ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

G'day all,

I wrote this after I stood out in a crowd of learned people. They talked about WWI. I spoke up that Winston Churchill was responsible for Galliopi; and many questioned me. Some yelled out that I was in error. I thought I was right...but others did not. I wonder why we bring things to gray...then they quickly fade.

ALONE:

I asked them to remember
all those that gave their all.

With a confused glee
they went about their banter fall.

It was not until
I sounded out and called.

The wave of thought
ignorance moved toward a dark gall.

Among the gathering
I realized I was all alone and tall.

© PHILIP ANTHONY

It is one thing to find yourself alone in a crowd without support, it is another to be alone in a crowd without support and tall as well

I think we have all experience this in one form or another.

I enjoyed the poem and I can relate, although tall I am not

Good for you LongMan,

Yes LongMan, it is well known with hindsight that Winston Churchill made a blue with his Gallipoli adventure. He lost (yikes!) Gallipoli was a defeat. Everyone hates losers.

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, it was not a great idea.

Geez.. I remember when Sen. Garrulous Gareth (Evans) flew an F111 fighter-bomber over protesters in Tassie... his own people. "It seemed like a good idea at the time", he said. He has regretted it ever since, and is now known as "Biggles". Bad decisions happen.

BUT if Winnie had won the day, and some armchair military theorists looking back over 100 years suggests that IF a few things had happened that did not, he might have been a master strategist and won through to Constantinople instead... a different story. My grandfather was there from day one. The outcome of some battles and campaigns are decided on a whim... occasionally.

Who knows. Placing "blame" though can be a bit dicey... we all need to have someone to Blame when things do not suit, but "blame" can be so-so, I reckon.

LongMan, congratulations on not being afraid to stand out in a crowd. Having the numbers against you does not mean you are wrong. (At one point in time everyone believed the world was flat.. well it still may be, I don't know).

As for your "learned people" I would not be put off.. the world is full of "experts"... certainly in the area of poetry you can happily call their bluff and find they are no more "expert" than the guy next door. I am dealing with a few so-called poetry experts at the moment.

As for people "yelling" at you.... when they do that and attack you personally then you know you have worried them. If you had no case they would not bother.

Well done mate! Anyone who takes an interest in military history, and takes it to heart, and puts thoughts into nice poetry has my support. Give them a burst of your 20mm cannon...

Thanks Crop-duster and Gary,

The purpose of the poem was to make those who feel driven to act and speak up unafraid to do so. Sure, I knew I was right and wanted to educate those who were ill-informed about what happened to ANZAC troops those faithful days on the shores of Turkey. Many here (USA) have seen the movie Galliopi but didn't know that the British World War II hero, Winston Churchill, was responsible for the planning of the disastrous invasion. But as an amateur military historical buff I wanted to post this. I hope never again are Australian troops put into the hands of incompetent foreign Generals no matter what nation they may be. It's unity of all the Commonwealth nations that I do support...But then again dark clouds are forming....

The reference to being tall is only a physical acronym for sticking up for yourself and believing in oneself. One becomes tall by doing so. It's just my reference to being bold. I believe no one shouldn't be afraid to speak up for fear of being proved wrong. I believe the quiet sheep are the ones taken to the slaughter. Sure those that stand up and speak can become a target...but how thinned skinned we have become if we can't take it. In the end...one hopes to be always proven right.

NO! I don't have a 20mm vulcan cannon, nor a swing wing Mach 2 attack aircraft. But then again words are mightier than the sword....aren't they?

Thanks for the comments....

PHIL.

Gees I'd like to see Gary ( longreply ) and Phil (Longman ) in one room together and ask them to have a short conversation.


Bob ( short for Robert )

There might be a use for Gary's soap box after-all - he can stand on it to look into Phil's eyes.....

That is a great attitude LongMan. You are spot on.

One against many. Go for it if you believe in what you say... Be fearless, and never cowed.

Speaking of one against many...

Recently I submitted an extensive and professional-standard "Paper" to the Ministry for the Arts, Sen The Hon George Brandis, which detailed a proposed a major restructuring of Poetry within the Arts. There were many(!) suggestions made.... for example active promulgation of the works of Lawson and Paterson and Traditional Bush writers to schools through their libraries and the spoken word (Leonard Teale) on DVD. Funding support for Poetry societies/associations such as the C.J. Dennis Society, sponsorship of on-line literary journals, a fund to provide for additional Commonwealth Commended/Encouragement Awards to kids in competitions such as Ipswich... etc. The list of ideas/suggestions was extensive. Naturally it was slanted towards Traditional writing, Bush Poetry if you like.

When one sees the Arts Council oddly doling out "Grants" in lumps of $40,000 to "poets" (about a third of a million dollars of such slush-money in 2014) when all I have needed over the years to write my own little fun poems was a few few biro's and some paper from Woolies and replacement inkjet refills for my printer, there is little question that the money is available. My plan demonstrated a way that money could be taken out of the hands of a privileged few "poets" and be put to use in a way that at least allows the public and taxpayers to perceive a far better return on their money.

You can imagine how well that would have been received!! haha As I am not chasing any popularity contest it did not concern me.

They would have choked on their morning tea.

The benefit to Traditional writing would be enormous, let alone reaching out to young people who may be for all I know, the Lawsons and Patersons of the future.

