A Poet's Voice

[David Campbell]

Thanks, Catherine. Your “wherever I am and in whatever small way I can” comment is significant.

One of the problems these days with poetry in general (and bush poetry in particular) is that it tends to be seen as something separate, an art form occupying a particular place ‘out there’. For example, I can go to a Melbourne Poets’ Union function and hear a lot of free verse, or I can go to a bush poetry festival and hear a lot of rhyming verse. But, for most people, poetry is not a part of daily life. It’s simply not encountered, so it’s not a discussion topic. It doesn’t engage. We don’t have the likes of Paterson and Lawson exchanging poems in the Fairfax media, or a C J Dennis penning a daily topical poem in The Australian, prompting the sort of response that Bill Leak’s cartoons often get. Poetry has slipped off the radar to become a niche interest which has a relatively small number of enthusiasts amongst a generally uninterested population.

So how do we get them interested? That question doesn’t assume we expect them to write or perform poetry, or even necessarily join the ABPA. (As long as that confusing word “bush” is there that’s probably going to be a struggle anyway.) Increasing interest means finding as many ways as possible to make rhyming verse an accepted part of normal communication rather than regularly being seen as some weird aberration. With Dennis in particular, through his work in the Melbourne Herald, rhyming verse entertained, informed, and stimulated discussion on a daily basis.

Without going into too much detail, I’ve spent a fair bit of time over the past year posting rhyming verse online in a public forum where you wouldn’t normally expect to find it. The initial reaction, such as it was, could best be described as puzzlement. “What’s this doggerel?” But, as the year progressed, support slowly grew, not only for the content, but for the format. The poems stimulated discussion and appreciation. Some tried to imitate, with varying degrees of success. The important thing, however, is that growing familiarity meant that they became accepted as a legitimate and effective (and sometimes even anticipated) means of communication. Certainly not by everybody, but by sufficient numbers of people to make the considerable time commitment worthwhile. One correspondent, who was a teacher, used them as a basis for discussion with his students.

It’s only a small thing, but it might serve as a building block, the basis for something a little more ambitious. Anyway, we’ll see. Hope springs eternal!

Cheers
David

[Maureen K Clifford]

That raises in my mind an interesting point David - perhaps by 'bombing' the public with poetic publicity it might permeate into their psyche and become a permanent part of their personas

That principle seems to work with the ISIS dickheads and every Australian that walks this southern land now knows and has an opinion on them or suffers from terroist/muslim paranoia .

Pinching your poem by the way and putting it on our FB page which has had 157 people actively engage this week as in commenting or sharing, 490 page likes and supposedly reached 1107 people, and a big % of them are not members or names seen on the forum.

Whilst we can disregard the figure of 1107 because I don't put any merit in that at all - it is like sticking advertising brochures in the letterbox - most don't get read just binned, the other figures are active participation where people have either commented on or shared a post or physically ticked the box to say that they 'liked' it. These stats cover the period from 16/12 to 22/12 ... can a similar stat be drawn from our forum pages to see how many people are actually reading there - it might give us a truer picture of what is happening .... just a thought.

[Vic Jefferies]

Well done David. Enjoyed the poem and your comments. If a free verse "poem" is written without: rhyme; metre; alliteration; assonance; cadence or structured form, is it a still a poem or is it simply an expression of an idea?
If we take a song and remove the melody; the tune; the music; the rhyme; the phrasing what is left? Nothing but an idea expressed in words. It certainly is not a song anymore.
I feel much the same about modern painting and for years have been seeking (unsuccessfully) someone who can explain to me why the famous (or infamous) Blue Poles is a masterpiece.

[Neville Briggs]

Vic, I've read "free verse "poems that have some rhyme and even some passages of metre, ( Les Murray and Bruce Dawe for example ) perhaps just not in the conventional placing.
As I understand it, any verse should include some of the elements of alliteration, assonance and certainly cadence and phrasing. Any poem without those I assume is not poetry but I have seen all those things in free verse. Crummy verse is crummy verse whatever form it takes.

In a brief word, Jackson Pollock's "Blue Poles" is considered a significant work because it is a grand sermon on post-modernism, the theme of the sermon is " non-art can be art, therefore stupidity can be wisdom, right can be wrong, evil can be good and meaning is what I, "The Self " , the supreme ruler of the universe, choose to declare as meaning.
Terry put up a verse not long ago mourning the decline of our culture and society; yes indeed the faithful have learned the lesson preached by Blue Poles very well.
With great prophetic insight, George Orwell saw it coming long ago when he wrote that the victims of Big Brother were taught that " War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength.

[Vic Jefferies]

Neville there aint much left of a sausage after you skin and gut it and that is what I find in most (not all) free verse.
It is my belief the free versers write in that way because they can't write rhyme or metre and or find it too difficult.
Thank you Neville for your attempt to explain the value of Blue Poles but I am afraid I am non the wiser.
As I understand the story the painting is explained as the expression of an idea portrayed by a drunken artist and I believe at least one of his friends who in fits of alcoholic exuberance dribbled paint onto a canvas and then declared it to be a masterpiece. A thorough nonsense!

