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Time Ships sequence   poetry  
  • Author:agent Jan Owen http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/owen-jan
Issue Details: First known date: 2002... 2002 Time Ships
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Includes

The Arrival i "We are a squat of guavas", Jan Owen , 1999 single work poetry
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 58 no. 2 1999; (p. 184-185) Timedancing 2002; (p. 58) Poems : 1980-2008 2008; (p. 201)
The Bite i "The lychees wait on the household shrine", Jan Owen , 1999 single work poetry
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 58 no. 2 1999; (p. 186) Timedancing 2002; (p. 56) Poems : 1980-2008 2008; (p. 199)
Tree House i "Given: a forked stick in a rectangle", Jan Owen , 1998 single work poetry
— Appears in: Quadrant , October vol. 42 no. 10 1998; (p. 54)
— Appears in: Timedancing 2002; (p. 52) Poems : 1980-2008 2008; (p. 195)
Zeno Sideon Zeno Side-on i "Wiping up time, the spilt milk of the moon,", Jan Owen , 1997 single work poetry
— Appears in: Westerly , Summer vol. 42 no. 4 1997; (p. 57)
— Appears in: Timedancing 2002; (p. 54) Poems : 1980-2008 2008; (p. 197)

The work of art may represent a towel. Zeno is a pre-Socratic philosopher remembered for philosophical paradoxes of impossibility, such as Achilles and the Tortoise (see modern fractal illustration). The poem suggests several meanings the towel may be intended to convey, and ends in apparent exasperation summed up in the first line in Timedancing and Poems 1980-2008 which paraphrases Gertrude Stein's famous, 'Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.' The symbolic meaning of the art, if any, eludes the poet.

Glad Rag Dolls i "I remember them well", Jan Owen , 1997 single work poetry
— Appears in: Westerly , Summer vol. 42 no. 4 1997; (p. 70) Timedancing 2002; (p. 55) Poems : 1980-2008 2008; (p. 198)
Pawpaws i "We may well seem", Jan Owen , 2002 single work poetry
— Appears in: Timedancing 2002; (p. 57) Poems : 1980-2008 2008; (p. 200)
Soft Left i "The four-inch nail", Jan Owen , 2002 single work poetry
— Appears in: Timedancing 2002; (p. 53) Poems : 1980-2008 2008; (p. 196)

The sculpture appears to include an empty 'soft' left shoe and a four inch nail. The poem contrasts the brutality and reductiveness of the nail with the shoe, as a symbol of 'driving a point home,' that has 'left' naked feet showing everywhere in the 'poorly repaired' past constructed by history.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Timedancing Jan Owen , Wollongong : Five Islands Press , 2002 Z1002721 2002 selected work poetry Wollongong : Five Islands Press , 2002 pg. 52-58
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Poems : 1980-2008 Jan Owen , Elwood : John Leonard Press , 2008 Z1526900 2008 selected work poetry Elwood : John Leonard Press , 2008 pg. 195-201
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()
Last amended 15 Apr 2010 15:47:23
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