Tag Archives: Brisbane Poetry Events

June 6, 2013 · 10:40 am

June SpeedPoets features Santo Cazzati and Kellie Lloyd

The month of June sees SpeedPoets return to The Hideaway (188 Brunswick St) with feature sets from one of this country’s spoken word innovators, Santo Cazzati (Melbourne) and Brisbane rock legend, Kellie Lloyd.

Santo CazzatiSon of Italian immigrants to Australia, Santo Cazzati emerged from past lives as a classical concert pianist and avant garde jazz musician to teach at an elite Melbourne private school which must remain anonymous in order to protect those concerned. He performs in a range of styles, from fast rhythmical delivery to slow atmospheric meditation, with a strong music influence and critical ironic distance. A fixture on Melbourne’s grass roots poetry scene, his feature performances have included Melbourne Writers Festival, Queensland Poetry Festival, Overload Poetry Festival and La Mama Theatre. He is a presenter of the Spoken Word radio programme on 3CR and the PJ (‘poetry jockey’) of the House of Bricks Spoken Word gig. He appears on Going Down Swinging and Voiceprints CDs as well as the Melbourne Poetry Map website. He is a winner of the Overload Shelton Lea Award for Best Solo Performance.

Kellie LloydKellie Lloyd grew up playing bass in beloved Brisbane band Screamfeeder. Now she’s out on her own playing what she likes to call Dark Pop. It’s guitar driven, sometimes with a band, sometimes with just a drummer, but one thing is for sure… it’s loud and it’s dark and it’s dreamy. Rolling Stone described her solo debut, Magnetic North as “peppered with haunting hooks, sentimentality and otherworldliness.”

And as always, there will be plenty of space in the Open Mic Section with all readers in the running to be named Call-Back-Poet for the month. Each of the Call-Back-Poets will earn themselves a feature spot at the November event where they will have the opportunity to take home cash prizes, be crowned SpeedPoets Open Mic Champion, and thanks to Phillip Ellis, have a chapbook length zine of their work published ready to launch at the February 2014 event.

Ink it in your diary people!

Date: Saturday June 29
Venue: The Hideaway, 188 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
Time: Doors at 1:30pm for a 2pm Open Mic Start
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

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May 22, 2013 · 10:01 am

Betsy Turcot live at SpeedPoets this Saturday

The end of the month is closing in, which means SpeedPoets is ready to light up The Hideaway (188 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley) this Saturday, May 25 with the launch of B.R. Dionysius’s seventh collection, Bowra, the guitar roar of Sheish Money, three rounds of  Open Mic and the sublime spoken stylings of Betsy Turcot.

Fresh from a series of sell-out ‘Chosen Family’ shows at the Anywhere Theatre Festival with Eleanor Jackson, Betsy is bringing her solo show to the SpeedPoets stage. For anyone who has seen her weave her tapestry of words on stage, I am sure you will be knocking the door down to get in, and if you have not yet had the pleasure, then you are in for a treat!

Remember, doors open at 1:30pm and sign on for Open Mic is open from 1:30pm – 2pm.

Entry is a gold coin donation, but the more you give the easier it is to keep this event running.

It’s been 13 years… and there’s no sign of slowing down!

Here’s a poem from Betsy to send keep you satiated til Saturday.

See you then,

*****

Campfire

The purple sky breathes shooting stars,
makes good excuses for holding hands
as she slowly inches her fingertips over my knuckles.

Her eyes, focused on the fire, hide my blush.

I wear the thickness of mystery
veiled in a middle name she doesn’t know.

But she wants to know my hands.
I can feel the tremble in her touch.
I pause, my lips mid-sip.

Bubbles rest on my tongue.
You can’t always trust what you feel.
You can’t always feel what you touch.

But I’ll let her take a chisel to my marbled skin.
Let her carve her kisses into my cuts.