A no doubt unpopular change in philosophy from being a Department that simple receives applications for "grants" and doles out vast amounts of public money for who knows what poetic benefit or accountability, to one where a pro-active approach is taken. YOU go to the people, not have them come to you.

Anyway... I am one person. I speak with one voice. One might suppose that given the massive and obvious vested interests in Canberra, my extensive effort would be ignored.

That has unsurprisingly proved to be the case with not even an acknowledgement of my mail.

It was all fairly predictable. It was always going to be ME with no support, versus THEM. One versus many... much to their collective relief I am sure.
Will it produce change for the better? In your dreams, of course... but it may indicate to them though that they are not totally a money-doling law unto themselves in Canberra. They are now being watched, and not just by myself.. but that is another story.

So yes LongMan, if you are in the Right or at least feel you can contribute something of real benefit, be fearless. Be "TALL" as you say.... Be "unafraid to speak up" as you also say. Wade in. Tally-Ho.

LongMan I also have a major collection of Military Books, and a Swap Pile too, so if you ever find yourself in Hervey Bay...

... now it is time for you to write and submit more poems please. Don't be a stranger, and then before you know it you will be part of "the gang" here... heaven forbid!

OK.. well that is enough ... I have to rush off to a Flat Earth Society Meeting.

G'day All,

To be honest, I just write for the pleasure of it. Currently I'm writing a novel just to see if I could do it. Why I don't know....I doubt if any one would even consider publishing it but you need to give it a go. That's what life is all about isn't it?

I believe poets make the best writers as they paint word pictures, opening the readers mind. However what I do is very amateurish and it shows I must admit. I have no formal training in creative writing which I tried to correct over here. Unfortunately I was prohibited at my local college from taking the class I wanted to do. Oh well such is life. I hope to correct that in the near future...we shall see.

SO poetry is the basic mechanics for good writing. And as I've found out, our Australian Poetry is very different to the local stuff here in the USA. I tried to publish in a local poetry magazine here but they wouldn't do it unless I subscribed to their magazine. I thought about it for a minute but I don't have the money right now. Also I do like to illustrate, draw a rough image ...which is very different to most poets. So their magazine was not for me... I haven't tried since...

Not sure if I can make it to Queensland any time soon being stuck in California. I feel like a duck out of water some days... But sure Gary feel free to email me about most things military orientated. I have an extensive military book collection myself mostly about the 20th century weaponry and not about the stories. Aviation is very attractive to me but so to is armor.

I have a project right now about a neighbor who's young son flew Spitfire II's in Scotland for the RAF during the war. He crashed into a hill side in bad weather in 1943 and his mother who knew my grandmother was devastated. She had a hard time getting his belongings back from England but the RAAF and US Navy was able to help eventually. Still his body is buried in Scotland near the old air station. Seems many pilots complained the aircraft they were flying were in poor shape. Many were Ex Battle of Britain aircraft and had seen better days. It may have been instrument calibration failure that lead to his demise. Although it could have been anything. Sadly the response to many of the tragic events was to send a pilot out too the crash site; and not a crash investigator expert like we have today.

But I digress somewhat. No not may people can look me squarely in the eye...nor would they want to as I'm very intimidating...But those that surely know me know otherwise.

PHIL.

You don't scare me!

Write your Novel Phil and enjoy the writing -you just never know. Many a well known author has had to persist to get somewhere.

Heather

Phil, my hunch is that you should perhaps consider turning your creative hand to script writing?

It seems that there is a shortage of good ones at present in the USA. The recent film Lone Survivor (military) demonstrates how bad scripts can be and with your knowledge.. well who knows. Find a good military book.. a few coming out now about Afghanistan and Iraq, ring the author and offer to work with him. You are "an Australian specialist".. and never "an amateur" (get everything proof-read first)

Why not? You are just as good as them.

I was alerted to something recently by a post here that suggested that we are not reliable judges of our own poetic work. It is true.

If you write for yourself to put in a drawer, fine.. but if you "share" ..in the hope that others may get some pleasure from it, well why not allow them to "judge"... you may surprise yourself!!

There is certainly no money in bush poetry... or even "contemporary" poetry, unless of course one has the right Canberra connections and are of the "right" poetry persuasion, The Club, and can land a $40,000 poet's "grant". Ah, grants! Don't you love them! The very word elicits ecstasy and validity.

Or better still an $80,000 award for writing panty-poems. I once did some consulting work for Bonds, "jockeys", mens ' underwear, their manufacturing facility in Maryborough Victoria. Over the road from Bill Williams. I reckon I could write about mens underwear instead.... and get $80,000 no worries!!

Mates and connections.

My "godfather" Georg was a German JU-87 Stuka pilot who won the iron cross in the days when they did not give them out for nothing. He taught me a lot about attitudes, flying and life too, a huge influence. We worked together every day for many years in the aircraft manufacturing industry. Civil and military. He told some scary stories.

Why not send in some work to Maureen Clifford at TAT Poetry Magazine. I am sure she would appreciate it. An Aussie in the USA no less! I was in the USA working when 9/11 happened. Went through Boston airport a few days after. No more driving up to the doors to get dropped off then .... that's for sure !! Everyone had somehow lost their sense of humour.

Anyway thank you for your worthwhile and fascinating contribution. Very pleased to meet you. Hang around.... Gary.