lake & vale
A6 32pp ISBN 978-0-9807718-3-1
$9.90 including postage
lake & vale is made of up two pieces that have been performed on stage and for radio over a number of years. They are deeply reflective with a highly idiosyncratic use of language which those who know janssen’s work will be pleased to see on the page.
Excerpt from lake
All afternoon giggling tousled the lakes surface. The trees brisk in their shimmy of light. Stories bounced, raunched, rabbled, from the gabble of gals upon the verandah perched. Rounds of tea, and glee, tee hee, moistened the tongues, expanded the lungs. Such balloons were launched, fair thought rising on the hot gas. When the sun set they were still.
By the lake the house airs. The doors are for opening, to ear her world. Birdsong, waterslap, leafshuffle, creak. And the verandah hums. Its her little song that wends and winds; an arabesque of story. Thoughts flutter, prayerflags. Her throat is warm, a yellow warmth that seeps and sings your bones and laps your skin. Such is her tone.
About berni m janssen
berni m janssen, poet, performer, facilitator, creative director, artist working with communities. She has worked with writers, composers, sound designers, musicians, visual artists, performers, communities. Her work spans words on page; words as music; words as images; words spoken or sung by one, two or many. Her work has been presented in Spain, Italy, USA, England, Germany, Phillipines, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan and www.
Although she does not perform frequently these days, her performances are renowned for full bodied, full throated, intensely present, vocally playful, 'sonic embrace'. This is 'live' poetry.
She was one of the contributing poets for Punctum's music theatre work - Dinner for a Dry Dam, premiered at the Castlemaine Festival, 2009. In 2009 she curated the event, Tremor - a conversation in poetry and music, for Punctum, a live arts group based in Castlemaine.
Most recently she has created The tongue-atorium - a research laboratory dedicated to all things tongue. Over 40 writers, artists, family and friends from across the world contributed recipes, stories, poems, sounds and images to the installation and symposia, presented for Punctum as part of the 2010 In Habit season at the Abbottsford Convent.
Other books by berni m janssen
Mangon (Mercurial Editions, 1992 and Gek Press, 1994)
Xstatic (Post Neo, 1988)
Possessives and Plurals (Filia Press, 1985)
CDROM
Hearth. FlightPaths CDRom produced by Next Wave FestivalSeptember 1997
Winner of the South Australian Festival Awards for Literature. Faulding Prize for Multimedia. 1998 Exhibited at Interact 1997. MILIA. 1998. Lovebytes Digital Art Festival. UK. 1998. Australian Film Commission. Multimedia Conference. 1998.
Visual Texts
Wor(l)d. ‘un’alltro mondo e’ possible’ collaboration between visual artists, musicians and poets in Brazil, Italy and Australia. Exhibited in Savonna. Italy. May 2002
Language is a boxed set. Dot Matrix On Swanston. An installation. Next Wave Festival. 1996
Palais Lights. Large scale projections with Ian de Gruchy. St Kilda Writers Festival. 1994.
3rd International Exhibition of Visual Poetry. 1993
An Installation Project: Fact. A National Touring Project. 1992
