Pomes

My previous appearance to read lyrics at the That Poetry Thing  Big Open Mic night was a great success.  For me, this time was a letdown.  Maybe it was my poetry (...) or maybe the reading which was pretty rushed or the writing which could be obscure.  But then I did particularly like a few lines.  The lyric was Sub dance, about AUKUS and more, so these passages tickled my fancy: "China score / restore war / Ever ready / silly, heady / Steady Eddie / Blind Freddie / Unsteady, spaghetti / sweaty, machete / Follow the leader / eager beaver / Ever eager / half-wit believer" or "History says it / Keating runs it / 'Nam reminds us / Afghan backs it / Mid-East fears it / Israel shows it / US dreams it / Aussie teams it / Lopsided, little prided / Ever guided, poorly sighted" or my fave "Labor once noble / still dreaming of trust / But lost and quiet / weedy, seedy / More sad than bad / But thus we ebb".  There were some very good new poets that impressed me.  Moral decathlon gave modern commentary from the 10 commandments.  Chris had one referencing Nietzsche called Dragon scales.  Quantum soup intrigued.  Lauren, Zoe, Myra, others; I took very poor notes.  I was interested to note the nature of the language, mostly free of rhymes but with structure.  Domestic violence is all the rage as an issue, but still I was stunned by two poets on it and the host concurring with their experiences.  Worrying.  There were the obvious long-termers with more serious awareness of form who impressed others in the know.  And good on them.  The far shores of any art are mostly in the awareness of the informed.  Nonetheless, interesting.

The That Poetry Thing Open Mic night was at Smiths.

Pottering

Well, I have another album out (as The Pots) and coincidentally I heard of a poetry open-mic session at Smiths.  I enjoy the performance, so this night.  It was the last event of Smiths' Anti-Folk Festival although poetry at Smiths is a regular Monday night event anyway.  It was just a few hours and the open spots were just 3-minutes.   I guess because I perform music on stage and there's often a mic that I know how to use it: up close and projecting.  Many don't, so we are struggling to hear some voices.  And what we heard was quite a range.  A few complex science-related poems from obvious insiders of the group.  Several intimate works, more-so from women.  A jokey country spot from a country guy.  Some ordered verse and some less ordered streams.  Just a few vivid, surprising images.   A very clever play on writing academic assignments and poetry.  It has me wondering  "what si poetry".  What is it?  It's decades since I really wondered that, if ever.  Is it just or more or all of rhythm, rhyme, imagery, language and how's it different from other literature other than layout.  I'll investigate, but in the meantime, I enjoyed the visit to this world.  BTW, I recited the lyrics of COP29 now (from sky vs weather) and Ah! PBO (from Hope).

That Poetry Thing! Big Open Mic night was at Smiths Alternative.

Lyrics and/or listen > COP27 now / Ah! PBO

Relaxedly literary

This was something new.  I had attended one or two Geoff Page poetry readings but not the local scene like this.  It was called That Poetry Thing, at Smiths, hosted by Penelope, open readings by whoever volunteered.  My offering was Double down, a spoken-word track from my Pumpkin discomforts / The Pots recited as poetry.  There was at least one other musician reciting (Jack recording as Small Town Alien).  A few other recited published poetry by others, but mostly it was original.  Laurie amused with a simple repetition of double not necessarily being better than the half until he gets to age (he wasn't young!).  I was sitting with Laura who presented an improvised poem, perhaps recorded only in my pic, I guess.  Powerful.  There was considerable amusement over mic management, cleaning and coddling.  Inevitable and obvious and  suggestive if not particularly noted.  Each presenter had 3 minutes, but this was casual.  Mostly they read one poem; some two or even three short ones.  The audience was warm and open and accepting.  Aaron finished with a lengthy bureaucrat-tease on climate.  Amusing but frightening.  Lois and Janice read; Bosco recited about a waterfall; Robin on revolution; Izzie (?) on the Telopea Park High School Band; Audrey and Louisa and Sarah and Audrey; not sure who was the Two cars canoodling but it was a corker; one was inspired by lust, perhaps more?  Excuse any missed names.  Most read; a few recited from memory; one or two improvised.  There was humour and seriousness and rhythm, rhyme and not, so various in style and approach and topic but always of interest.  A pleasant and intelligent and welcoming night.  Recommended. 

That Poetry Thing was a night of open readings that happened at Smiths.