Review of "Billy" by Zita Denholm

[Stephen Whiteside]

This review of "Billy" by Zita Denholm was first published in "the voice", newsletter of the Speech & Drama Association, NSW. It is reproduced here with her permission.

Zita is the editor of "the voice". She is also a speech and drama teacher, and a publisher at Triple D Books.

Their web-site can be found here:
http://www.tripledbooks.com.au

Zita was also the sister of much acclaimed bush poet Carmel Randle, who sadly died earlier this year.



“’The Billy That Died With Its Boots On’ and Other Australian Verse”:

Stephen Whiteside, illustrated by Lauren Merrick, Walker Books, Sydney, 2014

Stephen Whiteside, medico and C J Dennis aficionado, has (at last) collected his best poems for young readers and performers into one volume which has been commercially published.

Up to this time his works have been available in minimalist pamphlets which he has himself arranged and sold mostly when he has performed at various
Bush Poetry and C J Dennis festivals.

He writes, as one would expect from the title, in the rhymed ballad mode – the ‘bush ballad’. I have always enjoyed the best of his work, as have my young students. The rhythms are strong and the rhymes are often unexpected, quirky, amusing.

This volume is arranged topically – Dinosaurs, Around the House, In the Garden and In the Street, Dogs (and a Cat), etc. The poem which gives its title to the book is in a strong section ‘Out in the Bush’.

I would like to comment on the book design – the Lauren Merrick illustrations in ‘cut out’ style work well with tone of the book. The print on cheaper paper – think old fashioned lavatory paper – gives the overall product a slightly dated look – the look of the original Bulletin newspaper in the days when it was the ‘Bushman’s Bible’ and the place that you went to look for Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson and C J Dennis and Barcroft Boake in their heydays.

These are poems to read aloud, and to perform in ‘Australian themed’ classes at eisteddfodau, in themed examination programmes, and at Bush Poetry competitions for younger people.

By Zita Denholm
Editor
“the voice” (newsletter of the Speech & Drama Association NSW)