Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: literary journals

  • Statement of Poetics

    Mantissa Issue 2 RE (March 2023)

    Issue 2, Re, of Mantissa Poetry Review is finally here and it was totally worth the wait! I adore this poetry journal. The physical object itself is a work of art and the poems curated within its pages continue to expand and explode what poetry is and can do. This is audacious and genre busting publishing at its best.

    If you haven't already checked it out I recommend you rush out right now and buy yourself a copy. Of course I am somewhat biased as I have not one, but two poems published in the pages of this amazing publication. Those poems are uncanny valley and Attention: Ferntree Gully, Melbourne (2020).

    Even more excitingly, the founding editor Erin Lyon, asked to write a statement of poetics for inclusion in the journal. She wanted to hear all about my creative process. As you know, writing about the process of creating is one of my favourite things to do. Nutting out why exactly it is that I do the things I do. Figuring out how to get past blocks or fallow periods. And trying to capture that spark of inspiration that fires my synapses and lights up my cortex.

    If you want some inspiration, garb yourself a copy of the latest issue of Mantissa Poetry Review before it sells out!

     

     

  • Shoot The Breeze

    IP - Shoot the Breeze

    Shoot the Breeze, this anthology of poetry published by Girls on Key is pretty special to me. Not only does it include one of my poems which is a huge honour, it also contains a poem written by my younger daughter, Miss Twelve. Like most parents, I think my girls are amazing and super talented so it's nice to know that other people feel the same!

     

  • hakara

    HakaraSeeing poetry in other languages really excites me. I only speak English with a smattering of German, Spanish and Sinhala (which I cannot read, yet!) so I can't understand the letters I am reading. Nevertheless, my eyes drink in the beauty of those different words while my mind wonders if shaping them on my tongue and sending them out to catch a breeze will change the way I think or see the world.

    I love the shape of languages that don't use the Roman alphabet that I grew up with. Those upright and proper letters shaped my body around the page and the act of recreating it with my hand.  Unlike the Sinhala script of my father's first language which is all curves and swoops. It bends into the page as if it were still the palm leaves that were originally used to write upon.

    Given my fascination with languages other than English, you can imagine my excitement when I discovered the Indian journal, hākārā, which publishes poems in both Marathi and English. It's a bilingual online journal of creative expression. As well as a peer reviewed journal that encourages the 'innovative nature of literary and visual images, critical artistic practices and developments that inform the contemporariness of the medium.'

    When I saw that they had an open call on the theme of repetition, I set to work to write some new poems. I've come a long way in the years since I first attempted to write a poem in response to a journal's theme. Now I know to come at it sideways. To peer at it through blurry lenses. To flip it upside down or turn it inside out.

    It's hard to describe or explain the process in more detail but I must have done something right because they liked what they saw! You can now read my two poems, $7.86 and Iteration (October 2022) over on the hākārā website.

     

  • Shortlisted for the Jean Stone Poetry Award

    Jean Stone Short List - ME!!

    I am so chuffed that the judges shortlisted my poem, At the Foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, for the Jean Stone Award given by the NSW Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers.

    It’s always an amazing moment when your fellow writers see something special in your work and I don’t think that I will ever get used to the giddy feeling of excitement that comes with this sort of recognition. Especially as this is only the second time I have had a poem shortlisted for a poetry prize! Writing is a solitary pursuit, so its nice sometimes to hear things back when you send your poems out to make their way in the world!

    This poem is super special to me. I wrote it about one of my early morning bike rides to the platypus reserve near my house. The writing of the poem cemented this moment in my memory and coloured in its edges. It’s a reminder that words are powerful and that they can make things seem more real. They can also help you to remember those things that are so easily forgotten –  those precious moments of joy.

     

  • Dystopian Dreams

    Eye To the Telescope Banner

    Eye to the Telescope is an online journal form the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association that has been publishing speculative poetry since 2011. They publish science fiction, fantasy and horror and even pay their authors for their poems! Each issue has a different editor which keeps things fresh and interesting.

    I can't remember how I came across this journal but I decided to have a crack at writing a poem for Issue 46.  I had a great time attempting to combine my twin loves of sci-fi/fantasy and poetry. The theme for the issue was quest, which felt apt given writing speculative poetry proved to be quite an adventure. 

    Luckily for me, the editor Wendy Van Camp liked my poem, Dystopian Dreams. A lot of the poems I write in response to themes end up being in some way a negation or a rejection of that theme. Like the time the prompt was to write about a movie I'd watched and instead I wrote a poem about how I was too tired and sleep deprived from breast feeding to watch movies!

     

    In this case, my poem was about how 

     

    It’s always thrusters and jetpacks

    cargo bays and airlocks

     

    but

     

    It’s never washing diapers

    and cleaning toilets.

     

    If you want to check out the rest of my poem and read all the great poetry of Issue 46 of Eye to the Telescope, head on over and check it out.

