Cirrus@Austlit

New and selected poems.
 

'Politicians outdo each other with tough measures to deal with asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. But someone has to look people in the eye and do the questioning, the arresting, the detaining and the deporting. For a time, that someone was Peter Mitchell.

'Hoping for a quiet public-service job, Mitchell walked into the Department of Immigration in 1990 and quickly found himself on the frontline of one of the nation's most divisive issues.

'With the wry humour shared by those in uniform, Mitchell describes his early years collaring illegal workers and visa overstayers. But things became a lot more challenging when he was appointed manager of the infamous Villawood Detention Centre, and later of Operation Safe Haven, ministering to the desperate flood of refugees from Kosovo and East Timor. How do you reconcile your sense of compassion with the demands of fair and proper procedure?

'For the first time, Compassionate Bastard takes us behind the razor wire to reveal the sometimes difficult, sometimes farcical processes our public servants are duty-bound to implement while dealing with people in traumatic circumstances.' (From the publisher's website.)

Fabric of Blood and Flowers is a collection of stories, song lyrics, and poems that constitutes Peter Mitchell's major writing project for a Master of Arts (Creative Writing) degree through the University of Western Sydney. The collection is divided into two sections: 'Blood' (an autobiographical series of first-person 'journal' pieces about a songwriter's journey towards, around, and beyond Tamworth) and 'Flowers' (stand-alone fiction, mainly in the third person).

The pieces are collectively designed to address the 'creativity and originality' goals of the Creative Writing degree and therefore intentionally encompasses a variety of creative styles, voices, and literary genres.

An autobiography in song, The Great Unknown comprises a collection of stories, poems, and drawings, along with a triple compact disc set of songs which has been produced by Peter Mitchell and his younger brother Ian Mitchell. Their work together includes membership of several lyrical rock bands in the eighties and nineties.

The Great Unknown tells a story common to musicians based in a country where the population base will not sustain a particularly large industry - where the costs of promotion outweigh potential returns in the home population. This story is not unique to the music industry - it is a tune often sung in the film industry. However, unlike the film industry, the music industry with its smaller budget requirements has not attracted the government support of the film industry. The dilemma is an ongoing one facing independent and major record companies alike - how to capture a great live band and package them up appropriately so they might take their place in the age of video rock. A dilemma solved by relatively few bands - Midnight Oil, INXS, Hunters and Collectors are the exception rather than the rule. Mitchell's band, Captains of Industry, was not to enjoy the airwave space captured by the few elite bands. A change in fire restrictions changed the face of live music in pubs and caused the demise of many a good band. As Mitchell says himself : 'Many of my problems in life are the bitter fruits of this frustration. I have used it to excuse and justify all I have become. It is time to lay it to rest.' In laying it to rest, Mitchell offers it to us, the readers.