© Betsy Turcot

*****

Betsy TurcotBetsy Turcot has featured at Queensland Poetry, Melbourne Overload, Brisbane Emerging Arts, Anywhere Theatre and Woodford Folk festivals. She is a guest MC, curator and feature at Brisbane’s spoken word poetry event, Words or Whatever, and has contributed to the Melbourne Poetry Map.

Betsy was co-author of the poetic play, She Stole My Every Rock and Roll with fellow poet, Eleanor Jackson and has been a member of The Broken Records Collective with Doubting Thomas and Darkwing Dubs. She is the author of the chapbook Blister and is currently writing a poetic play, Chosen Family, for the Anywhere Theatre Festival with The Belles of Hell.

 

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May 18, 2013 · 5:47 am

SpeedPoets Launches Bowra by B.R. Dionysius

SpeedPoets lights up The Hideaway (188 Brunswick St) and the month of May with its third book launch for the year, Bowra by B.R. Dionysius and well as some red hot spoken word from Betsy Turcot.

And let’s not forget the red hot Open Mic Section. All readers  are automatically in the running to be named Call-Back-Poet for the month. What does this mean?

Each of the Call-Back-Poets will earn themselves a feature spot at the November event where they will have the opportunity to take home cash prizes, be crowned SpeedPoets Open Mic Champion, and thanks to Phillip Ellis, have a chapbook length zine of their work published ready to launch at the February 2014 event. A great prize indeed!

Sound like the perfect way to finish the month of May? We’d love to see you there!

Date: Saturday May 25
Venue: The Hideaway, 188 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
Time: Doors at 1:30pm for a 2pm Open Mic Start
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

Here’s a poem from B.R. Dionysius to help you through the week!

Café Bohemia

(i)

Winter; & he stole away from his Highgate Hill flat
Every Wednesday night with a vague return time &
A cheap bottle of tawny port cupped under his armpit
Like a bully’s captured head. His long green trench
Coat gave his mahogany boots a shine as he swished
Along the length of Dornoch Terrace; past the royal
Queenslander on his left, that three years from now
Would be rented by his friends, but for the present,
Was inhabited by band members from Powderfinger.
Where three years later, they’d all gather to celebrate
The marital fallout of his mission to Café Bohemia.
His ears burnt like a deposed General’s epaulettes
As he marched on like a man possessed, her call
To him more powerful than any ancient siren.

(ii)

He wanted to arrive first. To secure a coveted table
Within the tight margins of the coffee shop, for her
& her two friends; to demonstrate his thoughtfulness.
Otherwise, it was standing room only as street poets
& hipsters channelling Kerouac & his wine dark prose
Filled up the dining space like blue cigarette smoke.
He greeted fellow writers with a wave & a nod, as he
Was lousy at small talk & good at reading big poems.
They were the Bohemian poets of Hardgrave Road.
90s poets like black bearded Francis & his perennial
Leather coat that he never ever took off, until twenty
Years of listening to poetry; to the millions of words
Crooned about death, love & loss, had polished his
Mind’s animal hide, until his face shone like a god.

(iii)

She entered the café wearing her friend’s teal velvet
Coat; auburn hair gleamed like a burnished table top.
Candle stumps burnt down their short lives in front
Of them; they spread their wax wings down the wine
Bottle’s stem, then dried their delicate delta shapes in
The port breath of poets as the reading warmed up.
They read poems about West End & Daniel Yock.
About Murri protests in Charlotte Street, landlords &
Gentrification & how all the boarding houses were lost.
How the family house where that Go Betweens singer
Grew up, had been pulled down for the Greek Club.
How the police raided Musgrave Park & how Tracey
Wigginton lapped up blood like a mangrove sucks mud.
By the time it was his turn; his tawny was half drunk.

