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Death and the Motorway
David Gilbey A long-awaited collection from the much-admired editor of the fourW anthologies, Several poems deal with David's experiences of life in Japan and the tensions between a busy academic life and the urge to create poetry.
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ISBN 9781876819781 |
RRP: AUS$25 |
Poetry |
PB 104pp |
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Reviews |
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David Gilbey
Children’s, 19th Century) and Creative Writing at Charles Sturt
University and the founding President of Wagga Wagga Writers
Writers, as well as a poet.
Born in London, he migrated to Australia as a boy with his family
where he later graduated from the University of Sydney. Involved
with a variety of arts groups in the community, he has been known
to tread the boards and impersonate well-known public figures.
His first part collection of poetry was “Under the Rainbow”, fourW
press, 1996. The manuscript of Death and the Motorway was
completed after he travelled to US, UK, France, Japan and China
on Study Leave 2006.
Sample
Def Leppard in Japan
Loud—
I’ve never heard them before
consciously
but someone is screaming words
through my mouth
as the world is purple, it’s red
strobed and arced by gauds.
The drummer feathers his nest of sound
courted by the furious guitarist
prancing around in shorts, t-shirt and joggers
a randy gazelle.
New twists to old songs:
Elvis Presley’s Return to Sendai
a living lesson in language
everything’s karaoke tonight
bodies respond where culture prohibits.
My body too, embarrassing my children
is drawn by a language beyond language
the rhythm of the night
when love and hate collide.
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David Gilbey’s poems are often stories full of wit and tenderness. He writes of family matters with humour, irony and delicacy. He is always original, sweetly relishing the world , its absurdities and its richness. A poet of the people, never pretentious or obscure, he has a clear voice which goes straight to the heart of the matter.
– Kate Llewellyn
David Gilbey's poetry mines a rich seam of wit—something increasingly rare in Australian verse. His works are postcards from a glittering tourist destination in the mind, and they record the lively contradictions of art and desire, the shock of the familiar within the exotic.
– Peter Kirkpatrick