     

  • The Poisoned Path

    The Crow

    The environment has been on my mind of late. From day to day I don't give it much thought but when I have a moment to be still or quiet, a sense of unease creeps into my thoughts. At times it feels overwhelming, this tide of humanity that has over taken this fragile and precious planet. And then it comes out in my poetry.

    I wrote A Poisoned Path a couple of years ago after a morning walk down to the local creek. It runs between houses and a golf course until the houses turn into an industrial estate. I was standing at the water's edge looking through the trees to the sun shining on the green when I saw a rabbit bounding down the path. She seemed so out of place, here in the suburbs at the edge of a sprawling city.

    I've been sending this poem out the various publications since then and I am so pleased that Brenda Eldridge of Ginninderra Press has decided to publish it in the September edition of The Crow. You can subscribe to The Crow or grab a copy for only $5 – it's the best value poetry journal in the country!

     

  • Gems Zine

    IP -Gems Zine

    I'm not sure what is about certain poems. You know the ones – they've got something about them that you feel says something important. So you keep dusting them off and sending them in to journals and competitions hoping that they will find the reader they're looking for.

    Way back in August 2020 I did my very first online poetry workshop with the award-winning Australian poet, Dr Mark Tredinnick. What The Light Tells was a six week masterclass on the art of writing poetry. At the time I had only been writing poetry again for a couple of years and it pushed and stretched me in so many ways.

    As part of that class I wrote fifteen poems. An astonishing number and in the workshops I've done since then I haven't even been able to come close to that effort. Not all of the poems were good. Not all of them I liked. But there are a handful that I still have faith in after all these years. And so I keep sending them off.

    Happily for me, two of those poems - paper garden and Life Support - have just been picked up by Gems Zine, the publishing collective based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). I am beyond thrilled that they saw something in these pieces and that they are now out in the world and able to be read!

    Thanks Gems for publishing them!

     

  • Mantissa Poetry Review

    IP - Mantissa Poetry Review 1

    IP - Mantissa Poetry Review 2

    IP - Mantissa Poetry Review 3

    Sometimes a poetry journal comes along and it blows you away. Mantissa Poetry Review is one such journal. I fell completely in love with Issue One. The gorgeous cover and its design. The typography and coloured endpapers. 

    I love everything about it from the lush feel of the velvety matt cover under my fingertips to the gorgeous matching endpapers. The layout, design and typography are stunning. And it incorporates verse, text, colour and illustrations to make a visual feast. If all that isn't enough to convince you to go out and buy a copy now, it's printed in Australia on recycled paper.

    IP - Mantissa Poetry Review 4

    IP - Mantissa Poetry Review 5

    IP - Mantissa Poetry Review 6

    And the poems. Oh my. The poems. These are poems that take what you think a poem is and twist it, turn it on its head and turn you inside out. The poets play with white space and mess with your mind. There is colour and illustrations. And fabulous experiments. This is most definitely a journal to savour and one to own.

    The poetry that Mantissa publishes is ‘other’. It is what floats behind and around the literature that aims to erupt. We hope this gives voice to, perhaps, ideas less spoken.


    ‘Mantissa’ by definition, is the fractional part of a floating point. It is the addition of comparatively small importance.

    Imagine my joy when I found out that not one, but two of my poems (Attention: Ferntree Gully (December 2020) and Uncanny Valley) were going to appear in Issue Two of the Journal. I was over the moon! 

    Not only that, the editor Erin Lyon, asked me to write a statement of poetics to be published in the journal along with my poems. You know me, I love thinking and writing about the creative process so to be asked to do exactly that and then have those words included in the journal was an honour.

    Thank you Mantissa Poetry Review for publishing my poems and a statement about my creative process!

     

  • Going Viral

    IP - going viral

    If you live in Victoria and you're not already a member of Writers Victoria, go join it right now! Don't worry, I'll wait here till you're done.

    Oh good, you're back! Now why did I want you to join Writers Victoria? Well they run a great bunch of courses throughout the year on all things writing from poetry through to fiction and non-fiction. The courses range from free lunchtime seminars for members to full day workshops either online or in person.

    And if that's not enough to convince you, they also publish the excellent The Victorian Writer magazine four times a year. That's a gorgeous print magazine featuring the best writing right now. And I am super flattered to be included in the December 2021 issue, Transformation, with my poem going viral.

    If you don't have the funds for a membership at the moment I would highly recommend singing up for their newsletter which will keep you up to date with current writing opportunities.

     

  • Rochford Street Review

    Rochfors Street Review - Two Girls And A SwingI’m super happy to have six of my poems featured in issue 32 of the free online Australian journal Rochford Street Review. The journal is edited by Mark Roberts and Linda Adair and they do a fantastic job of bringing together a wonderful publication.

    In this issue you can find reviews of recent publications, launches, articles and of course poetry. Head on over to Rochford Street Review to read poems in Norwegian and English from Elinor Nauen, one line, monostitch poems from Amanda Anastasi and much, much more!