(iv)

At the interval Henk, the bespeckled Dutch organiser
Whose most memorable line was about how he often
Awoke to find his cock still rigid inside his girlfriend;
Would disappear into the kitchen with an assortment of
Followers, where Mira’s goulash threatened to burn itself,
Tasty, but mad in its pot. Here, in the wooden floorboards
There lived a small trapdoor, which led from the galley to
A secret lower deck: the café’s oubliette. Here, poets fuelled
Up on gunja, the smoke siphoned away by an invisible vent.
Some though, still wafted through the café’s warped cracks;
Like a sailor’s last breath as they drown in an Eliot poem.
Others snuck round the back, where they lawn-sprawled
Like they’d been in a shipwreck. Here, they met in piratical
Bliss; until her friends drove her off, so he sculled his port.

(v)

She thought he was silent, a bit mysterious; a poet from
The country who tried to loom over her like Ted Hughes.
The regulars didn’t disappoint. Brentley, whose themes
Were a shade darker than the dirtiest black hole; his muse
Went to star on TV as a masterchef. Or Adam, the epitome
Of beat; who published for a decade, then like Rimbaud
Gave it all up to run guns metaphorically. Or Lidija & her
Serbian mystique, who trailed lovers around her neck like
Threads in a shawl. Or Rebecca, the poet of bones & mishap,
Who shaved her head so everyone could see her new world.
Or Fakie, who read from industrial-sized post-paks he stole
From the factory where he worked. Or the Great Jeffro,
Whose mad blue eyes blazed forth Shakespeare’s wild surmise;
If poetry is the soul of cafes: then coffee is its blood.

*****

B Dion 2

B. R. Dionysius was founding Director of the Queensland Poetry Festival. His poetry has been widely published in literary journals, anthologies, newspapers and online. His seventh poetry collection, Bowra was released in April 2013. He lives in Ipswich, Queensland where he watches birds, teaches English and writes sonnets.

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April 11, 2013 · 9:45 am

SpeedPoets Saturday April 27, 2013

This month, SpeedPoets is a swirl of sound! We are excited to be featuring local songstress, Kate Jacobson and poet, film maker and sound artist, Thomas Day.

Kate Jacobson

Kate Jacobson is one half of popular Brisbane indie-country/folk duo, Texas Tea. She is revered as one of Queensland’s up-and-coming song writing talents and her solo show has been described as enchanting, evocative and unique, incorporating voice, guitar and foot percussion.

25 percent thomas day

Thomas Day utilises words, sound and drone, collage, film and photography with live performances often combining these elements to create immersive interdisciplinary works. He won the 2011 Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup with a satirical work deconstructing the nature of charity under Capitalism; and once lost a Slam for failing to vomit up a poem he had just swallowed.

And of course, there will be the red hot Open Mic Section with all readers in the running to be named Call-Back-Poet for the month and earn themselves a feature spot at the final gig of the year in November and the opportunity to win cash prizes and be named SpeedPoets Open Mic Champion. And as always Sheish Money will also be out front of Moveable Feast, playing with that blues swagger that drives the SpeedPoets’ engine.

Sound like the perfect way to close out your April? See you there…

Date: Saturday April 27
Venue: The Hideaway, 188 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
Time: Doors at 1:30pm for a 2pm Open Mic Start
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

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March 13, 2013 · 10:51 am

SpeedPoets fills your Easter long weekend with words

That’s right, the mighty SpeedPoets will be rolling into your Easter weekend to fill your mind-basket with words. To celebrate, we will be launching not one, but two debut collections on the day. First up, Vanessa Page will launch her stunning collection Confessional Box and then Nigel Ellis (aka Bruce Dorlova) will release into the world, Haematograms. When asked to write quotes about each collection, this is what I had to say:

“Confessional Box maps the undulating landscapes of home, love and letting go. Page’s poems are sensuous, compassionate and filled with quiet wisdom; they are a celebration of the world’s infinite gifts.”

