2018 Kurilpa Poetry Cup Shock Results!

Kurilpa Poetry Cup Results

& Photos

Geoffrey Evans unleashes his Word Horde at the 2018 KPC

The day of the long-awaited Kurilpa Poetry Cup opened to the sweet swell of good-times music, as our June Mystery Musician, the legendary Jeff Usher himself, cracked open the keyboards and began to play.

The Great Jeff Usher in action

Out-going President Reverend Hellfire then got the poetic ball rolling with a side-splitting attack on “the cliques & claques” that seem to infest some Poetry Groups.

The Rev confides in an audience member

Bravely stepping up to the Mic after the Reverend’s antics, was gentleman Poet Michael Vaughan, who gave us a deceptively subtle sonnet on the search for a Soothing Somnia.

(Editors note: Interesting coincidence; my research earlier that week revealed that the online “Power Thesaurus” gives us 457 soporific synonyms, which surely goes to prove something.)

Two times Kurilpa Poetry Cup Winner, Cameron Logan then launched into his campaign to become the only Triple Cup winner in the Water-Rats’ history. “All shall make Merry,” he declared, and accordingly proceeded cross-legged to unleash some witty and well-sculpted wordcraft.

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Kurilpa Poets stalwart Geoffrey Evans then opened his word horde, giving a confident and bravura performance. Mixing humour with pathos, romance with clinical observation, I’ve never seen Geoffrey give a better performance and it was a shame he didn’t make it into the second round.

But competition was strong, places for the second round were few and I don’t think anyone read a dud poem that afternoon. I was certainly glad not to have to do the judging myself this year.

Veteran Poet Tom Nelson was up next and did not disappoint the crowd with an hilarious satirical poem probably entitled something like,

“State of Origin of the Species”,

where football becomes a metaphor of Evolution (or is it De-volution?) and where:

“straining men give birth to a leather ball”.

Paul Dobbyn came up next with some keen observational poetry, tinged with a hint of sepia-toned nostalgia.

Then Linda Loop was persuaded to leave the safety of the kitchen and take centre stage for a change. Though better known for her Trumpet playing, Linda has a well-trained, strong and emotive voice and gave us a powerful acapella rendition of her “Comet Poem”. “There is some hope for our dear Earth” she reassures us, voice soaring, and indeed, at that moment one can believe it just might be true.

Last but certainly not least by any stretch of the Imagination, was the strangely named “Pubert Gaylord“. (Informed sources have it that this is but a nom-de-Plume for the iconoclastic Greenslopes Poet formerly known as “Ken“.) Be that as it may, “Pubert” gave us a hearty “anti-ode” to Summer,

yearning for a place “where the Dead don’t decompose” before your eyes. 

And so the first round concluded. Whilst our esteemed but still un-named Judge considered who to pass onto the second round, and Reverend Hellfire scuttled amongst the crowd collecting votes for the People’s Choice award, Blues maestro Jeff Usher once more took to the Electric Piano waiting for him in the corner. Jeff’s fingers moved with grace and precision over the keyboard, effortlessly generating music pulsing with Life-Force, manifesting in architectonic arabesques both intricate and delicate.

As usual a bounteous feast was provided at the Break through the generosity of the Kurilpa Poets & Friends, and beautifully prepared and presented thanks to the energy of Linda and her Crew of eager Kitchen Volunteers.

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After the break, it was time for our Feature Poet, respected local Poet and former Speed Poets head Honcho JDUB (aka John Wainright) to “Send a crow to lay words in (our) Heads“.

JDUB‘s humorous, insightful poems were well received by the audience. Particularly popular was his surrealistic tale called, “The Domestication of Poetry“, where he goes right into the history of Poetry from the time of Gilgamesh, when, “poets were first kept for their songs”. Now, after centuries of selective breeding, “modern poets look very different from their distant ancestors“.

JDUB domesticating wild verse

And now we moved into the second round of the Competition.

The Four Finalists were called forth one by one to do battle Poetic. First up was Cam Logan, going for that poetic hat-trick with a witty new poem, A kind of Gastropod Dreaming where ancestor snails shape the landscape with their primordial slime and dream at night of unguarded cabbages.

Thomas Nelson returned with a cautionary tale of cat scratch fever.

TD

Linda Loop seemed surprised (nay, stunned!) to be called forth as a finalist, but she rose to the occasion with another soaringly sung acapella piece, “Approaching the Zenith”. Is it really a poem if it’s sung, some pedants might whine, but Poetry & Music have been working together for thousands of years,

and I know from my own performance experience, some poems just want to be sung.

Pubert Gaylord returning to strut & fret upon the stage once more, was also fired with the urge to sing, growling & grunting a guttural gut-bucket of a ballad by the name of, “Russ Hinze Blues”.

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Twas all such fun that the end of the day came too quick for me. But the moment to award the coveted Cup had arrived, and our Judge was revealed as none other than JDUB himself. But first the Rev announced that the inaugural Peoples’ Choice Award went to ..

