Marty

[warooa]

Great to see the forum up and running again, and lots of familiar faces in fine fettle.
My name's Martin Pattie, from Helenvale, just south of Cooktown in the far north of Queensland. I was influenced at a young age by the rhyming word, not by Paterson or Lawson but by Dr Suess, those old VB ads (yer can get it pullin' a plough . . . as a matter o fact I got it now) and those classic school yard ditty's like: fat and skinny went to war, fat got shot by an apple core, skinny went home to tell his mum, all he got was a kick in the bum.
I have learnt enough with thanks to the ABPA to appreciate the finer points of bush poetry . . the intricacies involved in the craftsmanship and most importantly the enjoyment of learning and developing.

At the same time I have grown to love the slapstick doggerel* of 'performance poetry' through meeting established performers like McArthur, Gliori and Fogarty. I feel lucky to be surrounded by fertile fodder for writing ideas; I've got 4 young daughters, a gorgeous missus, 2 horses, 2 dogs, 25 acres surrounded by world heritage rainforests and creeks. A pub across the road that was built in 1875 where we all say "we love the lifestyle up here" instead of "we've all got drinking problems" and a great mob of on-line mates on the ABPA forum.
Three cheers for el presidente Blokefred for getting it all cranked up again.

[David J Delaney]

G'day Marty. ah yes!...the Lions Den.

[warooa]

The Lions Den indeed, Dave . . . hey it was great to catch up for a few drinks and a yarn with you, Bev, Mad Mick and his mob - seems like eons ago now but we'll have to do it more often.

Cheers mate

[Terry]

Good to see you back on site Marty,
Speaking of catching up with one another, perhaps we should aim for a Forum get to-gether at one of the many poets breakfast, hmn how about Cervantes or Boyup brook for instance, Just a thought.
Seriously though I do hope to catch up with a few of the group sometime next year maybe.

Cheers Terry

[manfredvijars]

Helensvale is just down the road from me in the Gold Coast .... A BLOODY LONG WAY SOUTH OF COOKTOWN MATE ...

[thestoryteller]

G'day Martin. Great part of the world mate.



Merv

[warooa]

Indeed it is Merv