BEST LITTLE POETRY BOOKSHOP ON THE PRAIRIE

...so they say. Maybe this life I'll still get to visit the States and check out the San Francisco, New York, Boston, LA, and I dont know where else, bookstores. And that goes for Europe too. This life I certainly visit some of the British bookshops (though Charring Cross Road that was is now only part of London lore)... But, Collected Works, the bookshop of Poetry & Ideas, tries to be first cousin of the great poetry/ the great literary bookshops of the world. Rephrase that, because this is the age of the mega bookstore and we're never going to compete with those : we're first cousin of the great LITTLE bookshops of the world, the little specialists. And I'm thinking English speaking world : must be fabulous bookstores in Europe, Latin America and other parts of the world....
Half of the stock of our bookshop is a book of poetry or a book directly related to poetry. The rest of the shop consists of literary fiction, some biography & criticism, a professional section (how to do/s, guides, dictionaries) from Americans like Mary Kinzie, Kenneth Koch, Nathalie Goldberg & Harold Bloom to Aussies like Kate Grenville, Kevin Brophy, Ron Pretty, Kevin Hart (now," is he an Aussie, is he? was he?" who sang that?) and such British as Paul Hyland, Chris Emery, Terry Eagleton & Stephen Fry.... Then there is a philosophy section (ancient & modern), a bit of psyche ("Mind's Matter"), some old & new speerituality; there's a Nature section, theatre, art, music, film...But in no way a general bookstore. Thus, POETRY & IDEAS, poetry & its affinities... Wow, what a range! I delight myself. (I remember Bill Matthews of the excellent secondhander, City Basement Books on Elizabeth St Melbourne, advising me 20 years ago? that I mustnt stock my shop according to my own taste; that would cause me the booktrade equivalent of the sickness unto death (that's my paraphrase)...But I knew no better, and anyway wanted to play and wanted the world to come in , in their ones & twos, and play with me (so to speak)... And so they have! We survive! 1984 to 2007! Astonishing for amateurs, enthusiasts, dilletantes!
And who are the ubiquitous "we" (some of whom can spell better than others)? There's me, Kris Hemensley, who manages the Shop, coordinates its literary activities & etc, in the Shop every day except my rostered Wednesday off (home to write sir, at the double!); Retta
Hemensley, who moonlights as a kindergarten assistant when not at the Shop, creative in every way ; and Cathy O'Brien,day job teacher/ night job artist & writer, who came on board around 86 and was my deputy when I ran away three months at a time in those days to England, but these recent years lives & works in Laos.
And what of the Bookshop's past heroes & heroines (all of whom had some vital connection to local Melbourne writing to qualify as group members)? Well, important indeed to mention Robert Kenny, whose idea it was to have a shop which might house the fruits of the labours of the government assisted employment project (the Small Publishers Collective) back in 1984; he's an academic historian nowadays, a poet & prosewriter once upon a time, editor & publisher... Just prior to dissolution the group included Jurate Sasnaitis (now Greville Street Bookshop), Des Cowley (at the SLV), Nan McNab (freelance writer, editor), Pete Spence (poet, collagist, mail-art/ist extraordinaire), Rob Finlayson (a literature officer in W.A. in recent years), Michael Loosli (in the Sydney booktrade now)... But, oh, many, many men & women, worthies all...
Someone should write a history....

--Kris Hemensley, April 2007