my grandmother's waitui

i'm writing a list poem in a workshop exercise and it has turned out to be about my grandmother. it's not as good as the one about my grandfather, but it is only yet a first draft.
my grandparents lived in maroochydore on the sunshine coast where a mcdonalds now stands. They actually had to sell their house in the seventies because mcs wanted their block, and their neighbours'. they moved to toowoomba to be closer to their sons* but their toowoomba house never had the character of maroochydore's waitui.

Waitui was the name of their house, and is a Fijian word meaning ocean or sea. they lived a block from alexandra headland and quite close to cotton tree. in better news, at least one of their previous homes in suva, fiji, is still standing and people still live in it.

my grandfather often greeted us and his sons with Bula Vinaka, which is a hearty hello in fijian. he was a bristol lad who served in the army over there before setting up shop in bulimba. my grandmother was born in suva but was neither fijian fijian or fijian indian. she was a scottish fijian.
*when they moved to toowoomba three of their four sons lived in that very chilly city. none of them do now. sensible lads. two of the sons were born in oz, two in fiji - suva and taveuni. they all have some great stories to tell about growing up in fiji.

where's your poetry wall?

http://bit.ly/b6pqPn
Rebecca's young poets have created ephemeral poetry on their green fence. Love that a whole lot, Bec.
I will have to dig out a photo of the green chalk board at our place in Maryborough, and will have to get one at our new Townsville place.
Is yours a chalkboard? Or black ink poems on the walls and doors (ala QWC Metro Arts - if I'm remembering correctly Kate?) Or post-it notes on the wall? Framed poems? Projected on the wall? Projected on the side of a building?
Has anyone got a poem on their table?
I created a story lamp once, and made poetry jeans (slide 9/14), inspired by Joanna's storylamp, but I'd like a poetry table!
My new desk at work has light coloured timber... hmmm

Send in your wall photos and celebrate poetry month - wherever you are in the world

poetry walls!

http://bit.ly/9EXzRQ
Rebecca Newman's called the chalkboard on her back fence a poetry wall! Love it!

I have magnetic poetry words on my filing cabinet in the library for us all to play with. I want the large magnetic poetry words. I saw them online once, and being used by people in a park (possibly NY?).
If anyone has photos of the poetry walls at QWC at Metro Arts, send them!
Where's your poetry wall and what have you created on it?

and I guest blog @ Sally Murphy's about children's poetry

Shout about it! Sally Murphy has a new book out - Toppling;  a verse novel. To celebrate its release Sally asked authors, readers, teachers and librarians to participate in a blog tour on her blog during March.
We were asked to respond to the topic, What I like about children's poetry.
Here's my post from over there (reposted below) - check Sally's blog during March for others' musings on children's poetry. And read Toppling!


summer watermelon moments

What fun to be guest blogging on Sally’s site on what I like about children’s poetry!
I like the zing of verse novels; their raw emotional intensity. They look just like other novels sitting on the shelf, but open them and you find words, carefully chosen words strung together in free verse with the power to crumple your heart and open your mind.


I discovered YA verse novels while working in a school library, first Steven Herrick’s, then Margaret Wild and Catherine Bateson’s titles. I was amazed how these authors could tell such compelling tales using so few words and so much white space. On the first page the reader is introduced to the characters, the narrator and the situation and then quickly flung into the action. The reader feels a part of this wild ride. It can be a quick read because of the economy of words, but intense.


Children love poetry written for them because it speaks of their experiences, their lives. Think of Laura Purdie Salas’ Stampede!: Poems to celebrate the wild side of school. And to have these poems read aloud or performed! Audiences quickly make the connection that poetry is life captured on the page (or stage). Congratulations to Sally, who’s adding to the genre with Toppling.


My challenge: add a poetry wall to your home, your school, your place of work. Encourage people to write their poems in ink, on postcards or post-its, or project poems onto the surface. Use magnetic poetry. Poetry forces you to clarify your thoughts.
Just like that pure moment when you bite into your first summer watermelon!

check out a verse novel - and feel yourself falling into the story

Best wishes Sally!

best how-to books ever

a kick in the head and a a poke in the eye - dangerous stuff!

And there's also:
The Mentor Kit for young poets at Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards
The Australian Poetry Centre
Poem in your Pocket Day
the fridge

which poems do you enjoy (writing or reading)? tell me do.

mall sprite

blush

poetry on saturday

library shelves full

serendipity guides her
haiku poetry

poetry on saturday

Adelaide and Bazaar Streets, Maryborough

poetry on saturday

remembering Maryborough's and Toowoomba's much-anticipated November splashes of colour

for Henry Rogers b. 1892, Bristol

during a 2008 workshop with Ross Clarke in which we wrote poems using objects associated with a person, where the arrangement of objects would show how we felt about that person.

my grandfather’s house,Waitui,
on Parker Street -
shells collected over several visits
scattered by the door,
bucket and spade still sandy,
the Hillman Hunter, rusted.
Inside, barley sugars by his bed for a treat
books tipping over on the shelves
and a whiskey glass by his chair,
empty now.

