Thanks Everybody!

And on the 7th day she rested.

Wow, that was fun.

Thanks everyone for sharing your poems for 2011 National Poetry Week – what a great variety of styles and topics.

Iloveyousall 🙂

Visiting Poem (Val B Russell)

photo by g bryden

Today is the 2nd last day National Poetry Week and the five themed days have finished, so now we can do what we want (like we haven’t been already 😉 ).

So today I am presenting a poem from Canadian writer, poet and blogger Val B Russel. She blogs over here.

Here ’tis:

You and I

I
watch you
there
collectively ordered family fair
with your happy faces sunny bare
wishing I could know again
this abandon from terror and all care
wanting to participate in a frolic beach wise
or some fashion of delightful sighs
that early morning oven warm feeling
of safety in the family numbers
but you
don’t know
that
I
am always
outside now
beyond the frame of your happy snappy family photo
banished by some notations on a report
slid inside a file
forgotten underneath
the crumpled altered paper trail
now gone cold
like the inside of an empty house in permanent winter

_______________________

Thanks Val!

Visiting Poem (Maxine Beneba Clarke)

National Poetry Week (Maxine Beneba Clarke)

party, party

The fabulous Maxine Beneba Clarke,  West Indian-Australian writer & poetry slam champion (blogging at Slamup) let me steal one of her poems for the celebrations.

Here ’tis:

What Will Change in National Poetry Week

every fifty two weeks

there is a national week
of poetry / which
really only exists
in our alternate
litreality
& in no way
actuality

as if we cd stand & say
my name is such & such
& I’m a poet
without fear
that someone backed away
or rolled eyes in mockery
(as if national veggie week / wd
make all three year olds
love broccoli )

if it really was a week / for us
we/d wouldn’t celebrate
we/d be celebrated

national poetry week

pfffft

i for one
am not placated

will the storyteller
at children/s library time
stand on her plastic chair
& scream the revolution
will not be televised

will commercial breaks
be slammed by poets
cn i feed my children
this week
on writing alone

what will change
in national week of poetry
tell me

they humour us
with tourist trickery
bt every day / we
fight / the poetic illiteracy
of the good citizens
of this fine literacity

what will change
in national week of poetry
will the flinders street
shoe shine man
de-scuff me for free
like he does for presidents
& famous people
if i commit a crime / will
there be poetic immunity
instead of tour de france
will people prop their eyes past
midnight / for marathons of poetry
tell me / what will change
in the national week of poetry
will people recognise us on the street
& beg for autographs by way of
rhyming couplets / will
we book out gigs
crash our blog servers
& sell out books
cn we stand & say
my name is such & such
& I’m a poet
without the fear
that someone backs away
or rolls eyes in mockery

would national veggie week
make all three year olds
scream for broccoli

____________________________

Thanks Maxine 🙂

Visiting Poems (Stafford Ray)

2011 National Poetry Week (presenting Stafford Ray)

Here we have 2 poems from the man who lives on a boat off the shores of Queensland (or parked somewhere) and who likes to write a good limerick and is known to agitate (often at the same time – he’s versatile like that – haha). He blogs over here. He got the images from somewhere.

Escape from Chivalry

The king was in his counting house,
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey.

The Princess in her pink boudoir
Was trying on her dresses
When in came brother Ced-er-ic,
Full lips and blonded tresses.

He slipped his clothes off quick-er-ly
And ‘fore she could resist
Her newest lacy bodice was
Adorning Cedric’s chest.

Next, he took her flowing gown
And slipped it o’er his head.
Then her rich embroidered cape.
“It’s just not fair!” He said.

A silver tear escaped his eye,
While slipping on her pumps
“The leather, tin and mail we wear
Reduces us to frumps!”

Next he donned her feathered hat
While gazing at the glass.
And smiled in satisfaction
As he whispered, “You’ve got class!”

Then, turning on his patent heel
He called down for a horse.
“Side saddle, silver stirrups
And it must be grey, of course!”

So off they rode into the sun
The stable boy and he,
Holding hands so tenderly
In love, for all to see.

So over hill and dale they rode
Until Kings Cross they spied
And there they lived in happiness
Until the day they died.

Note: Kings Cross is the Gay Haven of ‘Sinney’, Australia.

__________________________________________________________________

and

Ditch the Witch!

Abbott would be our Prime Minister,
With tactics decidedly sinister,
No thought to the future,
The climate or nature,
Imagine the pain he’ll administer!

______________________________________________________________

Thanks Stafford (now take the brown paper bag and run) 😉

Visiting Poem (Graham Nunn)

photo by G. Bryden

Today is Day 4 of 2011 National Poetry Week and we are encouraged to

LIVE- be liberated to find poetry and the inspiration for poems in every part of life.

I am still doing my thing 😉 so I was delighted to receive a poem from Brisbane-based poet Graham Nunn and he had this to say:

‘Wrote this one for UK poet, Jacob Polley after taking him fishing last weekend. Think it tells the story…’

Empty Creel

Cast after cast
he failed
to notice the wind
reach deep
inside his ear,
planting there
a future of ice.