“haematograms reaches into the tight corners of the mind to seize instants of clarity. Ellis is unique in his knowing, sharpest when catching things that he knows won’t last. This is an impressive debut, one where the charm of the ordinary and the mysterious collide; where the reader is transported into the poet’s other-world to walk the edge of his imagining.”

And of course, there will be the red hot Open Mic Section with all readers in the running to be named Call-Back-Poet for the month and earn themselves a feature spot at the final gig for the year in November and the opportunity to win cash prizes and be named SpeedPoets Open Mic Champion.  Sheish will also be out front of Moveable Feast, playing with that blues swagger that drives the SpeedPoets’ engine. For those of you who missed them last month, here’s a clip from the February gig, complete with me getting over excited and jumping up on stage to read a poem.

So be sure to lock Saturday March 30 in… SpeedPoets wants you!

SpeedPoets March 2013

Date: Saturday March 30
Venue: The Hideaway, 188 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
Time: Doors at 1:30pm for a 2pm Open Mic Start
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

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February 14, 2013 · 10:13 am

SpeedPoets February 2013 Feature: Moveable Feast (feat. Sheish Money)

Kicking SpeedPoets off in a new venue – The Hideaway – has got my heart beating a little quicker as I count down to the big day… Saturday Feb 23. When I was considering who to ask to feature at the event, the first name that entered my head was Sheish Money… after all, he has been a main cog in the engine room for the last 12 years. So we caught up recently and had a chat about SpeedPoets past, present and future…

Moveable Feast

You have been a vital part of the SpeedPoets community for the best part of 12 years. How have you seen the event change through the years?

Not that much really. I mean it is different every month and always has been. There is of course a familiarity with the event after so long but for me personally every month yields something and I never know exactly what might go down. I think The Hideaway being a more music oriented venue will be great for more having more musical features and because poets tend to raise their performances with better stage and PA.

Are there any moments in that continue to stand out?

The great features. I’m really looking forward to seeing who you feature this year. I have always enjoyed watching the progression of poets as they improve their craft. Someone who gets a spark from what happens down at SP and keeps getting better. Like Andrew Phillips, who saw you and me at the ekka and has been banging out great poems ever since.

And what keeps you excited about the event?

It is one of the easiest things I can do to keep myself inspired. I like to come up with something new every month. I get to play with a lot of amazing poets and I couldn’t say what makes it all work….or not. Like when you and I play, we don’t really think about it too much, but we do listen to each other and give the piece room to become something more than just music behind words. So I guess it is that mystery and wonder that keeps me inspired.

I know many people have pondered over the years how you just ‘seem to know what to play’ when a poet takes to the mic. So, are you ready to give up your secret?

Well it’s not so hard. It is all body language I watch as the poet approaches the mic and see what their bodies say they are about to do. If they are shambling onto stage head low then slow and low is the go. If they come striding purposely with fire blazing in their eyes then I can ramp it up. Of course a million different pieces of music will fit a poem. Sometimes happy poems work well with sad music and visa versa. I was reading about some experiments that where conducted about the way that when musicians play together there brain wave rhythms start to sync up. I think that when it is really cooking with a poet there is that type of syncing. I try not to be to conscious about what I am doing. And like Steve Kilbey & GW Mclennan…  I trust in providence.

How has collaborating with poets shaped your sound?

That is a difficult question to try and answer in specifics. Listening to poets of all types and levels of proficiency gives me a lot to turn around in my mind. Because of SP I have been exposed to some of the best performing poets around. I get to see poets like Santo Cazatti and hear what he does with rhythm… or Matt Hetherington’s calmness and the space he gives the words… The way Rob Morris turns a phrase and summons ghosts from the past without devolving into sentimentality and still staying totally in the present… or your brevity wit and humour… or Sam Hunt channelling words through his finger tips… or Ian McBride in full swing… all these things have a profound effect on me as a musician and a writer. Watching and working with poets like yourself or Julie or Scotty Dubs or Robert Morris or … the list is too big, gives me new challenges and has taught me a lot about how to put better poetry into my songs.  And then there is all the poets, all the SP regulars who I have seen go from strength to strength. Then the fact that I get to play every month, do songs, jam with poets gives me plenty to process and work on. I have always loved improvising and trying to make music for the moment that I am in, plus I haven’t got a great memory.