PUBERT GAYLORD!

The 2018 KPC “Peoples Choice” winner receives his award.

The charming Mr Gaylord won by an overwhelming majority, though honourable mentions are due to Geoffrey Evans and Linda Loop-they both clearly had their fan clubs out.

Grinning broadly, Mr Gaylord sauntered to cheers back on stage to collect his shiny trophy (yet to be engraved-oh the engraver’s going to love this one!) and a fine bottle of Sacred Hill, the Reverend’s favourite five dollar Shiraz.

Finally, with an imaginary drum-roll on an invisible snare, a somewhat bemused looking JDUB announced his decision and then the coveted, mystically-endowed Kurilpa Poetry Cup itself was presented to none other than…

LINDA LOOP!

2018 Kurilpa Poety Cup winner, Linda Loop, aka; “the Acapella Kid”

“I am truly surprised and humbled to have been awarded the Kurilpa poetry Cup”, declared a stunned Linda Loop,

as she was presented with the Cup itself and the traditional prize bundle “Loaf of Bread, Jug of Wine, and Book of Verses” (This year’s “Book of Verse” was a slim volume of verse by Ipswich poet Tom Shapcott, a fitting choice. The wine was a beautifully bottled fine Rice Wine, thoughtfully donated by JDUB).

“There were so many great poems read today”, Ms Loop opined”, myself, I voted for Pubert for the People’s Choice Award. It would have been nice though to have had a few more women get up and have a go”.

Congratulations to both Linda & Pubert, who truly deserved their prizes for their well-crafted words and professional performances.

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Meanwhile the Rev did his best to make sure no-one was forgotten, and all those competing won something for their efforts. My notes disintegrate at this point but I do believe Geoffrey Evans won a potato-powered clock, whilst former two-time cup winner, Cam Logan was presented with a small jar of pickles. Paul Dobbyn seemed pleased to be awarded a charming, cat-shaped china money-box.

Happy prizewinner, Paul Dobbyn!

SOME THANK YOUSE!

Big thanks to everyone who helped make the 2018 Kurilpa Poetry Cup a memorable day; to the brave poets who gave it their all and to the audience who stopped for a moment to listen to another’s words.

More thanks are due to those who cheerfully pitch in every month to help set up and clean up and shut-down and run the kitchen and the door and everything in-between. Your name is both Legion & Legend!

AS is those who regularly bring fine food and drinks to share and help bring our community together.

Finally, gratitude is due to all who reached into their pockets in the last month in response to our appeal. Your generous donations have allowed the Water Rats to meet all our most pressing financial commitments and continue on for yet another year.

Cam contemplates his prize pickles

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

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-Words; Unckle Rat

Images; Shane K

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Kurilpa Poets May Photo Review, Atmospheric

Awash with ambience, Savanu takes centre stage at Atmospherics

PHOTO REVIEW

–ATMOSPHERIC, a breath of Fresh Air

No doubt about it, the Kurilpa Poets May event, the Elemental-Air themed “Atmospherics”, definitely had, well..atmosphere.

The day was ably Produced & Directed by talented Kurilpa Poetry Cup winner Fi Privitera, though sadly Fi demurred on this occasion to read any of her own subtle Poetry.

High flying Mystery Muso Pat Hehir from local rockers HAWKMOON soon had the room taking flight and reaching great heights. Showing some deft guitar work and an unexpectedly sweet-toned voice, almost like a young Robert Plant in his mellower moments, Pat definitely showed himself to be a true Child of the Seventies, musically speaking.

Lunar Bird-of-Prey, Pat Hehir, takes flight

FEATURE POET of the day was noted local Cultural Terrorist, the great, the terrible, SAVANNU!

Behold the Chosen One!

Now I have heard it said by some informed sources, that Sav is currently the best performance poet in Brisbane! Well! Certainly he’s one of the most distinctive and Individual voices on the scene and one of the most entertaining.

Taking the stage Sav begins his Set; Strange dissociated phrases assault our eardrums, cruel laughter taunts us,

“One day you may get a phone call..”Sav warns us/selected for jury duty he wakes up with an erection/”You have been selected for panel B.. Haha”.

While he reads the iconoclastic antics of Krazy Kat & Ignatz caper across the Virtual gallery’s screen in disjointed juxtaposition. Herriman was a very strange man no doubt about it and his Art seemed in perfect Sync with the words of our Feature Poet..

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Open Mic sees Kurilpa Poet veteran Paul Dobbyn take to the stage with an aesthetic tale told of his “neat but not gaudy” post operative scars, and followed with a more sombre poem for a Dead Future.

Gentleman poet Michael Vaughan wrapped us in Winter weather like a damp, grey shroud, while the Rev pondered the reality of the Air captured in a paper bag, before setting it free and startling the audience in the process.

Rev capturing the Winds

Geoffrey “call me Shakespeare” Evans took flight with a tribute to the mellifluous song of that noble Avian, the Magpie, and later offered to write people Seduction Poems for $50 a pop!

