Poetry Report June 18th 2017

The day started off well with the sun shining and a nice cool breeze. 17 people made their way to the poetry afternoon. I forgot the mic stand, and my poems but Irene was able to e-mail my poems to me and read them from my phone. We had apologies from Ian he was out of the state, Jean attending a poetry group in Murwillumbah, Roger gallivanting overseas, Mac and Joyce just moved house and Judi is not feeling too well. I printed the “Tribute to Joan” booklets which are available for $5.00; I have ten copies left. I wasn’t able to recite my poem for Joan as I miss her dearly and the words just wouldn’t come; Tom stepped up to the plate and aired my tribute for me and did a great job, emotional effort and he made it through, thanks mate and I’m sure Joan thanks you to (though later she would have cringed at your rhyme selections, with a smile on her face). Whoever came up with Pauciloquent should take pride as many objected to it's inclusion and some had very little to say on the matter.

Bob started the day with a very short poem, two lines I think it was, maybe he was feeling Pauciloquent?? His second poem was on the “in an other country“ theme and he recalled his youthful days and his learning right from wrong and generally speaking politicians worked for the good of all people, we respected them more and they respected us a little!!! Now they are all thieving bastards and have sold off all our Utilities to foreign companies and used all the accumulated super contributions up so there is nothing left in the kitty and the mongrels are sucking up our tax money at a disgusting alarming rate, in some other countries they sometimes shoot the bad ones!! He closed the day with a great poem about a foreboding romantic interlude for a frisky elderly lady that turned out to be nothing but a confused husband searching for the remote.

David recited his poem about the lovely Broadwater, which you may know is my place of solitude to go to when the world gets too much at times. It’s a place where David goes for a similar reason and he detailed his fishing trip and his relaxation time watching the fish jump and the dolphins go past. His second poem was titled “A Flock of House Guests” and they don’t sound like the kind of guest’s I’d like to see everyday, sounds like he had every species of bird on the Gold Coast. I cant read my own writing but I’m sure David’s third poem had a good title that was equal to the quality of his poem.

Graham enjoyed another afternoon of poetry and continues to impress and amaze with his ability to recite from memory all the time, the two poems he chose were equally well received and applauded and he did a great job with Mulga Bills Bicycle and The Bush Christening both written by The Banjo.

Ted did a great job on reciting his Pauciloquent poem and letting us know what it was all about, well researched and very informative. His second poem was titled "Australia" and he listed all the good qualities of this great country, it's people, places, and all the flora and fauna, didn’t know there is over 700 birds species in Oz.

Lyn and Peter returned from their USA holiday and they both joined us with Lyn wearing flat shoes and peering over the podium to recite a couple of great poems, the first was a very emotion-stirring poem about the Mum she wishes she had and the things she never got to experience and share. Lyn’s second poem was a poem about a special world, the world that she and Peter live in where they are wrapped like a silky cocoon with a love that will last forever.

Meryl joined us for the second time and brought her friends Margaret and Clare for moral support. The first poem Meryl came along she asked if anyone knew a specific poem from her childhood that she can only remember the start, no one did, even Mr Google and Wikipedia couldn’t help this time she finished the poem with words that she has written herself. Meryl’s second poem was about her Mum and how she now regrets that she didn’t listen all the time to her words of wisdom and that she gave her parents a real hard time as a teenager, some of us don’t realise how special our parents are until sadly we have them no more.

Banjo rocked the house with an animated recital of "The Man from Ironbark" and as usual he made it feel like we were in the barbershop. Banjo recited a poem he found on the WWW written by Anon about the tragedy and frustration of the evil game known as golf.

Trish recited the lovely poem she found that she hand wrote in the 60’s while living in Spain titled “The Window”. It is a poem about a summer romance that never blossomed to fulfilled love and remained a beautiful innocent dream that only her and the Spanish Fishing Boat Captain Antonio in Andalucía knew of.

Kathy had a similar experience to David and her poem was titled "Black Knight" where she said she could murder some crows and she thought to herself "stone the flaming crows" as she pondered her daily disturbance and continual attack by the local crows, eating cat food, overtaking the birds bath, scaring off all other birds, and trying to get inside, she closed her poem hoping that her cat would soon be eating crow. Kathy’s second poem was on the other country theme and she reminded us all how great Australia is and that we are indeed in the lucky country and it's the best place to live in the world.

John was also feeling Pauciloquent and his poem was short and to the point. His second poem was titled "Australia" and he said a few words and very descriptively detailed his opinion of Bill Shorten and he left us in absolutely no doubt that he thinks he’s a prick. His third poem was about the photo competition he went in.

Manya recited a poem on the Pauciloquent theme as well and she mentioned POTUS and delinquents and most importantly coffee!! Manya’s second poem was on the other country theme and she has lots of personal experience in the matter as she was born overseas and has traveled and lived in many countries. She has seen hard times and good times and counties with poverty and conflict, but there has also been colour, warmth, love and happiness and most importantly she has and always will call Australia home.

Tom’s poem on Pauciloquent was one of the funniest poems he has written, his first suggestion was that it sounded like a fat person on a train or maybe a drunk bi-sexual parrot that flies backwards, from that foundation it just got funnier and funnier and I laughed too much to remember anymore details. His second poem was written with a poetic license and was titled "The Ballad of Bobby Dever”, another great epic of comedy and fun, he fitted all the Poets of Paradise men in as they went on a golfing trip and then ended up on a drunken pub crawl that left poor ol’ Bob half frozen and stuck in a freezer. His third poem was another funny one about his attendance at his high school reunion.

Two lovely ladies joined us for their first time, Lucy came along with her granddaughter Danielle and they are both poets but came to check us out and to prepare for both reciting a poem next month - looking forwad to our newest members reciting.

Thank you all for another great afternoon of poetry and camaraderie. I’m looking forward to next month and seeing my friends again. Next month is on the 16th of July and the optional theme is "Argument" and the optional first line is "The coward punch can...". Get your pens and keyboards going and I'll enjoy hearing the fruits of your labour.