________________________

Thanks Graham 🙂 Haha – it does tell a story!

I will post a couple more poems today (otherwise I am going to run out of days 😉 ) I am really enjoying this week of sharing – so much fun to be had (the more the merrier).

‘champagne jelly’ – VIM Journal

I am very happy to see my poem ‘champagne jelly’ has been published over at VIM Journal’s ‘bits and bobs’ blog as a part of the 2011 National Poetry Week celebrations. Follow this link for a look see.

The VIM Journal is a new Melbourne literary journal about the ‘lighter side of life: the absurd, the wonderful, the joyous, the strangely beautiful.’

About time we had something along those line, I say 😉 ‘always look on the bright side of life, da dum, da dum de dum de dum’ (she sang in her terrible Monty Python singing  voice with accent).

Visiting Poem (beeblue)

Visiting Poem for 2011 National Poetry Week (beeblue)

Photo by Gabrielle Bryden

Today is the 2nd day of the 2011 National Poetry Week and I was chuffed to receive this poem from the lovely beeblue (female blogger and poet from Sydney, Australia).

Wild Conspiracies

I ask scribbly gum moths:
Why this graffiti on trees?
“Mind your own business,
they’re just doodles, if you please”

I ask a plodding snail:
Why the squiggles on the path?
“There ain’t nothing in it –
I just do it for a laugh”

I ask the sly hyena:
Why the tunnels ‘neath the trail?
“Well! Installation art’s
not only for the snail!”

I ask the bower bird:
Why that hoard of shining bling?
“Oh, poppet, it’s no mystery
objets d’art are my thing”

I ask the primping zebra:
What’s with the barcode?
“Poor darling, don’t you know?
Stripes are back in vogue”

But, you know, I don’t believe them –
It’s a vast conspiracy
It’s clear that they are sending
secret messages to me…

______________________________

Thanks beeblue 🙂 A very clever and funny poem.

Visiting Poems (2011 National Poetry Week)

Poem from Benedicte Delachanal

Well I asked for poems, and poems I did receive 🙂

Today is the first day of 2011 National Poetry Week and to start the celebrations I am posting this wonderful poem from French/Canadian visual artiste Benedicte Delachanal.

She was kind enough to conjure up an illustration as an accompaniment (it feels like Christmas 😉 )

Illustration by Benedicte Delachanal

to be or not to be

Je suis
I am
Of two cultures
Of two countries
Of both sides
of the Big Blue

You have no culture
no more,
they say

You have no language
no more,
they say

Je parle,
I speak

Mélange
Mix

Ameripean
Eurorican
I am, je suis

My heart
is in the middle
of the Atlantic

________________________

Thanks Benedicte 🙂 That is simply splendiferous.

Note: It’s not too late for people to send me poems (and illustrations or photos are always welcome).

Release the inner poet!

Release the inner poet (and send me her poetry) 😉

Don’t forget to send me a poem for 2011 National Poetry Week.

As part of the celebrations I am inviting my regular readers to send me a poem and I will plop it on my blog during the week (5th to 11th of September).

I would especially like to encourage the ‘non-poets’ among you to participate. You don’t have to be Australian and it can be on any topic. Offensive poems, however, will be tossed in the bin.

You can email me at gbryden at bigpond dot com with your poem.

2011 National Poetry Week

The 2011 National Poetry Week is just around the corner here in Australia (September 5-11) and Australian Poetry has the whole week planned.

Here’s what it’s about (from the horses mouth):

‘2011 National Poetry Week features five days of activity including: WRITE, BUY, SHARE, LIVE and CELEBRATE Australian poetry, to raise the awareness, appreciation, and participation with this engaging art form.’ (Australian Poetry)

This is the week:

‘Monday, 5 September: WRITE Australian poetry day – A day devoted to the promotion of all Australian’s embracing their inner poet and writing……physically, spatially, digitally, privately, wildly!

Tuesday, 6 September: BUY Australian poetry day – A day devoted to the promotion of buying Australian poetry publications in all their forms: books, chapbooks, ebooks, journals, gift books.

Wednesday, 7 September: SHARE Australian poetry day – share the joy of Australian poetry in all its forms: at work, at home, at play, with friends, lovers, strangers, on a stage, in a library, on a train…..

Thursday, 8 September: LIVE Australian poetry day – be liberated to find poetry and the inspiration for poems in every part of life.

Friday, 9 September: CELEBRATE Australian poetry day – the joy of Australian poetry however you embrace it. This day should probably involve cake! ‘ (Australian Poetry)

This is one of the things you can do:

As part of the celebrations I would like to invite my regular readers to send me a poem and I will plop it on my blog (all things considered 😉 ). I would especially like to encourage the ‘non-poets’ among you to participate. You don’t have to be Australian either.

You can email me at gbryden at bigpond dot com with your poems.

C’mon, release the inner poet in you! 🙂