The esteemed Mr Ivan Radix reading with quiet intensity,contributed more atmospherics and gave us “morning mists caressing fields at Dawn”

“Where is Springtime?” he asks the room gravely, and “the promise of Cherry blossoms”.

Ken, a talented local poet and occasional reader at Kurilpa events, then took us out of the Atmosphere altogether and out into orbit with a humourous tribute poem to the original Doctor Smith from the 60’s TV sci-fi cult classic, “Lost in Space”.

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He followed up with his classic piece of olfactory erotic, an earthy tribute to a lover’s musk entitled, “You Stink Good”.

Our enigmatic Visual Arts Director, Shane K, not content with inflicting the Dadaist rambling of George Herriman upon our fragile brains, then gave us a hearty historical tour of the works of celebrated “Bad Poets”. One such was George Withers, notorious as the poet whose terrible poetry saved his Life.

When captured and scheduled for execution by Royalist forces during England’s civil war, a certain court poet successfully appealed to King Charles for clemency, on the curious grounds that, “As long as George Withers lives, no-man can say I’m the worst Poet living”.

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The break brought us more madly mellifluous music from Moon-hawk Pat Hehir, whilst in the kitchen Linda Loop, Carol Balfour and “fly-in/fly-out” volunteer Jen Dobbyn had worked with machine like precision to produce a fine Feast for One and All.

SAV took the stage for a second set that ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. From the bullshitting burlesque of “I found a Bud on the footpath, Maaate”, to his sincere and tender tribute to the inspirational warrior for Aboriginal land Rights, Tommy Lingiari of Wave Hill Station.

He concluded with a cover 80’s Punk Poet, John Cooper Clark, classic rant: “I fell in Love with a Creature from Outer Space”.

Paul D himself opened the second Open Mic session with a poem about his Osteopath, known in the Trade as “Eric the Back-Breaker”. A drunken Reverend Hellfire decided to sing his poem.

Crooning “There’s always a worm in the apple”, but strangely he seemed quite pleased about it. Ken gave us “Clay for Meat!”-shades of Gilgamesh! Shane brought us more bad poets, Geoffrey reminisced about how Henry Lawson’s mother interfered with his romance with Mary Gilmore.

The Day drifting to its conclusion. At the front desk Secretary John was counting up the Money, Linda & Jen were in the kitchen, possibly eating bread and honey.

I’ll let the pictures explain the rest.

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March Photo Review; Having a Ball with Tom & the Crew

March Photo review;

Tom Ball and his band of Merry Makers Whoop it Up!

EARTH VERSES THE POETS!

No, you weren’t seeing double. There were two Men in Black at Kurilpa Poets this month as the Reverend Hellfire & the Water-Rat Crew were joined by West End’s very own Johnny Cash, journeyman Troubadour Tom Smith and his crew of merry Muso’s.

The Men in Black; Reverend Hellfire & Tom Smith

Open Mic saw a fine line up of Poets who brought us back in touch with our roots, delving deep into the earth, sprouting lines like vines of verbiage blending with the foliage of the trees of Musgrave Park around us.

The Rev opened the show with some fine alchemical ramblings on the nature of Earth; “Earth is a girl with a Dry sense of Humour”, quoth he.

A dapper Thomas Nelson delivered philosophical Earth musings that evoked the sweet smell of rain on the Earth, as the monumental figures of William Blake’s Angels & Spirits arose like statues of rock on the Virtual Galleries Gig Screen.,

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Jeffrey “Shakey” Evans, claiming to channel the Spirit of William Shakespeare (with perhaps a dash of Keats thrown in)delivered a rapid fire barrage of words, ultimately working himself up to an epileptic like peak of passion! You could really see where the “Shake in “Shake-speare” comes from!

SAVANU assured us what a Wonderful World it could be, and deplored a life where everything has become a job.

Visual Arts Director Shane K delivered a montage of urban images delivered with a surrealist intensity and later gave us a few thoughts on the Art of Visionary Genius/Madman; Mr William Blake.

and a little child shall lead them

Linda Loop emerged from the kitchen after the break to sing sweet, sweet music,/Words emerge from unlikely sources/

more voices speak in tounges and teeth/ my notes fall apart and are lost/

lines emerge from my jumbled notes;

“Our children are not our Children, they are Life’s”

The most powerful poems of the Open Mic sessions were undoubtedly those the “other Shane“, a young man whose writing is delivered thru the medium of his mother Val and a laptop. Unable to communicate as you and I do, Shane types out his poems on the keyboard, with the assistance of his Mother helping to steady his hand as he does so. Val then reads out the Poems and communications in general thus composed. The result is a surprise, stunning poems of Flight and Freedom that left a stunned audience sitting some moments in silent appreciation before erupting into heart-felt applause.

Open Mic Time, Shane and Val step up

But the day truly belonged to Tom Smith and his ever shifting, kaleidoscopic assemblages of musicians, who really lifted the Spirits of all attending, creating a great Community Atmosphere/ a tribal togetherness with his vagrant band of buskers and strummers.

