2011


My old Kiev camera has been broken for a couple of months now. I’m saving for a new one. I’ll probably go for something like this. I’ve been holding off some projects until I get the new camera. The better I save, the sooner I’ll be able to crack on. 

My old Kiev camera has been broken for a couple of months now. I’m saving for a new one. I’ll probably go for something like this. I’ve been holding off some projects until I get the new camera. The better I save, the sooner I’ll be able to crack on. 

posted 25 June 2011