The waves and sky were magical, last Thursday. By the water’s edge at Rushcutters Bay, Graeme, Petra, Sandra and Luke read their ‘Sea Things’ poems. At the party we screened the ten minute documentary about the leg to Thursday Island and sold poems in bottles, for $2. or more. It was just one of those nights – if you missed it you missed one of the best Arts events, this year. I say this not as the person who organized it (okay, I am that too) but as an individual who had the joy of feeling the poetry in the veins, breathing in the experience of the night and with it – superb poetic works read alongside perfected rhythm of waves against wood. The poems commissioned for this project have triumphed in describing aspects of the sea, exploring the philosophies and mythologies associated with it but without any cliches at all. The poems all edge around time, death, melancholy, history and the human’s place in the brine and waves. Yet, none of the poems sounds like a death knell that accompanies so many poems about sea. Typical sea worn words like ‘ebb’, ;eddy’, ‘glisten’ and ‘time’ are not used to force us into feeling melancholy. The crowd of about fifty were riveted as each poet spoke out their songs to the sea. Contributors to the duffle bag had driven from around NSW to be at the event. The most disappointing aspect was there were not more Sydney poets present to support their contemporaries and share in the experience. Perhaps that’s a Thursday night close to Christmas or perhaps people turn up to poetry events only if they’re performing? Maybe Red Room needs a larger marketing budget? Or maybe it’s because many people my age are more interested in the price of gold, looking after their kids or watching television.
November 29th, 2009
