The Australian Landscape.

[Heather]

Pssst, catch up Zondrae I'm getting a reputation for talking too much. It's Bob's fault. I have to keep him in line all the time. That Marty's naughty too. Tell you what, I won't talk ALL week and you can have a go and catch up. Is there a prize for me do you think when I hit the ton?

So, you can all try your darndest to get me talking but I'm staying mum. Might get some ironing done; read a book; write a poem - now there's an idea. Bit wet for gardening (yes it has finally rained). Got a book to proof read and send back to Mamma. Ok, so have nice week people and BEHAVE or Zondrae will get ya!

Heather 63 sleeps to QLD yee ha

[Vic Jefferies]

I think what we are talking about here in reference to modern art and poetry is what my mate calls egotistical rubbish.
So much of contemporary poetry is abut nothing more than the poets wish to express their egos and not to communicate anything meaningful to their readers at all.
Modern art is to a large degree not art but a nonsense.
I have a friend who is a professional artist and who underwent five years of training at one of Sydney's leading art schools. I was mystified by a prize winning painting on display at a gallery and asked him to explain it to me his reply was "It's pure s..t!" He then explained why he thought so which revealed a great deal to me about modern art.
Some years a go we visited the National Art Gallery in Canberra and there we saw a large painting that was nothing more than a canvas painted completely black.
I spoke to one of the attendants as is my way and he said "Don't worry about that one mate. Downstairs we have a completely blank canvas that the critics think is marvelous!"
Then there is the story about the bloke who stood in the gallery staring at the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall for some time and after due deliberation declared it a masterpiece!
You have to wonder don't you?

[Neville Briggs]

You're right Vic. And it's not a joke , they are serious. If they can convince us that non-art =art, then maybe we will believe that bad is the same as good and our beliefs can be moulded to accept whatever we are told is to be accepted.
Remember your poem Vic about wondering why we are having forced onto us things we never voted the government to bring in. They are drawing the net in.

[Vic Jefferies]

Absolutely correct Neville, they are deadly serious. On the same visit to the National Art Gallery there was displayed a line of half opened empty sardine tins!
I always think it is a case of The Emperor's Clothes. None of the literati or in crowd are game to speak about what is offered up as art and which is so often nonsense!
Have been wondering why my poem The Sitting Member hasn't so far drawn a comment on this site and glad to see that you have read it.

[Maureen K Clifford]

No doubt there are minute particles of Australian dust caught in the tyre treads of the motorbike and the push bike and trolley . Just as the Australian Bush creeps into the hearts of all Australians and always occupies a small part of our psyche.

The iron axle of the trailer represents Australians richness of mineral ores, and the leather seat of the motorbike the hide of our tough outback cattle who survive in this harsh landscape of Australia. The primitive mode of transport depicted by the push bike and trailer depict the hard times that our pioneers faced traversing the land before modern technology supplied us with motorized transport, which to this day is often beaten into submission by our rough bush tracks.

The motor bike rests on its front tyre because we are the land down under and this is depicted by its stance, Australians are also upstanding type of folks who despite adversity, rise to fight again. The motorbike despite being obviously broken and having to be transported and helped by its more primitive cousin is still standing upright and unbowed by disaster.

The colours of Uluru and our desert sands and sun are captured in the deep orange ochre colour of the paintwork - a subtle but obvious analogy. The skewed front wheel of the push bike clearly depicts the Australian sense of humour that sees all. Not looking forward, not looking back but taking in the total vision of the Australian landscape full circle.

So what part did you blokes not get ?????

[Neville Briggs]

Oh dear Maureen, I saw an exhibition called Artexpress in which they had printed explanations next to the pictures almost axactly as you have done it here.

[Irene]

Maureen, Don't worry about what part of it the blokes didn't get - I don't either!!!
And you are saying that tongue in cheek, right????

If you have to explain art, then it isn't art!! In my opinion, art should be appealing to the eye, and should not require a lengthy description to explain the relevance of it, especially when the category states something of which the piece definitely isn't!!!

Bit like the old argument of modern poetry v's rhyming poetry, isn't it???

Catchya
IRene

[keats]

Here Here Irene!!!!! Couldn't have said it better! (Well I could have but the spelling would have been terrible!) lol

[Zondrae]

Yep Irene and everone.

I will confess I had only three years of high school (that was minimum in my generation) however, to my inner feelings I am still convinced 'if it don't rhyme it ain't real poetry'. It seems to me that it takes far more skill, time and patience to write a good 'rhyme and metre' poem than to simply throw some words down, in random lines, and call it a poem.

I'll have had a go at free verse but I can barely restrain myself to 'not rhyme'. As Glenny often says - 'It gives me hives.' Having said that, David Cambell (in his workshop) asked if we could tell him why he might have placed the words in the lines that he had written. (We were looking at some non-rhyming verse of his) I repied that I thought it may be for impact. He said I was right. He went on to explain that in free verse, the placement of the lines, or rather those particular words or phrases, are just as importent as the words themselves.

In my uneducated ignorance, I may give it a go again. My group has as it's monthly topic 'Sharing Everything'. I might try a free verse for that. If I manage to do it, I'll post it. But I will put it in the 'off topic' or somewhere other than Member's Poetry.

[Neville Briggs]

I think the best thing that our little gang of bush poets can do is forget about.... .....( rhymes with tree nurse ) and explore all the possibilities of metre and the variations that can be made with rhyming schemes.

There are a lot more possibilties of the traditional structures than what I have seen attempted amongst our mates here. I suspect that the reason why there is so much bad .... .....out there is that some people try to plunge straight into the informal stuff without gaining a good grounding in the formal stuff. Same in the art world, there are those who go straight into " abstract " art without learning how to draw or compose or understand colour theory to a high standard.

I would suggest Zondrae that you try a sonnet, or a sapphic ode or rhyme royal, ottava rima, villanelle, dialogue, rondel, .etc etc etc before turning to .... .....You said that in your uneducated ignorance you would attempt .... ..... I fear that you will not achieve anything worthwhile with that approach.


p.s. our mate Bill Williams is an exception, he does his in his way and he is very good at it, he has an instinctive feel for the informal style.



Hope this sounds like I meant it to be. Hope no one is offended, I'll quickly repent if that is so.