[David Campbell]

Your choice of words is very appropriate, Maureen! I “bombed” that forum with just over 300 poems in nine months. They weren’t very long, mostly 12-20 lines, and I used a variety of metres and rhyme schemes. They were all topical pieces about current events, some serious, but many with an element of humour/satire (which usually went down well). I just wanted to establish verse as an alternative way to say something while everyone else was using standard prose. Even some of those who disagreed strongly with what I was saying conceded that the approach had merit. I’m not on Facebook, but I hope the poem prompts a few more comments. Manfred could probably give us some stats about involvement in this site.

Thanks, Vic. I don’t think you’ll get a satisfactory answer to your questions. I know nothing about painting, particularly abstract art, although I quite like Blue Poles. Don’t ask me to define why, though (maybe it’s just the vibrancy of the colours), or to explain how a whole lot of paint dribbled onto a canvas can be worth umpteen million dollars. I guess it’s a “masterpiece” because somebody said it was. Many years ago I played tennis for several seasons with a quite successful painter and I watched him one day in his studio as he layered various colours onto a huge canvas with a roller. It wasn’t my idea of art but he probably sold it for a small fortune!

As for free verse, pretty much anything that’s written can be labelled “poetry” these days…somebody somewhere commented that it’s poetry if the writer claims it to be so. What the reader thinks may be very different. If I’m going to accept something as “poetry” I like to be able to understand it (or at least take something from it), and see some evidence of technique and control over the material…perhaps in layout or effective use of language. And that applies to both rhymed and unrhymed verse. I write free verse, and enjoy doing so, because it allows more flexibility in terms of layout than traditional rhyming verse. As an example, see Every story must have…which I posted in the free verse section here back in October. Is it poetry? I say it is, but it’s up to the reader to sit in judgement.

Cheers
David

[Vic Jefferies]

He said, "I am a poet." I said, "That's for your readers to decide." Forget who said this but it makes a lot of sense.
Problem with free verse is that true free verse has no rules whatsoever. There is no requirement for metre, rhyme, assonance, alliteration, cadence or even grammatical structure, which of course is the whole idea. Unfortunately most free verse also leaves out the most essential ingredient: poetry.
Having said that I must admit that I have a number of free verse poems that I cherish and consider to be works of art:
Homecoming, by Bruce Dawe; Verandah by RF Brissenden and They'll Tell You about Me, by Ian Mudie spring to mind.

[Maureen K Clifford]

David just getting back into the numbers again - purely to try to highlight that perhaps how and where people go to read poetry has changed rather than people not being interested ... since I posted your poem onto the FB page it has 'reached' 540 people with 71 people actively engaging with it - 'sharing or liking'. To actively engage means they have to do something, as in open the post to read it and then indicate they like it . Some of those were ABPA members but the biggest % were not.

Since making the initial comment on the forum re the FB site where 1107 had viewed the ABPA page , that number has increased in 1 days to 1537 with 219 people actively engaging - up from 157.

The Australia Times Poetry page that I also run on FB reached 6652 people with 530 people actively engaging over the same period.

Those stats - relating to the number of people actively engaged don't indicate to me a lack of interest, but rather a different access point.

[David Campbell]

Thanks, Maureen, they're interesting figures, although it's a little hard to put them in context in terms of what the potential involvement might be.

To take another approach, here's a general question for anyone who cares to respond. What's the level of interest in poetry in your extended family? This is the time of year for family gatherings, so is poetry discussed at all? Does anyone say "Can I read your latest poem?" or "Did you read that poem by so-and-so?" or "Let's do some poetry!" If we use our extended families as population samples to gauge interest in poetry, what sort of figures do we find? In my own case, I'd put it at well under 10%.

That's all I can offer at the moment as we're rather preoccupied with the bushfire that's still out of control near Lorne. Our house is at Aireys Inlet, which is not too far away. Mad weather...stinking hot yesterday with a massive smoke cloud heading out to sea, and cold and wet this morning, although not enough rain to kill the fire. A real Aussie Christmas!

Best wishes to everyone out there, and stay safe wherever you are!

Cheers
David

[Shelley Hansen]

Hello David

That's an interesting question you raise about level of interest in our poetry, or poetry in general.

I would agree with your 10% percentage. We have "die hard" friends who ask for a poem every time we get together, but they are in the minority. One stalwart supporter of ours rustles up interest among her circle of friends and acquaintances, but without her ongoing passion, I suspect that only a few of them would retain their interest.

From time to time I get asked if I've written any poetry lately but it is random. I do use social media and devote my Facebook page entirely to poetry and related subjects, which generates a bit of interest. However I suspect that, left to their own devices, many of my friends and acquaintances would let poetry pass right out of their lives.

That's not a criticism of their cultural appreciation - rather, an observation on the lives people lead these days. Whether it's music, art, or literature - most people need motivation and encouragement to take time to enjoy the finer things. And that's our job!!

Cheers
Shelley