The Bee Hut

By Dorothy Porter

Known for her passionate, sensual and edgy poetry, Dorothy Porter was one of Australia's truly original writers. She was twice short-listed for Australia's premier literary award, the Miles Franklin, and her verse novel The Monkey's Mask is a modern Australian classic.

The Bee Hut, her fifteenth book, brings together the poems she wrote in the last five years of her life. By turns expansive and intimate, effusive and contemplative, these poems roam widely: there are journeys into history and to sacred places both mythic and deeply personal. As Andrea Goldsmith writes in her preface, Porter's writing “glows and shimmers” with passionate curiosity and exuberant love of life.

Shortlisted for the 2009 Colin Roderick Award

‘Her imagery is fresh and acute...one is very aware of the intellect at work here’ —Sydney Morning Herald

‘It’s hard not to be uplifted by this writing and this woman’ —Courier Mail

‘An expansive and satisfying experience.’ —Bookseller+Publisher

‘Moving and powerful … it shows all of Porter’s strengths.’ —The Age

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black Inc. Books
• Release date: Aug 31, 2009
• ISBN: 9781921825491

Dorothy Porter

Dorothy Porter, acclaimed poet, lyricist and librettist, was twice shortlisted for Australia’s premier literary award, the Miles Franklin, and her verse novel The Monkey’s Mask is a modern Australian classic. Her work has been adapted for radio, stage and screen. In 2008, Dorothy Porter died, aged fifty-four.

Book preview

THE BEE HUT

THE BEE HUT

Dorothy Porter

Published by Black Inc.,

an imprint of Schwartz Media Pty Ltd

37–39 Langridge Street

Collingwood Victoria 3066 Australia

email: [e-mail] http://www.blackincbooks.com

© Dorothy Porter 2009.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted in any form by any means electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the

prior consent of the publishers.

The National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Porter, Dorothy Featherstone, 1954–2008.

The bee hut / Dorothy Porter.

ISBN for print edition: 9781863954464

ISBN for eBook edition: 9781921825491

A821.3

Cover design by Thomas Deverall

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Head of Astarte

The Enchanted Ass

Poems: January–August 2004

Smelling Tigers

Jerusalem

Africa

The Freak Songs

Lucky

FOREWORD

Dorothy Porter never went anywhere without a volume of poetry. Whether to the local coffee shop or to Antarctica, a book of poems, and often several, travelled with her. She counted reading poetry among her greatest pleasures and her greatest blessings.

Her own poetry glows and shimmers with a lifetime of reading and this volume is no exception. All the poems, with the exception of the Freak Songs and a couple of others, were written in the last almost-five years of her life. It was a period of great happiness and satisfaction; the best, according to Dorothy, she had known. She produced a large body of new poetry, including her verse novel El Dorado; there were her collaborations with musicians Jonathan Mills, Paul Grabowsky and Tim Finn, and her work on the film of The Eternity Man, directed by Julien Temple. She was aware of a new depth to the way she inhabited her days, and often spoke about this. Always captivated by the wonder of existence, in the last years of her life Dot learned to live each moment as it occurred, to linger and dwell. She delighted in the everyday: home, family, friends, work, our cat; and she delighted in our travels, vividly represented in this collection, to Africa, Antarctica, the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, London and New York. She acknowledged her good fortune several times each day.

Every few weeks during 2004 when she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, Dot would spend the weekend with her friend Robert on his farm. She loved the country air, the birds, the quiet, the glimpse of the ocean on the horizon, and she was fascinated by the old hut, not far from the

Reviews for The Bee Hut

[sasham-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Modern Australian poet. Focus on mortality. Not surprising given it was written between diagnosis and treatment for cancer(successful) and her death 5 years later. I have to admit I am not a fan of most modern poetry and this is not an exception. I pity the kids who have it as a school text. Many references to classical poets , which I feel cannot be appreciated without also reading their work (Keats, Blake, Wordsworth to name a few).
I some times got the impression that the occasional profanity was put in deliberately to "shock". It feels like it doesn't actually fit. Writers seem to forget that those words are no longer shocking they just come across as crass and out of sync.
I gave an extra star because the poems were short. I like short poetry.