Almanac Poetry: ‘Digging’ – Seamus Heaney

‘Digging’ by Seamus Heaney is one of his most loved poems and is from his first poetry collection ‘Death of a Naturalist’.

Almanac Poetry: Spleen

Feel like getting something off your chest? Out of your system? Reading today’s poem by Kevin Densley may help!

Almanac Music: Song of the Seasons (Song Lyric)

Partly inspired by Almanackers’ responses to his group of posts concerning Oz songs connected to particular seasons, KD puts forward a song lyric he wrote as an eighteen-year-old that encompasses all four of them.

The Gambler

The plight of the gambler is portrayed tellingly in Damian Balassone’s poem.

Almanac Poetry: Another for Mr Malley

Australia’s greatest literary hoax was the creation of the non-existent poet, Ern Malley, in the 1940s. This week, Kevin Densley presents a Malley-esque poem dedicated to the fictitious Ern.

Almanac Music: The Doctor Will See You Now – Five Oz Rock Classics by The Angels

KD salutes iconic Australian band The Angels, originally headed by dynamic frontman, Bernard ‘Doc’ Neeson.

Round 15 – Haiku Bob: the ruckman’s reach

Collingwood’s run of success and the creature comforts of home are enough to keep both Haiku Bob and his dog happy.

Almanac Poetry: ‘The Wild Iris’ – Louise Glück

Louise Glück is an American poet who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature. ‘The Wild Iris’ is one of her best known poems.

Almanac Poetry: Measures Taken

This week’s poem from Kevin Densley is about hard times, and actions one takes when experiencing them, like ‘kicking a newspaper football, tied into shape with string.’ [Who has played kick-to-kick with a football made of folded-up newspapers? – KD]

Almanac Literary: Proximity

Very short story? Prose poem? This Friday’s piece from KD involves his maternal grandmother’s unusual connection to Africa.

Almanac Poetry: Archetypal Dream

This Monday’s poem by Kevin Densley is about dream analysis, and also makes reference to a big hit by Chubby Checker!

Almanac Music: Australian Songs of Autumn

Now that it’s autumn, KD offers his piece concerning Australian songs of autumn, to complete a ‘Footy Almanac Four Seasons’, as he has previously posted pieces concerning Australian songs of summer, winter and spring on the Almanac website. Again, he invites Almanackers to contribute their own song choices.

Almanac Prose Poetry: People and Places

This Friday, KD presents two prose poems concerning people and places – the first piece was inspired by his paternal grandmother, Iris, as well as his love of old pubs, while the second is a more introspective affair evoking loneliness and the passing of time.

Almanac Poetry: Three (More) Little Worlds

As with last week, every poem worthy of the name – no matter the length – should evoke a world; clearly Kevin Densley has a veritable galaxy of word worlds brimming within.

Round 11 – Like playing the Romans in Rome

TroyBOP watched TV
and there he did see
the boys from Sin City
get away with the kitty!

Almanac Poetry: Winter train to Balaclava

Pards is up to his tricks to find out where to buy a balaclava in Balaclava!

Almanac Poetry: Three Little Worlds

With this Monday effort, Kevin Densley states that every poem worthy of the name (no matter how long or short) should in some sense evoke its own world. He offers three tiny ecosystems for your consideration.

Almanac Life: Ten Personal Favourites

Kevin Densley has hit us with his best shots today; a list of ‘personal favourites’, which might not necessarily equate with the ‘greatest of all-time’, but in many instances are more important, as they tell you something about yourself.

Almanac Music (and Poetry): ‘Lacrimosa’ from Mozart’s Requiem

Prose and poetry combine in this piece by KD about working as a cinema usher in Melbourne in the mid-1980s – the focus is upon one of his all-time favourite films and pieces of music.

Almanac Poetry: Bushranger Jimmy Governor

Today’s poem from Kevin Densley focuses upon Jimmy Governor, whose execution in 1901 was one of the key markers of the end of Australia’s bushranging era. [Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following contains images of person who has died.]