The first set Tom started off with his ongoing Community Group, the Whoopee-do Crowd, the second set was supposedly Tom & the “Songs of Tom Smith Band“, the free-floating ensemble of muso’s dedicated to playing the actual songs of Tom Smith. Confused yet? Doesn’t matter, it all sounded great, and anyway there was a certain amount of leakage of personel between the two groups anway so boundaries were fairly fluid.

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Special note must be made when brother Nigel QPapaYandi joined the Tom & the SOTS to blast out some sweet, sweet blues harmonica riffs. Nice. Also really liked the Cohen-esque song Tom chose for the SOTS opener in the second set, called, so I’m told; “I don’t care what people think“.

All in all a great afternoon, fine food, rousing music, thoughtful words, amusing company. Dig it.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

See you all next time.

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words; Unckle Rat

Photos; Shane K

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Hey! Would you like to write reviews of Kurilpa Poets events?

Contact the Rev at kurilpapoets@yahoo.com.au to discuss & arrange.

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Feb Photo Review featuring Simon Kindt & Planet Clare

February Photo review:

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE..

featuring Simon Kindt & Planet Clare.

Planet Clare & Violet Skye

And so the rain poured down and the Tide turned once more in the great Ebb & Flow of Life, and the Water Rats returned, to their ancestoral home, riding the crest of a wave of Creativity, that carried them all the way through Time & Space from 2017 to land once more on the friendly shores of Musgrave Park, on Sunday 25th February 2018.

Not unlike Ulysses, ey what?

Taking refuge in a crude shelter (Croquet Club) they once again engaged in their colourful customs, sharing poetry, food & wine whilst jolly minstrels played the ancient tunes and travellers told their tales…

sheltering from the storm

True the poets arrived dripping with Perspiration as well as Inspiration, but the winning combination of ceiling fans, air-con and the cool tones of Mystery Musician PLANET CLARE soon revived their wilting spirits.

The Mysterious Planet Clare was accompanied on this occasion by the rich pallet of tones and timbres emanating from the instrument of virtuoso Violinist VIOLET SKYE, whom we’ve seen before gracing the stage with a number of different outfits. Ms Skye seems somewhat shy offstage, but put a violin in her hands and a sonic demon is released, screeching & beguiling, threatening & soothing, scary-seductive and electrifying, as PLANET CLARE herself demonstrated her own mastery of many a musical style. One countrified original song of hers was so evocative I was sure I could smell hay and hear the chickens scratching in the straw!

PC’s soars through her songs with ease, but she also has the knack of throwing a break into her voice, that emotive crack in the back of the throat, an evocative twang half-yodel,

half-yelp.

Thank you Ladies for a great performance.

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From the celestial Bodies orbiting high in the sky to the bottom most depths of the Sea we plunged, submerged in the mise-en-scene of Master and Commander

Simon Kindt‘s ambitious new Performance Piece, POSEIDON/the sharks. I say ambitious because once you start dragging technology and props and theatre and so forth into your Poetry act things can become unnecessarily complex and you can lose sight of the poetry itself, which becomes just another special effect, instead of it’s core.

Simon, however, was wise enough to keep it all fairly minimalist and low key. To a backing track of sea shore sounds some soothing strings were mixe, immersing the listener in a gentle wash of sound throughout the performance. A rectangle of watery light like the view-screen at Sea World was projected onto the walls, whilst Simon sat cross-legged in the shadows, a disembodied voice delivering verse.

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An effectively low key set, though I would have liked to see Simon actually sitting in the light and thus becoming part of the screen thereby, his shadow swimming in the water behind him. But the anonymous/ambiguous style he adopted worked just as well.

Simon’s poetry itself was a subtle exploration of the mind’s watery realms. Hypnotic and dreamlike, edging on nightmare, invisible currents in the tranquil sea of watery words, swirled dangerously close to the rocks of Reality..

Thanks Simon for bringing your thoughtful production to Kurilpa.

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A fine selection of old Kurilpa friends returned for the first show of 2018. Coming up to the Open Mic this month were

Reverend Hellfire delivering a sermon on the dangers of sly and sneaky Water, Old Salt Geoffrey Evans went effervescing & bubbling a spray of words, Michael Vaughan‘s poetry like a tranquil lake,

the words like ripples across the mirror surface,

Thomas Nelson delivered a steady flow of imagery,

Theresa Tracey-Creed‘s verse, as always, had hidden depths, whilst Calaha shot a comic stream of words into the unsuspecting Face of Authority, serious as slapstick,

and Planet Clare poured a bucket of verse upon the Earthlings below, as SAVANU was all at Sea till he got his Land-legs back (haha)and Arts Director Shane K just swam with the tide until Cam Logan returned bearing an olive branch in his beak. Yes, after forty minutes and forty seconds of free-flowing verse, the Flood of Words was over.

Time for Afternoon Tea then, whilst Planet Clare and Co., spun yet more super surround-sound songs.

