I’ve felt confident since the early days of producing page seventeen that I would know when it was time to move on. This was helped partly, at least, by talking to other editors about it and the uniformity in which they’d nod and say ‘you’ll just know’.

While I have enjoyed almost every moment of producing this fabulous literary magazine, from the first submission call out in November 2004, until today, it is with a little sadness that I let you know that my time is up. It’s been an impressive journey and the part I’ve enjoyed most is to have been able to watch new writers grow into something more, and to share the excitement of a first acceptance. It hasn’t been easy to step back far enough to be able to see the impact page seventeen has had in the writing community, although there have been times when I have been able to do this, and to be honest, I’m kind of blown away that I’ve been able to achieve something so big.

Not that it was done on my own. There have been so many people along the way who have helped in various ways, with Kathryn Duncan of Celapene Press, my fellow co-founder, at the top of the list. I’m not going to make a list here, but they know who they are, and if you want to too, you can check the Foreword page/s of each issue.

My other favourite part of it has something to do with all the wonderful people I’ve met and become friends with along the way, though I’m no fan of the soppy violin stuff, so that’s all I’ll say on that. In fact, that’s about all I’m saying right now, possibly because it’s a little difficult to articulate much more.

Anyway, I do ask for your help on one little detail. As I won’t be staying on as editor, and because I have moved interstate, I need you to not send anything (at all) to the Cockatoo address you’ve come to love. And also to let others know not to use it. Truthfully, I will possibly receive anything sent there in the next couple of weeks but realistically, I may not receive anything from there ever again. This shouldn’t be a big deal though, because submissions are not currently open. If you do need to contact page seventeen for another reason, especially to order a copy if you can’t use Paypal, please email me for information: tiggatha[at]gmail[dot]com. In fact, feel free to email me anyway. (You can still use the page seventeen email addresses.)

As for news on what’s happening, I don’t have enough information at the moment to share, although I feel confident that page seventeen will indeed live on. When more is known, be sure that information will be available here.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who’s ever submitted, read or even mentioned page seventeen, especially if you were nice to me along the way  

Tiggy Johnson (ex-Editor)

x

First Taste

by Tiggy Johnson

ISBN 978-0-9808136-0-9

‘First taste’ will be launched by Emilie Zoey Baker, this Sunday, 28th November, from 3pm at Caffe Sospeso, 428 Burwood Road, Hawthorn. All welcome.

Tiggy Johnson writes in straight, honest language. The poems collected in First Taste are not for academics, they are for readers, as all poems should be. Johnson draws a narrative bow and fires us through the trials of life, from love to loss, from birth to death, and laughter to sorrow.

The title poem is a journey through vast desserts, tracing a shared life through cakes – from a first taste of butterscotch pudding to an older person’s appetite for anzac biscuits and blueberry muffins. The poem draws a parallel between tastes and life, as we get older the rich sweetness of life is replaced by the safe and bland.

Coburg High continues the exploration of reminiscence as the narrator passes a set of buildings that once meant so much. A flood of memories rushes the page familiar appropriate to any reader who attended high school.

The introductory set of poems concludes with I remember as the narrator recounts childhood memories such as bowling her eldest brother middle stump and then never being allowed to play again. The sequence of memories concludes with a harsh reality ‘I don’t remember / ever missing it’.

The second “set” of poems is themed around pregnancy. Week sixteen removes the gloss painted over pregnancy as Johnson describes with brutal honesty the fatigue entering the second trimester.

Baby’s health is everything is a song of frustration. In spite of the best initial intentions the speed of the world and the ever presence of commercials push a mother into the fast food aisle of life. The poem closes with a sad resignation.

It’s like… should be essential reading for all males in order to gain an understanding of the horrors of morning sickness. This piece reminded me of Dr. Robert Winston who, in ‘The Body Human’, while sitting in a rubber dinghy in rough sea swell explains the feeling of morning sickness as “at first you think you’re going to die. Then you’re afraid you’re not.”

The facts injects a twist of humour into the pregnancy themed section. Through the agony of labour the narrator can “laugh” –

Like

whispering to your husband

you were sure the baby

was going to come out of your arse

only to discover later

there is no such thing

as a woman in labour

whispering.

daddy’s girl takes the up till now light hearted collection into the darkness of loss. The piece imagines the thoughts of a father on what would have been his daughter’s fifth birthday. Johnson describes the images of a child at play, but the dark tone creates a soft focus dream like picture, the poem concludes with a resounding stanza,

he tries to avoid wondering

how different his memories might be

if you’d been born

just two days before

Solitaire continues the dark path by recounting the final days of a loved one lived out in a nursing home. The poem explores the regrets of missed Mothers’ Day lunches and draws a vivid image of ambulances that arrive without any sense of urgency.

Shopping for girls is a return to the earlier theme of an individual trying to stand against multi-national commercial pressure, similar to the exploration is Baby’s health is everything the poem traces the ever increasing pace of growing up experienced by today’s children.

