Alex Skovron – Papercuts

Skovron LE P&W Vol 1 Nov-Dec 2025

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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing 16th Anniversary Volume One
November- December 2025

Papercuts, poems by Alex Skovron.


Papercuts

Give me a quirky keyboard
for this heartwork,
the slow burn of Bruckner
at the back, the mute
swirl of circumstance
sniffing out the old velleities.
Later, a wakefulness
the night subdues
with dry dreams you can’t
recall recedes,
all the lesions’ ferment
in safe mode. Recurrence
the eternal cure, till
regrets taper to clerical, to
papercuts, and you walk about
like an achievement.


Triple Shot

Why do we all miss the point
of everything? Even that iron gate
        squeaking in the rain
understands its true predicament.
As for you, ill-starred as a scribe
observing himself grow
pointless, how can you not know
art is the sublimation of desire?
How much sadder to drown
one’s nightmares in a foaming pot.
        Put down that triple shot
of double malt, oil the iron gate.
You’re older than you drink.

© Alex Skovron

Alex Skovron was born in Poland, lived briefly in Israel, and emigrated to Australia as a boy. His family settled in Sydney, where he grew up and completed his studies. From the early 1970s he worked as an editor for book publishers in Sydney and (after 1980) Melbourne. His poetry has appeared widely in Australia and overseas, and he has received a number of major awards for his work. His most recent collection is Letters from the Periphery (2021); his previous book, Towards the Equator: New & Selected Poems (2014), was shortlisted in the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Skovron’s collection of short stories The Man who Took to his Bed (2017), and his novella The Poet (2005), have been published in Czech translations; The Attic, a selection of his poetry translated into French, was published in 2013, and a bilingual volume of Chinese translations, Water Music, in 2017. His work has also appeared in Dutch, Macedonian, Polish and Spanish. The numerous public readings he has given have included appearances in China, Serbia, India, Ireland and Portugal. In 2023 Alex Skovron was honoured with the Patrick White Literary Award for his contribution to Australian literature.

https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/towards-the-equator-alex-skovron/
https://compulsivereader.com/2022/03/12/a-review-of-letters-from-the-periphery-by-alex-skovron/
https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2018/

 

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