Shane K subsequently delivered a fine discourse on the work of scary American surrealist, George Tooker and his truly disturbing Art that really captures something of the “Ugly Spirit” of the American Century.

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The Second Open Mic delivered more unsuspecting Word Pearls coaxed from bedrock anchored Poets.. Michael gave us some Persian reflections on Alexander the Vandal, Tom lamented lost love;”Your hot tears dry on my lips“, Cam shared his wisdom; “You can’t get honey from stirring a hornets nest.” Tounge firmly in cheek Clare told us how; “I miss living with a philosopher”..and Sav delivered an ode to that great man, Vincent Lingiari and Shane read a selection from “The People’s Poet” (No, not Ric).

And then it was “Time please” and survivors dragged themselves to the nearest shanty for grog. The Rumpus Room by the Lizard, so I believe. The scurvy knaves!

The Pictures will tell the rest of the story.

Aaargh!

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PS A quick reminder that Theresa Tracey-Creed will be performing at the “Moving Words” Event being held at the South Bank Art Gallery in April.Check their website for details.

WORDS; Unckle Rat

IMAGES; Shane K.

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LUNA VERSE PHOTO REVIEW with Leo Porter

October Photo Review

LUNA VERSE

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Pagan Idolatry was rampant at the Olde Croquet Club that Sunday

as Kurilpa’s poetic Minions of the Moon gathered to pay homage to that celestial orb. (By God, Barnaby Joyce was right! These greenie-poetic types are a bunch of heathens!)

Opening the revels was a fine set of eclectic musical experimentation from Poet-Musician Cam Logan in his guise as FREE LUNA. Quirky lyrics, toe tapping rhythms and seductive melodies, plus the odd tasteful touch of theremin magic, are the trademarks of Cam’s musical project.

FREE LUNA, doing no harm

Those interested in hearing more of the sounds of this madcap genius can turn to SOUNDCLOUD, where Cam, in the guise of his other Musical Avatar, “Charlie Foxtrot” has several sound files available for your listening pleasure, at;

https://soundcloud.com/charliefoxtrotbris

theremin magic

Getting the Open Mic ball rolling along, the Reverend Hellfire & Linda Loop gave the crowd an amusing piece of Performance Poetry entitled, “The Moon Offended”, with the charming Ms Loop standing in for the Luna Deity and the Reverend in the role of supplicant Poet. Visual Arts Director Shane has supplied some stunning photos of this little skit, which have lent themselves to some fanciful photo-shopping by the Rev.

The poem in question can be read at;

https://reverendhellfire.wordpress.com/2017/10/29/tonight-the-moon-offended-redux/

The Moon Offended

The Moon Offended

The Moon Offended

The Moon Offended

The Moon Offended

The Moon Offended1

Local maverick Cahala demonstrated due “judicial diligence” to expose a vast conspiracy where toxins and vaccines collude in sinister conclave. Newcomer Raquel Bastos gave us a poem by renowned Brazilian poet Fernando Pessoa and his 75 literary personalities, first in Portuguese and then in translation. Raquel is also a talented viola player as well, and will be playing a special show soon at the Old Museum as half of the ELTON BASTOS DUO.

Thomas Nelson’s was up next, and inspired by Raquel’s Latin inspired contribution, gave us a Spanish Quintilla, “Silencio” on the theme of tortuous love. (Ah, is there any other type of love). Then pocket-poet Geoffrey Evans, promised to deliver a punctual poem on the Moon, which, he insisted, would run for precisely 2 minutes and fifty-five seconds, but I forgot to time him, so I couldn’t say for sure. It was pretty short anyway.

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SAVANU put out the metaphorical begging bowl, offering to

“read poems for Money”, while Nigel Da Free gave us a taste of street poetry with heart. Trent bowled us over with a triple Haiku, while Greg “the Loaded Dog” Secombe promised to be “mercifully brief”, before delivering a love poem both short and sweet. The first open Mic ended with newcomer Bevan Pearson sharing his words and then it was time for the break and more jaunty rhythms & jive talk from FREE LUNA as the Water Rats feasted and chatted.

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Suitably refreshed we returned to hear Shane K‘s informative talk on the iconic Art of American artist Edward Hopper, before going on to the Day’s Feature set with promising young Brisbane poet Leo Porter.

Leo Porter in denial, “I never wrote poems..”

“I never wrote Poems,” claimed Leo,” I just saw the words and put them together.” Accordingly he went on to construct an assemblage of images, rising to a Babel-like tower of allegory. Entering Leo’s world we saw a legal case turned into poetry as the body decomposed/ a sonnet redolent with the latent stench of fear/ freaking out as marsupial elves caper on the roof as Arachne’s children sleep easily tonight/ dreams about a room in his house filled with dirt/ “I thought alcohol made you forget”/quotes emerge like frogs after the rain; “charred glyphs on the walls of my organs”/ bleeding raw ink on the paper carcase.

“I thought alcohol made you forget”-LP

All in all a most entertaining set of Poetry was delivered with style and confidence by young Mr Porter. We eagerly look forward to hearing his future work.

