Jas Heriot Duke (1939–1992) was a cult figure in the Australian performance poetry scene. He worked much of his life in Melbourne Board of Works and began writing poetry in 1966. He was influenced by

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and experimental movements. He writes "I started performing poems as a timid person with a stutter but the spirit of the times soon converted me into a bellowing bull." During the 1960s he travelled to the UK and Europe and participated in the underground publishing and filmmaking scenes in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Returning to Australia in 1972 he worked as a draughtsman and continued publishing and performing, writing a novel about his travels entitled ''Destiny Wood''.

Pi O П. O. (or Pi O, born 1951) is a Greek-Australian, working class, anarchist poet. Born in Katerini, Greece, П. O. came to Australia with his family around 1954. After time in Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre, the family moved to t ...

, "Jas H. Duke" Pp. 172-3 in ''A Salt Reader'' (Folio, no date) Duke's writings included translations of French and Eastern European Modernist poets but he is best remembered for his sound poems.

Nicholas Zurbrugg Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its ...

describes his work as "the voice played like a human saxophone". His collected poems are published by

Collective Effort press A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...

in Melbourne as ''Poems of War and Peace''. He died 19 June 1992.

Bibliography

Poetry

*''Poems of War and Peace'' (Collective Effort, 1989) *''Dada kampfen um leben und tod: A prose poem'' ada fight for life and death(Wayzgoose, 1996) *''Alekhine und Junge in Prag'' German translation by Gabi Malotras (

Gangway Broadly speaking, a gangway is a passageway through which to enter or leave. Gangway may refer specifically refer to: Passageways * Gangway (nautical), a passage between the quarterdeck and the forecastle of a ship, and by extension, a passage th ...

, 1996)

Novel

*''Destiny Wood'' (1978)

Readings

*''The Best of Jas H Duke'' (audio cassette, NMA Publications 1989)

External links

Poems Of Life And Death
16

mp3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

s at

UbuWeb UbuWeb is a web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives. Philosop ...

Alehkine and Junge at Prague
poem with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

translation
False consciousness
hypertext poem

concrete poems

essay on 'Sound poetry'

References

1939 births 1992 deaths Poets from Melbourne 20th-century Australian poets Australian male poets 20th-century Australian male writers {{Australia-poet-stub