poetry on saturday

writing workshops, qwc & hbca

pleased to find i've managed to attend one creative workshop a year for the previous four -

1. poetry workshop with Julie Beveridge from Queensland Writers Centre, townsville, november 2009
2. short story and poetry workshops with Ross C. Clark, hervey bay, november 2008 (organised by lynn from hervey bay council of the arts)
3. teaching writers to teach with Cynthia Rohner at Queensland Writers Centre, february 2007 (useful when planning my maryborough workshop)
4. writing for children workshop with Jill Morris, hervey bay, april 2006 (again, hbca)

check out the 2010 workshops available from QWC.

julie made some great suggestions for my airport poem, so that's what i'm working on now. that and the review for cmis!

airport poetry

poem composed on the train yesterday, using visual stimuli (julie beveridge's suggestion), and then drafted and rewritten at the airport. at gate 46.

poem composed after attendance at a city workshop, not instead of networking you will note, comrade harps! :)

fabulous to catch up with corinne hills who i haven't seen since we shared a dorm at CSU res. school back in '03. she influenced my decision to move to townsville - something i wrote about for InCite. best wishes for your Masters, corinne!

met great librarians from ipswich (home of the infocoach), nerang (check background image on my twitter), gold coast, federal court, drug arm, etc.

julie beveridge rocks townsville!

*****

my first full creative day in ages - saturday in townsville with julie beveridge for a poetry workshop - five star day.

julie is director of queensland poetry festival, marketing coordinator at queensland writers centre and author of Rock'n'Roll Tuxedo and Home is Where the Heartache is (two poetry chapbooks, the latter of haibun).

and 'specially nice to be with a group of other writers for the day too

and we did an open mic. which i've done before in the gallery at HB, but my first time here.

and then i got a long email from glenys who is writing a novel - fully into the creative phase of character and scene development - and who owes me some pages!

i have to update some details on wordbox on the weekend - check it out next week.

You will write a haiku by the end of the month

balconies lit & redbacks escape - emma's haiga

A beautiful poetry site discovered tonight : Australian Haiku by Emma Dalloway via the equally fascinating seasoncreep.

And to bookmark other notable poets - Kilmeny Niland's haiga and janice m. bostok.

free verse

poetry out in the world;

off the page, in the dust and sand,

on arms and leaves,

on a poet's outstretched hand.

wander through the free verse project and then go to the beach and create!

This site is a goldmine for teachers, librarians, poetry lovers...

for poetry enthusiasts

want to be there.
one day poem pavilion: http://people.artcenter.edu/~jsong5/thesis/index.html.

poetry saturday

I've lived a whole life since last Saturday. Let me cast my mind back to relive that amazing weekend. Yes, not only Poetry Saturday, but also Short Story Sunday with that charismatic haijin Ross Clark. Ross played the ocean drum as he performed a poem (reminds me of my long haired man playing mandolin at the markets in Good Fortune, except Ross has a shaved head!). He lead us through various steps to building poems. I wrote a thoughtful poem about my grandfather and his home in Parker Street by the beach (now the site of a McDonalds - and us descended from the Campbells!). We played Texas Qld Eight Card Stud as a story prompt, and Accordion which was a group shared story project in which each person could only see the last line from the previous writer. The story could go in interesting directions. Ross has an award-winning poem in this year's The Best Australian Poems 2008 (Black Inc.) which I picked up from the bookstore this week. I also bought his chapbook At the turn of the seasons: A haiku journal (Sweetwater Press). I am in love with Ross' poetry and will endeavour to spend more time exploring poetic forms. I took an invigorating walk along the beach on Sunday morning before the workshop. I recorded the sound of the waves breaking against the rocks and wrote a poem in the sand with a stick. You can read some of Ross' past haiku on tinywords.

christmas gift with zing!

Our little zine fair at the markets was a success! And fun. We had a good position and enjoyed the atmosphere. Stall holders were looked after well, with free tea and coffee and a complimentary cup of popcorn. I wore my new Queensland Writers Centre t-shirt which prompted one stallholder to ask me for assistance in writing assignments for his politics and history degree. Hahaha. We were very near the handmade chocolates stall, and I resisted right until the end and then bought half a dozen Christmas themed chocolates. Yum. Special thanks to Shar who was a great companion at the fair. Shar now owns the storyjeans featured on my slideshow.
For those of you who bought Good Fortune - enjoy your literary snack. For those who bought TEN for the young writers in your life - their creativity is going to go through the roof.

Today's good news - both zines are now in stock at the local Visitor Information Centre (thank you, Kelli). It's a Christmas gift with zing for readers and writers alike. And you get your own special fortune when you buy GF. Go, buy one!

Submissions are now open for issue #3 which will come out next year. Jacaranda zine showcases short fiction and poetry from Fraser Coast writers, with local images. Want to be part of it? Contact me for the guidelines.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.