After the break Tom gave us a poem that had caterpillars nibbling at our cerebellum, while Shane reminisced about Barry Humphreys’ Anarcho-Surrealist days in Melbourne, when he declared War on the normality of Australia in the Fifties.

Linda and Cam then teamed up to give us one of Ms Loop’s personally penned songs, “Waiting for the fulling of the Moon”.

At which point my notes give out, so as always, I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

See you all next time.

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Photos; Shane K

Words & photo editing; Unckle Rat

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Dinosaurs & Cats Photo review

Photo Review:

Dinosaurs & Cats

Sunday Sept 24th

October Feature Poet Sean West and Swine Fly survivors

It is a rare Kurilpa Poets event that occurs without some sort of Chaos in the Mix, and our September show proved to be no exception. With a savage outbreak of swine fever scything thru the Water-Rats’ ranks, many of our best and brightest were MIA, and even our favourite (and hitherto reliable) Mystery Musician, the ever glittery Jem Sparkles, missed her first set, being cruelly chained in a kitchen

by her wicked Day-Job Overlords (Not unlike Cinderella!)

Finally a personal appeal (and several veiled threats) from the Reverend Hellfire saw her released from servitude.

Poet/Paleontologist Reverend Hellfire unearths the bones of the dreaded Thesaurus!

Playing for time as our errant musician sped croquet-clubwards, the Rev promptly launched the first Open Mic session, appropriately with a comic poem whose subject matter concerned both dinosaurs and cats, thus killing two thematic birds with one metaphorical stone, which seems more than appropriate seeing as how birds are dinosaurs anyways.

Sav socks it to them

SAVANU then took us on a twisted visit to the Pantomime,

while Trent‘s poetry was “filled with unholy fire/drunk and demented by the side of the road”.

Burning with unholy fire, Mr Trent Quinlan

Nomadic Bard Cahala mused of Dinosaurs and Free Will, while 2-time Kurilpa Poetry Cup winner Cam Logan, suffering from Geometric/ post-traumatic stress left over from a childhood Ikea nightmare, declaimed darkly on the human body repair industry..

Ikea traumatised Cam logan

Nomadic bard, Cahala

Bernadette “Marching-to-the-beat-of-no-one’s drummer-thank-you-very-much” le Goulleon then fantasised of living in a Menopausal Dinosaur Garden (look out Clive Palmer!).

Bernie explains

This October’s Future Feature Poet, the newcomer Leo Porter, gave us a preview of things-to-come, deftly delivering some dark verse for a Dystopian Brisbane whilst conducting ongoing experiments to see if beer cured cancer, “I love you like my pocket calculator”, he confessed.

Kurilpa newcomer Leo Porter

The ever erudite Michael Vaughan delivered an elegant tribute to cats, (as well as some rather delicious chocolates) or as he describes them, those “felicitous felines” with “ways and manners agreeably styled”.

Rounding up the first Open Mic was the Loaded Dog, rising above the smoke of burning heretics to deliver the good news: “Optimism defies Gravity!”.

The Gravity defying Loaded Dog

Meanwhile Jem finally got to play and delivered a rousing set that had everyone within earshot unconsciously tapping their toes wherever they stood or sat.

All that Glitters is Jem Sparkles

Suitably refreshed and entertained we sat back to listen to fresh-faced Feature Poet Sean West.

Sean came to us on the recommendation of the lovely Annie te Whiu of Qld Poetry Festival fame and we were keen to see what this rising young poet had to show us.

Soon we found ourselves drenched in Aquatic Imagery & Cartoon Modernism..Under-water Elegies in Coral tones, speaking in spittle, anchored in whispers of Salt whilst incestuous sea-horse skeletons were making a living from stealing other people’s homes and an Iron Giant expanded his rusting vocabulary..

Feature Poet Sean West studies the menu

We surfaced from the depths of this Subconscious Sea to hear the Poet deliver a Poem for a Grandmother with Dementia, recording the scene with the Compassionate Heart of a Poet and the Dispassionate clarity of an Artists’ eye. “Tiger, she says, for no reason at all..”

Sean finishes his set standing up for the Forces of Love,

“The priests are wrong if they call this Sin!”

and left the stage to much applause. All in all a very confident and competent debut performance as feature poet, I thought, and hopefully the first of many more..

Linda shakes the “egg-rattlers” Trent appears to have eaten his. Woops..

2nd Open Mic saw Bernadette return to tell the “Tale of Humbugs Folly” while the Rev examined the unsuspected connection between Tyranno-saurus rex and the terrible toes of his backyard chickens.

Rev goes for a stroll

Tongue wedged firmly in both cheeks, Cahala mourned not being Middle Class, followed by Savanu who celebrated the joys of finding of a “Hydroponic Bud” on the mean streets of West End.

Budding genius Savanu

Madcap Geoffrey gave us a nostalgic poem dedicated to “the Bad Boys who sat at the back of the Bus”, before going on to declare that he was in fact the reincarnation of William Shakespeare. Yes..well..Clearly no problems with Geoffrey’s self-esteem.

