ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I notice that in most poetry performance contests there is usually divisions into sections such as traditional, original or contemporary and these are mostly divided into two classes serious or humorous.

I think this is limiting the variety of work that our writers can do.
Do we have to be either deadly serious or laff it up.
I think there is at least one middle way that poems can be presented.
Light verse.

Some people are not adept at jokes or getting a laugh with their poetry but still are less intense than what might be said to be serious.
Surely there is room for poetry that could be said to be light verse or waggish or playful without actually fitting the humorous definition, this would leave a bit of room for people who don't do work that is dramatic or tragic and who strain to present something accepted as comical.

I wonder if there are any comp organisers watching that could give some thought to this.

I agree,

But when I see a Champion reciter , those few who can bring you to tears, both from sadness or from roaring with laughter, then I know this is a master of the skill. We are spoiled to have the likes of Melanie Hall, Sue Carcary, Greg North, Peter Mace, Carol Heuchan and I could go on... (please forgive the ones I have not named) as shining examples to watch and hopefully learn from. Not all comps have a rule that the classic or traditional or even the contemporary poem has to be serious. Often there is only one section in four that has to be 'funny'. The original sections usually have the division. So there is, as we have discussed before, a difference between a champion 'written' poem and a champion 'recited' poem, but surely the difference is in the delivery as well as the words.

... an after thought, could we give Greg North a piece such as the Jabberwokki (? surely spelt wrongly) and have him turn it into a perfectly polished performance piece?

Martyboy wrote:I suppose the only problem would be is where to draw the line

Please Marty I implore you. We don't need to draw any lines, must we plunge into legalism at every turn. Let's be one of the last remaining groups to use that rare commodity..common sense.

He's a public servant - I think they program them to draw lines

Ooow

Hi Neville,
having been involved in organising, running and judging competition over many years now and seeing different sections used, dropped, rearranged etc. a happy medium would be a program like this

Open Men's Traditional Humorous
Open Men's Traditional Serious
Open Men's Contemporary Humorous
Open Men's Contemporary Serious
Open Men's Original Humorous
Open Men's Original Serious

Open Women's Traditional Humorous
Open Women's Traditional Serious
Open Women's Contemporary Humorous
Open Women's Contemporary Serious
Open Women's Original Humorous
Open Women's Original Serious

Intermediate Men's Traditional Humorous
Intermediate Men's Traditional Serious
Intermediate Men's Contemporary Humorous
Intermediate Men's Contemporary Serious
Intermediate Men's Original Humorous
Intermediate Men's Original Serious

Intermediate Women's Traditional Humorous
Intermediate Women's Traditional Serious
Intermediate Women's Contemporary Humorous
Intermediate Women's Contemporary Serious
Intermediate Women's Original Humorous
Intermediate Women's Original Serious

Novice Men's Traditional Humorous
Novice Men's Traditional Serious
Novice Men's Contemporary Humorous
Novice Men's Contemporary Serious
Novice Men's Original Humorous
Novice Men's Original Serious

Novice Women's Traditional Humorous
Novice Women's Traditional Serious
Novice Women's Contemporary Humorous
Novice Women's Contemporary Serious
Novice Women's Original Humorous
Novice Women's Original Serious

Junior Male Traditional Humorous
Junior Male Traditional Serious
Junior Male Contemporary Humorous
Junior Male Contemporary Serious
Junior Male Original Humorous
Junior Male Original Serious

Junior Female Traditional Humorous
Junior Female Traditional Serious
Junior Female Contemporary Humorous
Junior Female Contemporary Serious
Junior Female Original Humorous
Junior Female Original Serious

One Minute Cup Male Serious
One Minute Cup Male Humorous
One Minute Cup Female Serious
One Minute Cup Female Humorous

All Over Champion Poet Male
All Over Champion Male Female

This of course means 1st 2nd and 3rd places in each category and I may well have missed some categories that have been used elsewhere in the past.

Also it does not include Written Comps which can also be divided up in a similar fashion.

I am not saying that this would be an ideal format, I am just saying that when divisions are made, suggested, implemented, etc. there needs to be a limit.

Why?

When do you find the time to run all the heats AND the finals?

Who is going to put up an inviting cash prize and trophy for each of these sections?

How many entrants can you muster for each section to make it a competitive section to win?

Limitations on the amount of sections is a both a financial and time limited decision made by the few people who are left to organise these competitions and often complaints from entrants over the 'limitations' of sections has led to Poetry Groups just dropping the Competitions completely, which has now put us in a position of having hardly a State Championship now and not even having an Australian Championship last year, something that was once the highlight of the Australian Bush Poetry Calendar.

I hope this gives some insight into why lines have to be drawn on sections in Competitions, and yes, maybe in a perfect world we would have all the time, money, venues and organisers to do the lot, but in reality, we simply do not.

Cheers

Neil McArthur

Well Neil, Marty. I dunno. I sort of thought it wouldn't be too hard, but it looks awfully complicated . I'd better retreat to the ranks of the casual bystander.

haha. It's OK Neville. No one would be expected to run that many sections, just not viable, but you can see the problem in trying to cater for every section, let alone every style. I know where you are coming from, and all poetry does not need to be funny to be well received. It is just one very popular type of writing/performing which strikes a chord with very large audiences and therefore is a great vehicle to also introduce those crowds to serious and traditional works intermingled at times.

Cheers

Neil

Thank you Neil as you have stated a Judges job is not an easy one but one thing that is noticed is that a well presented and performed humorous poem will out score an equallywell presented and performed serious poem.

I know it is as the performance that grabs the judges attention with its humour and the audiences enjoyment, but not all performers voices have that ability to attract humorous sounding speech.

Yet the serious performers voice and poem may be as good or better than the other yet it does not attract the attention of the judges or audience. ( queastion ) Is it because it is not in their comfort zone.

Bill Williams the old battler

No, I do not believe that Bill. I am sorry, but having judges many performance competitions, in particular State and National, I would have to say that the majority of winners have performed Serious poems. A good comedy poem needs to be performed with a lot more care and cleverness than a serious poem. By this I mean that the emotions you put forward in a serious poem are more genuine, more human (from grief to despair) than the emotions one has access to for a comedy poem. A great Comedy performer is usually a natural and I have seen more people attempt and butcher Comedy Poems than Original, Modern or Traditional serious. People tend to put their own personal spin on a serious and emotional poem, whereas those who choose a comedy poem of another writer often struggle because they attempt to deliver it as they heard it performed by the writer. A truly original comedy piece delivered in a hilarious and original away always has a great appeal to an audience, yet that does not mean that it ticked all the boxes on the judge's score sheet.

With comedy, you will find that the best comedy poems you will hear in competitions are written by performers who go nowhere the competitions anyway. And the lack of originality in a lot of other comedy poems leave a lot to be desired, leaving the emotional writers a greater amount of literary real estate to explore and cover.

Cheers Mate.