What are you most looking forward to about kicking the year off with your band, Moveable Feast?

Well SP will be the first gig as a three piece. There has been a lot of life going on lately which both takes away and adds to the music but we are getting to play more lately The three piece line up exposes everything a bit more so I we are spending more time getting the melodies and the words a bit sharper and trying out little signatures and stuff. That said the moto of first time every time still applies.

Listen to a track by Moveable Feast

*****

SpeedPoets first gig for 2013
Date: Saturday February 23
Venue: The Hideaway, 188 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
Time: Doors at 1:30pm for a 2pm Open Mic Start
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

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February 5, 2013 · 10:31 am

SpeedPoets February 2013 Feature: Vanessa Page

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be bringing SpeedPoets to The Hideaway for its 13th year. It’s venues like this that make Brisbane the amazing city it is! Just in case you have forgotten, details of the first gig are:

Date: Saturday February 23
Venue: The Hideaway, 188 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
Time: Doors at 1:30pm for a 2pm Open Mic Start
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

And to add to the excitement, SpeedPoets will launch Vanessa Page’s debut full length collection, Confessional Box. Vanessa has been a regular at SpeedPoets for many years now, so I had a chat with her to see how she was feeling about the launch and her memories of SpeedPoets.

*****

You’ve been a regular ‘Open Mic’er’ at SpeedPoets for many years now Vanessa. What is your first memory of coming along to a gig?

My first memory of SpeedPoets was during its Inspire Gallery period at West End . I came along, mostly just to listen because I’d never performed a poem before in my life! It was really my first foray into the poetry scene here in Brisbane , even though I’d been writing for a bit and trying my hand at a few competitions around the place. On that day, it was my then 8 year old son who signed on to read a poem he had written called ‘Nature’. With some gentle encouragement from Graham and my son Harvey I signed on to read as well. I’ve regularly attended SpeedPoets since then and it is a real highlight of the month to be able to gather with other Brisbane poets and share words together. I’ve made some terrific friends along the way and it really has become a ‘must-do‘ on the calendar each month for me. I’m pleased to say that very first poem I read at SpeedPoets – ‘Postcard’ features in Confessional Box and I will be making sure it is on the list to read at the launch!

Has reading in the Open Mic and listening to other poets each month helped shape your work?

Reading in the Open Mic has helped teach me the importance of reading my work aloud – even if it is only to myself. It helps with achieving great cadence with your writing. The other great thing is that you can gauge audience reaction when you perform – and when you know your poem has hit the mark or resonated with someone it is a wonderful thing. I always love listening to my contemporaries read – it is always inspiring and I love how each session there is always at least one poem or one line or one moment that really works for me and that I take away home with me. Listening to others is also a great way to look at things differently, try different styles and just broaden the horizons a little. So in terms of my own work, I think constant immersion in poetry whether by listening, reading or performing is an ongoing process that helps me shape my work.

con-box

You are about to launch your debut full length collection, Confessional Box. How are you feeling about it all now that it’s printed and ready to go?

I am feeling good about the book because it is the culmination of a few years’ worth of collected poems. It is nice to see them all in printed form…the process is like ‘putting those poems to bed’, turning out the lights and starting with a fresh page again. I think that is the most satisfying thing. Those poems are done and complete and I can walk away from them happy that they have found a permanent home. I have to say that moment when you hold your book for the first time is pretty special. It is a real thing of beauty and I was lucky enough to collaborate with my talented friends – artist Maryanne Oliver and designer Jessica Fazakarley on the cover art. I just hope the poems in the book bring others as much happiness as they bring me when I read them.