Geoffrey “Call me Shakespeare” Evans

Leo returned like a youthful Moses to warn us against too much Laughter: “Prepare for Darkness people!”.. Trent amused us with his proposal for a Political Crimes Quiz Show, while Cam gave us a word of warning about “Those guys!”

Cam can

Trent sticks to the script

Those guys indeed! The day wound to it’s close. The kitchen elves and our myriad of volunteers who always make the hall look so shiny clean when we finish buzzed around while the inevitable clusters of people who still want to hang around and keep talking drift off in clumps and clots. Some making for the Big Lizard & the Rumpus Room down at West End, and some for their burrows in some quiet river bank, there to compose their poems and songs for next month.

See you then!

Meantime, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Salud!

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-Words; by Unckle Rat

-Photos by Shane K

PHOTO REVIEW; TOM NELSON & JAMIE SPENCE, July 2017

Feature Poet Jamie Spence makes his Brisbane debut

July Photo Review

Tom Nelson & Jamie Spence

Memento Mori Glory

Our theme in July, Memento Mori, had several patrons turning up in mourning attire, expecting some sort of Service or Wake for a recently departed member of the tribe. Explaining how the theme was more of a generalised injunction rather than a specific instance of Mortality we swiftly moved on to the business at hand..

Fab Blues & Rock singer/songwriter and all around geetar whizz Mr Matt Barnes opened with a rousing set that would surely wake any dead within earshot.

Blues Maestro Matt Barnes

Reverend Hellfire, keeping to the theme, read extracts thruout the afternoon, of the famously depressive Australian Poet, Barcroft Boake’s morbid masterpiece, “Where the Dead Men Lie” (Aside from this poem, Mr Boake is perhaps best known for hanging himself with a stockwhip).

Gentle-man Poet Michael Vaughan‘s first poem had plants distributing Angel Dust, while his second piece on “How to Play Pinball” had balls of steel and flipped us right out..Radio guru, Eido Boru gave us sardonic observations, sharp and brief..while Cahala‘s meandering meditations on the QLD Health Dept. detoxified the brain..Paul Dobbyn returned from retirement to share with us alliterative reflections on Dead Pop Stars, while “Aunty” Theresa Creed

told us a “sea-soaked” tale alive with Spirit, “Home cried the Wind/over way-weary waves”

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Newcomer, Indigenous Poet Alan, “Stafford bred & born” told us of his 4 years of hell ending in a jail cell where he discovered he could write..SAVANU reminisced on the joy of taking a ride in the “rolls royce of Opioids” and Geoffrey Evans returned from walkabout with a digression on Astrolonomy and some “meanomorphic meanderings of the Moon”!

Jamie Spence plays the Poetry Challenge

Our first Feature Poet for the day was newcomer Jamie Spence, winner of a Poetry Slam recently conducted under the auspices of the Reverend out in the wilds of Ipswich. Jamie kept the crowd well entertained with his intelligent and witty works, and introduced us to the “Poetry Game Challenge” – a technique by which several of his poems were created. The game is to take a topic you wouldn’t normally write about and do it in the style of a famous poet. His most successful piece was perhaps his Robert Frost-ian meditation on a Supermarket, which began,” Two Aisles Diverged..”

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After the break and another fine set of down-home hoe-downs and more mood music from Matt Barnes, we returned for the day’s main Feature Poet, Mr Tom Nelson.

Tom is a well respected and familiar face around the Brisbane Poetry scene, and delivered a cracking feature set of poetry that showed that he’s also far too self-effacing about his talents.. On this occasion he treated us to a series of subtle and sensitive poems, (leavened with a touch of the Larrikin Streak) that result from a Lifetime’s worth of experience and observation.

A case in point, his thoughtful examination of Sexual and Emotional Fidelity: “You reach that Time when you must decide“; or his Poetic Paen to the brave Volunteer Firefighters of yester-year, in the innocent days before Occupational Health & Safety became a Thing, when,“at the Gates of Hell we stood”.

Yes, as Tom reminds us, it’s not surprising that, “There’s no old Firemen“.

The esteemed Tom Nelson

Tom followed with memories of an idyllic fishing trip and a loving hymn to olfactory nostalgia,

and later a heart-felt confessional for a departed friend, “I was too busy/ I brushed you off.”

Thru-out his set his poems gave voice to a deep and sincere Humanism, ranging from the tender regret expressed

for a wounded moth ablaze,

to the bitter-sweet comic relief of “My Dad Hates Cats.“

Laugh and the world laughs with you..

Speaking for myself I think it was one of the most satisfying Feature sets that I have witnessed at Kurilpa. Well done mate, I dips me lid, as the Poet once said..

