Poetry on the Move – Sunday 20th October, 2019

New books for my collection 🙂

What a fabulous weekend!

It’s been another great day, which began at the National Portrait Gallery again for ‘Mornings at the NPG: Kei Miller and Tricia Dearborn’. As well as listening to these two amazing poets read some of their work, Kei and Tricia talked about the importance of sound in poetry. Kei said that he tries to write the rhythms of the places he writes about. You will also find iambic lines within his poetry, just to prove that he can. He said that as a Jamaican writer he has some anxieties around proving that he can use the language of the coloniser. He also likes to break the traditional rhythms of English poetry. Tricia said that she more tries to write the rhythms of the self, internal rhythms. Owen Bullock asked what are the topics that are underrepresented in poetry. The audience came up with a few topics, including: menopause, child birth, all women’s experiences, autism and ugliness. 

I enjoyed a walk around the National Portrait Gallery. I was particularly drawn to the portrait of Judith Wright with Barbara Blackman by Charles Blackman.

The next session was ‘the science of poetry’ with Katharine Coles, Tricia Dearborn, Anne Elvey and Bronwyn Lovell. What an interesting group of women and, as Paul Munden pointed out, how wonderful to have an all female panel speaking about science in poetry, particularly after the first all-women space walk. It was wonderful to listen to these highly intelligent group of women speaking about their scientific and mathematical research and the role that poetry can have in communicating science.  

The next session was ‘what’s the use of poetry’ with Jen Crawford, Martin Dolan, Caren Florance and Mani Rao. Martin read a few poems out in exploring this topic, including ‘Question Time’ by Meena Alexander. Martin’s point was that poetry does not need to have a utilitarian function, it can be devoid of use. He also quoted from W.H. Auden’s ‘In Memory of W.B. Yeats’, “The words of a dead man / Are modified in the guts of the living.” He likes the idea that poetry lives on through the reading of it. Mani said we write poetry because our lives depend on it. She sees poetry as a body, one of her bodies, part of her body. She talked about the koshas – 5 layers of being. Caren said that we write to understand the world. She said that visual artists often pretend that they sit outside of text, but they rely on it, taking inspiration from it. Text is used to justify / explain art. Jen said that while people are doing poetry they aren’t doing other things and maybe there’s some value in that. She described poetry as survival. Jen Webb, the host of the panel, summed up, “poetry can remind us that none of us have rights”.

In discussing the cathartic / emotional work that poetry does Mani said that she has discovered many things about herself that she didn’t know as she was writing. Jen C said “poetry can be therapy, but it’s not confidential. It takes us away from our isolation… we carry each other along when we do share.” Martin described poetry as being rather like music, saying that it can bypass the cognitive and get to the feelings. Jen Webb agreed with Caren, “poetry is better than cutting yourself”.

Alvin Pang asked does poetry need a use? In this utilitarian world we live in is it not a defiant act to indulge in something like poetry that does not have a use?

Finally, Jen Webb concluded that poetry gets us to ask questions, it opens doors.

The day ended with more Poetry@Smith’s. It was lovely to listen to Louise Crisp, Anne Elvey, Alyson Miller, Alvin Pang and Mani Rao read their poetry.

Poetry on the Move – Saturday the 19th of October, 2019

My Saturday began at the National Portrait Gallery for ‘Mornings at the NPG : Mani Rao and Alvin Pang’. I hadn’t read either of these poets before and I’m now excited to explore their work further. Mani and Alvin talked about where the inspiration comes from for their writing. We were all reminded of the importance of brushing your teeth twice daily and of showers – not just for hygiene reasons but because it is in these daily routines that many poets get their ideas. The meditative state we can enter when brushing our teeth allows our minds to be open to images.

I followed Mani and Alvin’s session with a wander around the Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia which was fabulously political. There were works that explored issues around climate change and that celebrated sex (which is highly controversial given Indonesia’s recent plans to outlaw gay and pre-marital sex).

The next Poetry on the Move session was ‘When they come for you: Poetry that resists’. Bronwyn Lovell, Kei Miller, Jen Webb and Alison Whittaker all had incredibly interesting stories to tell. Kei talked about his mixed emotions on being asked to sit on a panel about resistant poetry. He said that he is sometimes referred to as a spoken word poet which he feels is a racialised label and though some of his works have a performative quality he does not view himself as a performance poet. Alison spoke passionately about acknowledgment of country, stating that she feels it has become a blackwashing, making people feel happy with themselves for acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land. She said that until we start doing something, giving more land back, it isn’t enough. Bronwyn’s feminist poems were inspiring and I can’t wait for her to have a collection out so that I can read more of her work. Jen is, of course, an accomplished poet and her stories of growing up in South Africa were harrowing.

‘The texture of truth’ was another great panel with Louise Crisp, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Alyson Miller and Jessica Wilkinson. I had a lovely chat with Ali afterwards about my experience teaching her poetry and the powerful response that a young Gamilaroi man in my class had, particularly to her poem ‘Unearth’. During the panel discussion, Ali spoke about the need to do more about Aboriginal deaths in custody. She reminded us that our taxes paid for the commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. She said that more of the recommendations that came out of that commission need to be put into place and that, as tax payers and voters, we need to insist on action.
Alyson said that her nieces and nephews are warned not to ask her what she is writing about, because it’s probably not something appropriate. She likes to write about the taboo, the things that no one else is writing about. Louise writes about the environment and Jessica writes biographies in verse.

I ended the day with ‘Poetry@Smith’s: Saturday night’, listening to readings by Judith Beveridge, Katharine Coles, Angela Gardner and Kei Miller. All of these poets were inspiring. They read in such an engaging way. I had a great catch up with Judith and met Anne Elvey.