Quoted from Linemine
Goodbye Poets Corner
| One of the wonderful things about our world, and the local poetry community, is diversity. At a time when the poetry 'movement' seems to be growing its sad to see a major regular event close down and I hope its not a reaction to comments in this forum. If so, I for one would love to see it reconsidered. As a relatively new, and alas not so young, poet I found it a place where I was able to get an appreciative audience and gain confidence as a performer. As much as I personally enjoy performing in pubs (whether at gigs or spontaneously to another inebriated stranger), a library is a natural venue for any written words. I also found the diversity of stuff read there really good and learnt alot from it as well as being entertained. Due to other conflicting commitments, I have not been there for a couple of months, and it was certainly not because I didn't appreciate it as a venue. As people are probably aware, I have filmed a lot of poetry events - the only time I have been offered payment was at Poets Corner by Frances. Not alot, but enough if I was broke (usually) I could turn up and know I wasn't out of pocket on tape costs etc and be able to get a coffee or cake. I also think that having a regular event at a place like the library is important in terms of credibility and funding possibilities for P-earth poetry. I for one would love to see Frances reconsider - if not I think ways to keep the event continuing should be on the agenda of the next WA Poets meeting. I have seen Janet perform there quite a few times and I certainly don't speak for her. I would say that words can mean different things to different people in different contexts - if Janet didn't think it was a good venue to perform, she probably wouldn't have turned up so many times. As a bush poet, I wouldn't call Poet's Corner "cool" - rather "friggin fantastic" or as John Colwell would say "Bloomin' marvelous", or perhaps slightly different phrasing if I was p***** in a pub and not constrained by the silence and sensitive ears in the library! Well done Frances John McBain Community Sustainability Consultant, bush poet, gardener, environmental designer and film maker |
2008-10-21 06:02:09 GMT