Getting a publishing contract for a debut collection is a wonderful opportunity. How did this all happen for you?

The poems in the book are drawn from my entry manuscripts for the Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. I entered this competition in 2011 and 2012 and was named as a runner up in this prestigious award both years. At last year’s Queensland Poetry Festival I got talking to Ralph Wessman from Tasmania ’s Walleah Press and he expressed interest in publishing my two shortlisted manuscripts. So really it has become a ‘best of’ those two manuscripts. I realise that I am extremely fortunate to be offered a publishing contract ‘out of the blue’ like that and I hope that it is a reflection of the hard work invested in the collection. It certainly helped balance the disappointment of being ‘bridesmaid’ two years in a row for the Shapcott Prize! Working with Walleah Press has been extremely enjoyable, and the books are really lovely.

What are you most looking forward to about the SpeedPoets launch?

I am most looking forward to sharing some poems from the book with my friends from the Brisbane poetry scene. It is nice to launch it at the new home of SpeedPoets and quite fitting seeing as my first foray into performance poetry was several years ago at SpeedPoets. SpeedPoets is almost like a ‘family’ so I am very much looking forward to it.

VPAbout Vanessa:

Vanessa Page is a Brisbane-based poet who hails from Toowoomba in Queensland . Her first manuscript, Memory Bone was shortlisted for the 2010 Press Press Prize and in 2011 and 2012 she was named runner-up in the Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Prize for an unpublished manuscript. In April 2012 she launched her first micro-collection of poetry Feeding Paper Tigers through Another Lost Shark Press as part of the Brisbane New Voices series. Confessional Box is her first full-length collection of poetry.

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January 17, 2013 · 10:43 am

SpeedPoets is back for 2013!

Brisbane’s longest running poetry event, SpeedPoets, is back for its 13th year in a brand new home – The Hideaway, 188 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley – on a brand new day – last Saturday of the month (starting in February).

hideaway logo

The Hideaway is a 100 capacity Bar and Music Venue, with a sophisticated vintage vibe, celebrating all that’s great in life – Good Coffee, Fine Wine, Craft Beer, Avant Garde Performance and Underground Sounds… and SpeedPoets can’t wait to christen it!

Vanessa-Page-scaled

To kick the year off, SpeedPoets hosts the second Brisbane launch of Vanessa Page’s full length debut, . Confessional Box. Vanessa read her very first poem at SpeedPoets some years ago, so it is exciting to be helping her book find its feet in the world.

The second feature will be none other than Sheish Money & Moveable Feast, filling the room with Sheish’s trademark booming voice and bluesy riffs. They’ve got a swag of new songs from the ‘off season’ and are ready to let rip!

Sheish

And SpeedPoets wouldn’t be the same without you… The Open Mic Section is what powers the event, so make sure you come packing a poem or two, you may just be named Call Back Poet of the month.

The Call Back Poet will have the honour of closing the day with a short reading as well as securing a feature spot at the last gig of 2013 and the opportunity to be named 2013 SpeedPoets Open Mic Champion.

There will also be the regular free zines and raffle, so make sure you are there to wish us happy 13th birthday!

Date: Saturday February 23
Time: Doors at 1:30pm with the Open Mic starting at 2pm
Where: The Hideaway, 188 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

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November 2, 2012 · 9:16 am

SpeedPoets Open Mic Championships This Sunday!

That’s right, this Sunday is the big one… the event that has been building one ‘Call-Back-Poet’ at a time. At each monthly event, one poet was called back by the feature poets and now there are 8!

This Sunday November 4, these 8 poets – Jo Brooks, Carmen Leigh Keates, Marisa Allen, Andrew Phillips, Michael Cohen, Chloe Callistemon, Cameron Logan and Nicola Scholes – will take to the stage one last time to close the year, with one to be named ‘2012 SpeedPoets Open Mic Champion‘. And let’s not forget, there is $300 in cash up for grabs… so without a doubt each of the poets will be bringing the fire.

