On June 2nd at the Geelong Regional library Melbourne Poets’ Union will publish The Arms of Men, a collection of poetry by John Bartlett who is also the President of U3aSurfCoast and a member of Surf Coast Rural Australians for Refugees.
John previously worked in Mindanao in the southern Philippines in the 1970s as a Catholic priest, an experience which contributed to his first novel Towards a Distant Sea in 2005. He has since published five more books but this will be his first published collection of poetry, to be launched by Deakin University academic, writer and poet Maria Takolander.
Professor David McCooey of Deakin University has said of this work – “This powerful collection brings together visions of the natural world in all its stark beauty, and of our human world with its complexities, pleasures, and injustices. John Bartlett offers a compelling portrait of a place of ‘damaged angels’, but one where—despite the nearing Apocalypse—‘grace still hovers over the earth’. Ranging from the comic and satirical to the elegiac and erotic, this is a brave, humane work.”
John worked as a tutor at Deakin University himself for a number of years and also holds an MA in Professional & Creative writing from Deakin, a Certificate in Professional Writing from the Gordon Institute and a Certificate in Community Development from Phillip Institute, Melbourne.
This is a free event and will begin at 2pm. Anyone interested in attending will need to book at: https://www.grlc.vic.gov.au/whats-on/book-launch-%E2%80%93-john-bartlett-%E2%80%93-arms-men