The collection draws to a close with Concluding and Dear Dad. Johnson brings the collection full circle as she explores the end of life. Concluding takes us into a hospital ward as a father endures one last visit from his daughter and grandchildren. The pain is expressed with sorrowful lucidity in the stanza –

We don’t stay long

you’re too tired to say more than thanks

to the kids

for their homemade birthday cards

and the cupcakes

you won’t touch.

Dear Dad is almost a tanka in its brevity. Straight to the point, it expresses the only regret of a surviving child as being that the end had to come.

The collection reads as a whole with a natural progression and delivers clearly and without any airs of pretension that we are the sum of our experiences, there is pain in birth and relief in death. But, regardless of whatever life can throw at us, butterscotch sauce is a cure-all.

I’ve just come off the back of being fiction editor for Issue 8 of page seventeen, having read a whole bunch of short stories. ‘You must be tired,’ people have said to me. ‘Here, have a pillow for you must be oh so exhausted.’

Well, yes and no.

I’m tired because of all the other jobs I do in addition to my role at page seventeen. Reading through submissions, however, was an absolute joy. Frustrating, yes. At times disheartening. But for the most part, there was a simple bliss in reading others’ words, visions, and stories as they searched for a wider audience.

 And what a range: I came across old ladies dying while hiking, time-obsessed mothers, writers who literally saved the world and a dog whisperer… and that was just in the first week. As time marched on, I read of masturbating mothers, pre-wedding jitters, a girl’s first period and some futuristic visions that would frighten George Orwell. All of these (excepting perhaps the sci-fi, which isn’t exactly page seventeen’s strong suit) had the potential to feature in the journal. What stopped them from making the shortlist, however, was an ailment more common than you might think.

I liked many of the stories I mentioned above, but they all needed a fleshing out of the themes, voices and characters within the story.

In Amanda Lohrey’s recent post on writing a short story (available here),  she suggests leaving a story for another month, or three, or six, before coming back to it, so as to ‘let it cook in the oven of your subconscious.’ While six months is a long time to let a story mature, I’d certainly advise at least a month, particularly between the first and second drafts. By doing this, you gain perspective on what is and isn’t working in the story. You sharpen the saw, and with said saw, slash away any characters that aren’t directly aiding the story. You change point-of-view if necessary, and you eliminate ‘that’, ‘however’, ‘to me’, ‘at me’, ‘inside of me’, and any other redundant phrases.

Some writers have told me they write perfect first drafts, so they don’t need to revise. These writers, quite frankly, are on crack. And they’re probably not getting published often.

Writing a great story is not easy. It will make you question your sanity. It will distract you when you’re trying to make love to a beautiful man or woman. But, it’s worth it, because you can always work on the story and then go make love to said beautiful man or woman.

I would have loved to have given feedback to each and every submission this year, but instead I’ll leave these three fragments as lessons learned on the short fiction highway:

1)      Never, ever, send your first draft to an editor. They can spot when a story hasn’t been developed.

2)      Join a writing group with writers that are at the same stage or slightly advanced from you. Sometimes you’re too close to the story to spot its most important flaws.

3)      Your story is done when you cannot do anything else to make it better. Challenge yourself before that point. Strive for excellence: change characters, add and delete scenes. Get an assessment from the VWC if you’re entering it for a big competition, and if not, then still get an assessment, or group feedback at the very least.

Editors don’t owe you the right to publication. You need to prove to them that you’re worth it. How much effort you put in is up to you, but if you don’t go the extra mile, then someone else will… and they’ll be the one getting published.

Thanks to all those who submitted their stories and congratulations to those writers selected. Thanks also to Peter Farrar and Vicki Thornton, my editorial committee for Issue 8. And finally, a special thanks to Tiggy Johnson, who does this every year while still working on her writing and raising three kids

Tiggy has helped foster the careers of any number of writers and poets over the years including myself, Ryan O’Neill, Vicki Thornton, Natasha Lester, Bronwyn Mehan, Nathan Curnow, Sean M Whelan, and Maxine Clarke. Their past contributor list reads like a who’s who of contemporary Australian writing, but at some point they were (and indeed, still are) just writers and poets, searching somewhere for an audience, a place to be published and respected.  And Tiggy has given us that, time and time again.

See you at the launch.

I’m back and I must admit, it feels really odd trying to organise myself after so long away. It doesn’t help that all of the hardcopy poetry submissions have disappeared in the Australia Post system. (Which means if you made a snail mail poetry submission, you probably haven’t heard back from us yet, so please be patient, and believe that we’re terribly sorry.)

Even so Issue 8 is shaping up to be one very impressive issue. As well as at least ten new writers (I don’t have a final figure yet), there’s also great work by some of your favourites, including Graham Nunn, Jane Williams, David Prater, Ivy Alvarez, Matt Hetherington, Anna Ryan-Punch, Jeremy Balius, Ryan O’Neill and of course, so many more.

So, set aside the afternoon of Saturday November 13th, allow enough time to trek out to the Burrinja cafe in Upwey, so you can be one of the first to check it out.