And to add to this mini festival of words, winner of the 2012 Dorothy Porter Poetry Prize, Stuart Cooke, will hit the mic to read his winning poem. And let’s face it, it wouldn’t be SpeedPoets without the guitar roar of Sheish and Giselle, our poetry raffle and the free monthly zine.

Yes, it’s going to be massive!

So make sure you are there to get your last shot of ‘SpeedPoets’ for the year and to find out what changes are ahead in 2013!

Date: Sunday November 4
Location: Brew (Lower Burnett Lane, Brisbane City)
Time: 2pm – 4:30pm
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

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September 20, 2012 · 9:32 am

Peter Bakowski live at the October SpeedPoets

SpeedPoets is proving to be a great stage for interstate and international travellers, and in October, we are fortunate to have two Melburnian’s heading our way. The first of our interstate guests, is award-winning poet, Peter Bakowski. Peter is will be on the road from September to December this year, so it is a real treat to have him feature at the October event.

So make sure that Sunday October 7 (2pm – 5:30pm at Brew) is inked into your diary, as seeing Peter up this way is an all too rare occasion!

Here’s a recent poem from Peter to brighten your screen!

A letter from Rebecca Cartello in Scarborough, England,
to her sister Carla in Longreach, Queensland, 15 December 1933

It’s winter here.
The trees stand stark.
The sky, bird-diminished,
is sullen with clouds.
I sold the last of my books
to buy nine tubes of paint.

What is seen, moves the blood,
I must honour on canvas.

When I cannot make a brushstroke or a colour
lift a painting,
I return to drawing
to remind my hand and eye
of curve, shape and shadow,
of what is present and suggested.

In life-drawing class
we’re sketching Alex,
an aspiring ballet dancer.
His body
crouches, leaps, spins,
both obeys and defies
Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
playing on the gramophone.

The date of my exhibition has been set,
the first of April.
I hope the exhibition will be a success,
that each painting finds its rightful owner,
those who realize that a painting
may also be a mirror.

Please send me a photograph of your Adam.
Tell me more about him,
how he
reads the soil and sky,
joins you in prayer
for a child
and rain.

I’m not one for marriage,
am most alive when painting portraits,
patient with each sitter,
listening to their conversations,
watching where their hands rest,
how they look about the room,
as who they are
rises towards the lure
of my paintbrush.

I’ll close for today,
work further on my portrait
of the local butcher.
Must render the look in his eyes
when he raises his gleaming cleaver.

**********

Melbourne-born poet, Peter Bakowski writes clear, accessible poems, uses ordinary words to say extraordinary things. His poems have appeared in literary magazines worldwide and have been translated into nine languages. Peter has been writer-in-residence in Italy, France, China, Western Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.

He has self-organized and self-financed numerous poetry tours of Australia, some tours lasting three months, some tours covering 10,000 kilometres. Peter also gives poetry readings in private houses to groups of eight or more, anywhere in Australia or overseas.

His philosophy is to be alert to the world and to continue. For more information visit Peter’s blog.

**********

The October gig will also feature the regular delights of free zines, raffles, the guitar roar of Sheish Money and Brisbane’s hottest Open Mic Section. And let’s not forget that this is your last chance to take out one of the coveted Call-Back-Poet spots.

The Call Back Poet is selected by the monthly features and given the opportunity to perform a mini-feature to close the event (2 poems) as well as win the right to perform at the November gig and be in the running for cash prizes – $200 for the winner and $100 for the runner up – and the title SpeedPoets Open Mic Champion for 2012.

So bring your best to the mic!

SpeedPoets have been keeping poetry fast in Brisbane for more than a decade, so come along and take the ride!

Date: Sunday October 7
Location: Brew (Lower Burnett Lane, Brisbane City)
Time: 2pm – 5:30pm
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

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