Josh SimmonsOct 29, 2023

"Panic Attack by Les Murray

The body had a nightmare. Awake. No need of the movie.

No need of light, to keep hips and shoulders rotating in bed on the gimbals of wet eyes.

Pounding heart, chest pains— should it be the right arm hurting?

The brain was a void or a blasted-out chamber— shreds of speech in there, shatters of lust and prayer.

No one can face their heart or turn their back on it.

Bowel stumbled to bowl, emptied, and emptied again till the gut was a train crawling in its own tunnel,

slowly dragging the nightmare down with it, below heart level. You would not have died

the fear had been too great but: to miss the ambulance moment—

Relax. In time, your hourglass will be reversed again."

— Les Murray: The Biplane Houses, pp. 85-86

#LesMurray #DisabilityPoetry #TodaysPoem #Poetry #BookWyrm

The Biplane Houses - BookWyrm

Social Reading and Reviewing

Andrew ShieldsMay 9, 2023
“Forgive the Aborigines, the Jews, women, and God”: The conclusion of Les Murray’s “Fredy Neptune” (1999). #111Words #LesMurray #FredyNeptune #VerseNovel #Poetry #Novel #Literature #Forgiveness https://andrewjshields.blogspot.com/2023/05/forgive-aborigines-jews-women-and-god.html
“Forgive the Aborigines, the Jews, women, and God”: The conclusion of Les Murray’s “Fredy Neptune” (1999)

In Les Murray's "Fredy Neptune" (1999), Fred Boettcher, a German-Australian sailor on a German ship in Trabzon in 1915, witnesses Armenian w...

Andrew ShieldsApr 11, 2023
Marlene Dietrich and cinematographer Karl Freund in Les Murray’s “Fredy Neptune” (1999). #111Words #LesMurray #FredyNeptune #MarleneDietrich #KarlFreund #VerseNovel #Poetry #Film #Cinema https://andrewjshields.blogspot.com/2023/04/marlene-dietrich-and-cinematographer.html
Marlene Dietrich and cinematographer Karl Freund in Les Murray’s “Fredy Neptune” (1999)

When Fred Boettcher in Les Murray's "Fredy Neptune" (1999) first sees Marlene Dietrich in Hollywood, where he is an extra on the 1930 film o...

Andrew ShieldsFeb 7, 2023
C. J. Dennis's "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke", Raymond Longford's "The Sentimental Bloke", and Les Murray's "Fredy Neptune". #111Words #LesMurray #FredyNeptune #CJDennis #TheSongsOfASentimentalBloke #RaymondLongford #TheSentimentalBloke #VerseNovels #Poetry https://andrewjshields.blogspot.com/2023/02/c-j-denniss-songs-of-sentimental-bloke.html
C. J. Dennis's "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke", Raymond Longford's "The Sentimental Bloke", and Les Murray's "Fredy Neptune"

Before Fred Boettcher in Les Murray's 1999 verse novel "Fredy Neptune" ends up in Hollywood a few years later, he goes to...

Andrew ShieldsJan 10, 2023
to prove their point, to save their world, they would kill me. / I had shared with them what I owned most: a story / they could never tell, any more than I could tell it, / one they couldn't report, nor forget, nor stop wanting to tell it. (Les Murray, "Fredy Neptune") #Poetry #VerseNovels #LesMurray #FredyNeptune
Andrew ShieldsJan 2, 2023
But there’s too much in life: you can’t describe it. (Les Murray, “Fredy Neptune”) #poetry #VerseNovel #LesMurray
Andrew ShieldsDec 28, 2022
"It seems the Bolsheviks are starving all his people to death": The Ukrainian famine in Les Murray's "Fredy Neptune" (1999). #111Words #FredyNeptune #LesMurray #Ukraine #Famine #Poetry #VerseNovel https://andrewjshields.blogspot.com/2022/12/it-seems-bolsheviks-are-starving-all.html
"It seems the Bolsheviks are starving all his people to death": The Ukrainian famine in Les Murray's "Fredy Neptune" (1999)

While Fred Boettcher in Les Murray's "Fredy Neptune" (1999) is in the United States, he finds a fellow strongman, the Ukr...

Andrew ShieldsDec 23, 2022
"All the people in Newcastle, all on the train wore these face-masks": The Spanish flu pandemic in Les Murray's "Fredy Neptune" (1999). #111Words #LesMurray #FredyNeptune #Poetry #VerseNovel #SpanishFlu #FaceMasks #Australia #WorldWarOne https://andrewjshields.blogspot.com/2022/12/all-people-in-newcastle-all-on-train.html
"All the people in Newcastle, all on the train wore these face-masks": The Spanish flu pandemic in Les Murray's "Fredy Neptune" (1999)

In Les Murray's 1999 verse novel "Fredy Neptune", Fred Boettcher returns to his native Australia from the Eastern Mediter...

Show threadM. GrégoireMay 21, 2019

Also good:

The Say-But-the-Word Centurion Attempts a Summary -- Les Murray

https://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/murray-les/the-say-but-the-word-centurion-attempts-a-summary-0569005

#poetry #LesMurray
#Christianity

The Say-But-The-Word Centurion Attempts a Summary - Les Murray - Poem - Australian Poetry Library

M. GrégoireMay 21, 2019

The Dream of Wearing Shorts Forever -- Les Murray
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cPneEIuFF90&feature=youtu.be

#poetry #LesMurray
#Australia

Australian Tourism - Les Murray Ad

YouTube