I must admit to enjoying the role of acting editor while Tiggy has been away on her holiday. There has been the joy of selecting work, of discovering new voices and enjoying the strength of known names. There has been the sorrow of turning down work, the juggling with pages and word counts.  As well as working with our competition judges, Graham Nunn and Amanda le Bas de Plumetot, our poetry editor, Ashley Capes, and the selection committee of Laurie Steed and Peter Farrar.

They have all been brilliant to work with. None of them minded (or appeared to mind) the emails that began with …ooops I think we have a problem.

There will be a short time when the Page Seventeen post will not be manned. I’m about to take a small holiday but before too long Tiggy will be back, reins tightly in her hand, answering any queries or questions.

I sincerely hope that I have responded to everyone that submitted to Page Seventeen, if not I apologise.  The paperwork I freely admit was the one area I dreaded.

However after reading the quality of work that has been selected,  I think we are going to have a great Issue 8 and can’t wait to see the final product.

We would love to see you at the launch

Saurday 13th November, Burrinja Cafe, 350 Glenfern Rd, Upwey, 1 pm.

Vicki Thornton

Acting Editor

Tiggy has begun her adventure and so I will be updating you on the happenings at Page Seventeen while she is away.  (I’m trying to avoid the cliche while the cat’s away the mice will play…but…)

Submissions have closed and this year we had more than 250 poems and 180 short stories for general submission. This is the most number of short story submissions we’ve ever had.

And now for the fun.

The editorial committee will begin reading. Our poetry editor, Ashley Capes, will be reading all poetry submissions, and the fiction will be read by myself, Peter Farrar and Laurie Steed (our fiction editor).

So I’m going to crank up the heating, make a coffee and immerse myself in some wonderful short stories.

Vicki Thornton -Acting Editor

It’s come along quickly. Tomorrow we are selecting a poem from the open mic section of Melbourne poetry event Stopping all Stations to go into issue 8.

It’s easy, all you have to do is bring along one of your poems and registerto read/perform it in the open mic section.

It’s all happeneing at the Station St cafe, 26 Station street, Nunawading, from 2pm, Saturday 19th June. If you’re on the train, it’s right across the road from Nunawading station (Belgrave/Lilydale lines). There’s a $5 fee for the event, which includes lucky door prizes (including books and book vouchers), and the pleasure of also hearing featured poet Catherine Bateson read her work. There are no additional requirements or payments for you to enter, except you might like to bring an extra copy of your poem to leave with the judge/s in case yours is selected. The winner will also receive a copy of the current issue, Issue 7.

If spoken word isn’t your thing, or you’re not in Melbourne, there’s still time to send us your submission. You have until June 30 to submit up to three written pieces and/or black and white images, and/or to enter either or both the Cover Competition or the Short Story and Poetry competition.

Also, keep your eye on our Facebook page. In the next few days, we’ll be announcing a little competition that will only be open until the end of June.

This Sunday, 23rd May, I’m going to be at the Page Parlour, which is part of the Emerging Writers’ Festival.

If this sounds good to you…

Discover the best of undiscovered, underground, independent, obscure and locally produced publications at the happening Emerging Writers’ Festival Page Parlour.

Featuring over forty stalls selling everything from books to posters, literary journals to hand-crafted storybooks, indie titles to mooks, magazines, and Stuck in a lift… and more!

… then I’ll expect you to stop by the page seventeen table to at least say hello. Of course you could always grab yourself a copy too.

It’s on from 12 – 5pm at Fed Square (The Atrium), and it’s free. Well, if you can stop yourself buying any of the fabulous books that’ll be available.

Up to 5 poems for Issue 8 will be selected at spoken word events around the country. Issue 7 includes two poems selected this way, one from Melbourne and one from Queensland.

If you want to get in on the action, all you need to do is put your name down in the open mic section at one of the following events and hope the judge thinks your piece is The One (take a copy of your poem to leave with the judge if that’s the case). Or if you just want to hear all the fabulous offerings, by all means go along as audience and show support.

VIC: Saturday, June 19, 2-5pm at Stopping all Stations, Station St cafe, 26 Station St, Nunawading. $5 entry includes lucky door prizes and June’s featured poet is Catherine Bateson. The judges are myself (Tiggy) and Vicki.

SA: Thurs July 29, 8.30pm at Hard Boiled, La Boheme, 36 Grote St, Adelaide. Free entry. Judged by Amelia Walker.

QLD: Sunday August 1, 2-5pm at SpeedPoets, InSpire Gallery Bar, 71 Vulture St West End, Brisbane. Entry by gold coin donation. August feature TBC. Judged by Graham Nunn.

I’m working on a couple other states and will keep you posted. Keep an eye out for our Events page (to appear soon) where these details will be posted, including any updates.

Oh, and you can ‘enter’ whether or not you made a general submission to the same issue. The guidelines are set according to the event’s open mic ‘rules’. For example, some events may impose a limit of 3 minutes on the open mic and others 5 minutes, and each event may close the open mic list once a certain number of people have registered. The judges are looking for a poem that, while fabulous as a performance piece, would also be great on the page.

So, scribble one of those dates in your diary and get cracking on a fabulous piece.