What children are writing about

[Bob Pacey]

I think you need to go and rev it up them Nev show them what it is all about.


I never have any trouble with the writers groups I attend they know what I do and appreciate the input, some are a little toffee noses but there are some bush poets who are the same.

Now kids I think the outcome is the end result. How many of these kids continue to write poetry free verse or otherwise? I do not see many kids participating on any of the sites that I frequent ( poetry sites I mean Marty ) I had a pretty good discussion with some kids aged about 10 or 11 after I did a show for a community group the other week and they were more interested in where the ideas for the poems come from or how to memorise them then the actual format of the poems. But if I managed to plant the seed in one I will be happy.

The Chamber Music Group the I performed with last week only had three young kids performing and they seen to have the same concerns about dwindling numbers. There are so many things out there to attract the young ones these day it is a wonder we get the entries that we do.

Bob

[Heather]

Bob I think you do plenty to "implant the seed" with all the performances and work you do with kids. It only takes a kid to enjoy the rhyme, the rhythm and the story to get interested and they will remember that for a lifetime - I dare say that's how it started with most of us - for some it was an influential teacher and for others it was their parents. I was a kid when I loved "Said Hanrahan" and C.J. Dennis and his "Doreen". When I say kid - primary school age.

A couple of years ago I went to Benalla to a bush poetry gig and the entertainer was Keith Potger from the Seekers (an absolute gentleman). I was only a very small child when the Seekers broke up but their music was big in my parent's house. I was amazed how easily those tunes and the words came flooding back at that concert - it's the same with poetry I'm sure.

It also means we need kids to love to read, to relish books, words and stories - the rest will come naturally if it is meant to. When I was a teenager I was reading a novel a day! My kids had lots of books read to them and two of my daughters have the ability to write if they choose to - but they are busy with life right now. My two year old grand daughter loves her books and I'm proud to say I introduced her to nursery rhymes and books when she was a few months old.

What needs to be remembered is that poets of any description are small in number - it is a small pond and rhyming poets are an even smaller population in that pond. It will probably never change. Just get out there and do your thing - let people hear and see poetry and read to the kids.

Heather

[Heather]

Pleased to say that my 9 week old grandson heard his first nursery rhymes today - he seemed to thoroughly enjoy them judging by the smiles and the "gooo" I got in return. Such a clever little man he is - talking at 9 weeks.