ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I'm currently talking with the local paper to see if they will include a weekly Bush Poets Cornor in one of their editions. I think I have a pretty good shot at this.

I send in poems now and they publish them in the letters to the editors and the comments so far from locals have been great. I would encourage all of you to not disregard this avenue to get your poetry out there in the public eye.


Writing about current events such as the Carbon Tax is always a good start and as it is topical the papers will sometimes tie it in with a story line.


Will let you know how I go.

Bush Poetry Rules.

Bob.

Good luck with this, Bob. Sounds interesting. I wonder if you could invent a couple of characters and get them to argue with each other in rhyming verse. The papers always like conflict.

Great idea, Bob, and Stephen's suggestion is a good one.

David

A little group of writers I belong to called the "Stockton Quills"
has a great relationship with the editor of the Stockton Messenger.
Each week he puts in something submitted from
the group. We are not all poets, but I have had a few things printed.
The locals give great feedback to our little column.

I've had a few poems and articles published in our two local newspapers. I'm sure if others here submitted poetry they would probably print it too....I'd be happy to pass any poems on. Other local poets have their poetry published too from time to time. It possibly helps that one of the editors is a poet himself.

I always get a good response from the public whenever my poems are published in the local paper - sometimes people comment months later. It's nice to know they have been read and appreciated.

Maybe local papers are a way of getting poetry out to the general public. There are still people who read newspapers.
Heather

I had a bundle of books and newspaper cuttings given to me by a friend whose father had passed away and lo and behold all the cuttings were poems from the local papers. Several of mine were in the bundle so yes Heather there are still a lot of folk who read papers.


Bob

Good bit of enterprise there Bob Are they going to edit them

I'll have a little think about that comment and maybe reply when I get home tonight, but then I may not even bother.


Bob

Bob, I think you have assumed something that isn't there.

I was referring to the dangers of editors when you submit stuff to newspapers.
Maybe yours are well trained, ours are not.

Our local paper ran a writing contest, and the one I put in was reworded by the editor and wrecked the metre. One of my bush poet friends put a poem in and the editor rearranged the stanzas into paragraphs, she was most irate. Even Henry Lawson got steamed up about editors tidying up his work and changing his intentions. He wrote a poem about it called " My Literary Friend ".

I certainly hope you go well with this.