Poetry In Motion Wrap Up

As another week winds up I look forward to another big weekend... and realise i forgot to wrap up last weekend.

The poetry train chugged into Sydney with me composing a few poems, drinking several of those tiny bottles of wine. I made more jokes than I did poems, but still had a few written inspired either by the landscape or the fact that I had chosen to sit backwards so that I  left rather than arrived.

For Dad

That culvert
was built by convicts
its bricks burnt in kilns
Burnt on trees freed
from the brick-hard prison of earth
Goulburn, indeed Oz,
built on broken rocks
hardtime labour
Australia:
Dungeon of the world.

Once we were on the platform we read our poetry to the other train riders, a few Sydneysiders and a lot of uninterested passers-by.

That night fellow train traveller, CJ Bowerbird and I teamed up with my brother and his mates to discuss the copious amounts of cheap wine we drank before sleeping on my brothers floor.

Saturday I awoke earlier than sensible and penned a new poem throwing down the gauntlet to CJ Bowerbird, which I performed at the State Library of NSW.  Other notable poets performing included P.S Cottier (She of fellow Triptych fame), Hal Judge and Hazel Hall. The event was curatored by Kate Rees, one of Sydney's APL Cafe Poets.

That afternoon we traveled to the Friend In Hand Pub in Glebe for a special poetry slam Hosted by Jack Peck. CJ Bowerbird took the honours, and Hazel came second. By the end of the night (2 or 3 in the morning) we had crawled through several other pubs and found more friends along the way.

I awoke with less than an hour to get back to the city and catch my bus, only to watch my beloved Sharkies bundled (bungled) out of the NRL Finals by the ramapaging Raiders.

Poetry in Motion, I hereby declare you a success!