I started King River Press in the beginning of 2018. The idea had been with me for some time but with so many other projects on the go and the hectic pace of living in Sydney I didn’t have much time to focus on it until an extended visit to China between February and May, where I had time to sit with it for a while and then finally act upon it. The collection was finally published in May 2018.
So, King River Press has began it’s journey with the publishing of an extended version of down days (first published in 2017 through Amazon Kindle). The King River Press 2018 edition of down days has all of the features of a good quality small press poetry collection. It also includes black and white images I captured whilst living in Sydney, which add some context and contrast to the poems. More about down days below:
down days
ISBN: 978-0-6483088-0-5 Pages: 50 Size: 21 x 14.5cm x .5cm Cover: Soft
This is my second collection of haiku. I hadn’t stopped writing over the years since my first collection was published in 2006; I just took a break from chasing publishing opportunities and also worked many “real jobs”. The moments in down days capture some of my experiences during my publishing break when living in Sydney for 6 years with my two children.
Over the years I have tried to tone down my reactions to the world around me, but I still find that’s hard for me. So, once again I’ve given into myself a little bit and down days is not dissimilar to the tone I took with Watching Pilgrims Watching Me (published by Pardalote Press in 2006). The plan is to republish much of this book with other poems spanning 20 years in Yunnan.
down days is written in what I consider to be my “instinctive, raw and honest; sometimes playful, often poignant” voice. The experiences within explore politics, media, identity, relationships and nature.
Some snippets from down days are shared below:
Coke crates for chairs and all the shades of green ~ sadly a world away mesmerised little ones at Adventure World mum's 3rd coffee Ancestry results bickering about what it means to be Irish unbeknownst many carry it ~ the convict stain how very kind of them drinkwise.org.au staking out the block for non-existent threats ~ the Marxist ego hiding behind titles moving in sync with The Carillon this love song repeating our favourite lies if it wasn't for the summer rain I'd love you more vacated fun park me, a superstar and his vices not yet dead the rose-tinted dreams of drunken youth
Jodie Hawthorne 