Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Damen O’Brien places third in the 2020 Australian Catholic University’s Prize for Poetry

byMark Bowling
3 October 2020
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA

Rising poet Damen O’Brien: “Poetry keeps me sane.”

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Rising poet Damen O’Brien: “Poetry keeps me sane.”

A RISING poet from Brisbane’s bayside suburb of Wynnum has capped off a stellar year by placing third in the 2020 Australian Catholic University’s Prize for Poetry.

Damen O’Brien, 41, always dabbled in writing poetry, but six years ago made a new year’s resolution to focus on improving his practice.

Since then he has won a string of prestigious awards, including the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, and The Moth Poetry Prize, the world’s richest competition for an unpublished poem.

A former standout English student at Iona College, Mr O’Brien said he was encouraged by “a couple of very good teachers who really pushed poetry”.

Busy working as a contracts manager for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle company, and with a patient wife and two sons at Iona College, he said “poetry keeps me sane”.

Generosity was the theme of this year’s ACU Prize for Poetry, and Mr O’Brien said his poem Atlas Carried the World was inspired by listening to stories about people fighting bushfires on ABC Radio National.

“That was the genesis of the poem,” he said, describing his work a “a mix of fiction with a kernel of fact” casting the holy figure St Stanislav as a martyr in 18th century Bialystok, Poland.

“It is a story of someone who runs into a fire to save two children, and goes back in for their mother, but doesn’t come out again,” he said.

“And (the poem) goes on to consider those two children, who go on to have children of their own, and grandchildren.

“And so good deeds like that have huge ramifications down the path.

Related Stories

New ACU Vice-Chancellor and President installed

Severe shortage of doctors for Australia’s terminally ill patients, ACU study

Iraqi Catholic sent to ACU to support Erbil rebuild homes to be home for Pope’s visit

“They are essentially the saviour of thousands of people in the future.”

Mr O’Brien said he tried to inject religious philosophy into his poetry.

“It’s not overt, it’s a way of thinking about the world,” he said.

In judging this year’s ACU Prize for Poetry, Emeritus Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe described Mr O’Brien’s poem as “a modern celebration of the Polish St Stanislav” and paying tribute to all martyrs.

“Stanislav’s sacrifice in the fire is seen as a sacrifice for us all “in the ordinary way these things have always been happening”, he said.

While receiving a $3000 cheque for Atlas Carried the World, Mr O’Brien recently collected more than $15,000 for winning the The Moth Poetry Prize, for his poem The Nave.

“Most poets don’t do it for the money, they all have day jobs and they do it because they love the art,” he said.

“But I’ve been lucky this year to make some cash out of the art as well.”

Mr O’Brien said Australian poetry was a rich and vibrant place right now.

“My poetry is lyrical, often cynical, sometimes political,” Mr O’Brien said.

“I love science and philosophy and you will see signs of both in my poems.”

He is working on a manuscript for his first book of poetry, expected for publication by Recent Work Press next year.

A video featuring Mr O’Brien reading his poem alongside the other ACU Prize for Poetry winners, Canberra-based poet Geoff Page (first), and Victorian Fiona Lynch (second), can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWHjTDCJ4Jo&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=ACUsocial

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Deacon Gary Stone honours his own family at Order of Australia Medal investiture

Next Post

Daughter born 78 days premature develops strong bond with parents through Cuddle Hearts

Mark Bowling

Mark is the joint winner of the Australian Variety Club 2000 Heart Award for his radio news reporting in East Timor, and has also won a Walkley award, Australia’s most-respected journalism award. Mark is the author of ‘Running Amok’ that chronicles his time as a correspondent juggling news deadlines and the demands of being a husband and father. Mark is married with four children.

Related Posts

Australia

New ACU Vice-Chancellor and President installed

29 March 2021 - Updated on 6 April 2021
euthanasia
Australia

Severe shortage of doctors for Australia’s terminally ill patients, ACU study

24 February 2021
News

Iraqi Catholic sent to ACU to support Erbil rebuild homes to be home for Pope’s visit

11 December 2020
Next Post

Daughter born 78 days premature develops strong bond with parents through Cuddle Hearts

Holy See releases 25-page document to 'reaffirm as definitive teaching that euthanasia is a crime against human life'

Saying ‘yes’ to Banyo invitation leads to blessings for Fr Paul Chandler

Popular News

  • Health crisis: Referencing the Vatican document, the bishops said “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process”.

    Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • We head for Poland as pilgrims, not tourists

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • St Mark’s shows its ‘unity in diversity’ at 65th anniversary Mass

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘They deserve our help’ – Brisbane youth homelessness on the rise with 42 per cent of homeless under 25 years old

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Death penalty: Demonstrators are seen near the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., showing their opposition to the death penalty July 13, 2020. Photos: CNS
World

Global executions dropped in 2020 but fears China’s secret figures remain in the thousands

by Joe Higgins
21 April 2021
0

AMNESTY International recorded 483 executions in 18 countries during 2020, which was a decrease of 26 per...

Opportunity to help: “As a society we can’t leave them without a place to call home – not when there are urgent and economically sound solutions.”

‘They deserve our help’ – Brisbane youth homelessness on the rise with 42 per cent of homeless under 25 years old

21 April 2021

St Mark’s shows its ‘unity in diversity’ at 65th anniversary Mass

21 April 2021
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is seen near a picture of George Floyd in this courtroom sketch.

Bishops urge racial healing after former US police officer found guilty of killing George Floyd

21 April 2021
Health crisis: Referencing the Vatican document, the bishops said “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process”.

Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

20 April 2021
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop
    Continue Shopping