welcome to the slightly revamped reading revival 3. there will still be a regular book choice - tentatively every 2 months instead of 3. it will be the base of a book group. if u are in another city/town please feel free to use reading revival as a base for yr own contemporay australian poetry book group. there seems to be quite a bit published at the moment, but regardless of activity theres always a lack of public criticism, and great books get lost ... ill be posting less, but if u have any comments on the book at hand please email me readingrevival at gmail dot com or comment on the blog itself. the book for the next couple of months is 'australian passport' by s.s. charkianiakis (brandl & schlesinger 2002). charkianakis was elected in 1975 to the primate of the greek orthodox church in australia, and lives in sydney. religious themes recur in his work, not piously - and not banally - but in the context of intellectuality and poetry. his approach to australia is intellectual too - he incoroporates and articulates australia into his poems without the predictable irony or naivety of some. vrasidas karalis, his translator compares him to les murray & james mcauley, yet he has a lighter touch than either, is less caught up in his identity. who are charkianakis heroes of the 20th century - i suspect ritsos and borges might be 2? his father was executed by the nazis. theres something of the post-neilson in

To The Yellow

How many times did you play with citrons
and steal their colour?
You took something off their light and shine
but for ever you'll miss
their sap their smell!


another short one:

In Brief

There is no other poetry than that of the impossible - Yves Bonnefoy

Finally it seems that poetry
is the noblest form of failure
that transfers us almost wilfully
to that infinite freedom
of the shipwrecked-in-life!