Tamryn has been leading the team at the rather isolated poetry festival, held last weekend, in Adelaide. Here is her report. I would like to add a few comments about the festival, but shall restrain myself until next blog entry.
“After a two-hour ride on a bus that looks and feels as if it were an old bowling alley, The Red Room Team arrives in Goolwa. The festival, organised by The Australian Poetry Centre, is yet to start so we explore the town’s rusted paddle steamers, op-shops and five gum dispensing machines.
On dark, over 200 poets hum an opening night song in the packed Signal Point Space situated on the salted banks of what’s left of the Murray. Chicken-greased fingers on red wine glasses smear like expectant smiles. Aunty Illene welcomes us to her people’s land in traditional dialect, followed by Stefano de Pieri and Judith Beveridge’s tributes to Dorothy Porter and a special screening of archival footage of Dorothy discussing her passion for Cavafy and reading two works inspired his poetry. Rounding out the evening were readings by international guest poets, Robert Minhinnick (Wales), Glenn Colquhoun and Elizabeth Smither (New Zealand) and Arianna Pozzuoli (Canada via Singapore). Special guest Emma Jones was another unfortunately stopped by volcano ash.
Saturday morning starts with a panel investigation of ‘The Problem with Poetry’. Expectation, exposure and education are the debated themes but as always it raises the question if poetry has the problem or is it the perception of it. Some in the audience meet the recent changes in Australia’s poetry scene with excitement, while other more traditional poets seem to march a death parade.
The mood shifts with an afternoon of readings and a fantastic session with four Giramondo poets, Lisa Gorton, Bronwyn Lea, Lucy Dougan and Michael Farrell. Against a storm-grey background Lisa Gorton introduces her recent Sci-Fi series of poems and we’re momentarily transported to 2020, life on Titan, ‘the air full of frequencies’. Will small country towns and poetry festivals exist in this future?
At night we walk wet streets, side-stepping migrating snails, to join poets and from across the country for a symposium. Fifteen speakers put forward their ideas for the improvement of the poetry scene. Discussion is healthy but again it seems that the same voices are being heard. This in itself may be the answer. Collaboration and inclusion in larger arts festivals is what is needed if poetry is to broaden audiences. Poetry is not just for poets, audiences are critical and this element often seems forgotten.
On Sunday, we meet with poet Luke Beesley who’s presenting on The Red Room Company’s ‘Papercuts’ program and his recent participation in the Sea Things project. Despite technical gliches the story of the duffle bags has the class raising hands and asking how to be involved. Meanwhile, at The Publishers Market, our ‘Poems to Share’ box sets have sold out to poets, teachers and librarians alike. The interest and feedback on our projects is really encouraging, and our bookmarks and badges are collected by eager hands.
By Monday afternoon we’re all ready to farewell Goolwa and the festival. We pack our heads full of poems, new project ideas, and fill bags with books, then wait once more for the bus that smells of bowling alley. We pass the slow ride back to Adelaide reading our new poetic objects (including works from Cathoel Jorss and Bronwyn Lea) watching fields of ripening grapes and fallen houses.
Thank you Goolwa!”
The marvellous Boccalatte triumph again: this time with the design and printing of our ‘Poems to Share’ materials that have been posted and flown out to homes across the nation. Beautiful cards to pin on the wall and see the names of each poet jig-sawn into a hypnotic pattern that, I think, begs to be uttered out loud. And, the names will be given a voice at our Sydney Writers’ Festival event on May 21st. We’ll also be featured in TED X on the Saturday 22nd May with poets Lionel Fogarty, Lisa Gorton, Eytan Messiah (pictured) and Jill Jones singing the imaginative into the overactive forbrains of the TED X constituency.