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High lights of the second Open Mic included; Kitchen Martinette Linda Loop pirouetted silhouetted against the rhythmic tones generated by Mr Matt Barnes steel-string, hollow-bodied geetar, as she crooned the lyrics of her original song. (Top marks to Matt here for his ability to be suddenly presented with a sheet of music and start playing it in front of an audience.) Moved to music, the irrepressible Geoffrey Evans then gave us a spontaneous acapella “Summer-time” sans “blackface” , while the venerable Eido Boru set Johnny Rotten and the Buddha on a collision course. Cameron Logan’s strange Dream Journal took us “travelling forward in Time at the usual pace”, fuelled by cigarettes and botulism. Finally the Reverend Hellfire brought the day to a close, adopting the personae of Emoticon Man to deliver a blistering satire on modern modes of mass communication.

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Well, it’s time to let the pictures do the rest of the talking, and Visual Arts Editor Shane K has once again produced some stunning character portraits. So enjoy and see you all next time!

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-Words; Unckle Rat

-Photos; Shane K

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WARM WINTER WORDS-Photo Review

David Hallett warms up the crowd

Warm Winter Words;

Photo-Review

Secretary John Treason & Treasurer Carol Balfor bask on the steps

Twas one of Brisbane’s perfect Winter Days, blue sky-ed, sunny and mild. The only dark thought was how hot next Summer is going to be if this is how warm it is in Winter.

Fortunately Poetry is generally carbon neutral and so we gathered with a free conscience to toast our toes in the fiery glow of Poesy.

Kurilpa’s favourite Mystery Musician, Jem Sparkle, filled the hall with her sweet tunes and rollicking rockers as the poets gathered from near and far to add their kindling to the flames.

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Master of Ceremonies for the Day, Cam Logan stepped forward to ignite the Open Mic and a succession of phrases and images tumbled out of our poets mouths/ snatching at the word-lines /scraps of poetry swirling in the currents like ashes..

First Time Kurilpa reader Brett Cravaliat impressed and left us with the curious mental image of a naked Samuel Pepys..The venerable Eido Boru set out to Offend the Offended and the Begating begun..stepping into the Void, MC Cam’s Voice was Lost & Found, one day playing with cardboard gun, the next a Gold Coast Kardashian..Gentleman poet, Michael Vaughan shared words of wisdom whilst The Reverend‘s warming winter words were Soup for the Soul while the Loaded Dog delivered a timely reminder to Do Unto Others..newcomer Carla Cravaliat rounded the first open mic off to well earned applause, and it was time to eat.

Jem Sparkles

And eat we did, with a generous abundance of Tasties donated by the water rats, and some rather nice wines were on hand as well to go with it as songbird Jem Sparkle trilled.

Happily also, with the kitchen successfully chained off from the mob this month, Crowd Control was no longer a problem for our hard-working kitchen crew.

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After an illuminating presentation on the days featured artist, Stuart Davis, by Visual Arts Director Shane K it was time for our Feature Poet from the rainbow region, David Hallett.

Quietly but clearly spoken, the casualness of his approach/appearance belies the polished professionalism of this powerful poets performance.

As with all good/great poets, David has the difficult task of being sooth sayer/ truth sayer in an Age where “ten million facebook likes can’t be wrong”, and where “Climate Change is a prank phone call” and the “roll call of extinction” expands exponentially every day. This Suburban Shaman reads the signs in the modern wilderness, there are revelations to be found everywhere, even in the simple act of trying to recycle batteries at Aldi. Can Poetry heal the Soul and Save the World? David Hallett for one is willing to give it a try.

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Too soon it was the Master Poets’ last poem, a moving tribute to Byron Bay and its’ healing nonconformist Vibes, celebrating the Power of Place. David gave us a professional performance and some Great Poetry; which kept the audience focused thru-out his set and won an extended round of applause for his efforts at the conclusion..

The Second Open Mic rolled around and was opened by songstress Linda Loop dashing from the Rotunda to sing a heart rending Schubert lieder that echoed agelessly thru the centuries.

Cahala gave us an amusing shaggy dog story concerning his adventures dealing with Coffee Culture & Veganism. later the author expressed doubts to me. Sure it was funny, he worried, but was it really poetry?

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New Kurilpa Poets member Brett returned to the stage

and explained that writing poetry allowed him to vent his Road Rage without feeling the need to reach for a sawn off shotgun. he then proceeded to blow away every highway irritant from Mercedes Benz Nazi’s to the bicycle before going on to explain that four wheel drives are the vehicle of choice for;

“overly hetero man/ where car and size of penis/ go hand in hand.”

Well, hand in glove I would hope, in this age of rampant viral infestations.

MC Cam gave us an absurdist haiku on a Magpie drinking from a styrofoam cup, whilst the Rev extolled the virtues of his Winter Bed.

The day rolled on to it’s conclusion. Before I let the photos do the rest of the talking, I’ll finish with these words of wisdom from Michael Vaughan;

“Withstanding raw, biting severity/

Prevailing through grit and tenacity.”

Linda Loop lilts lovely lieder 

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-Words; Unckle Rat

-Photos Shane K

*****

VOX DOMINA 28th May PHOTO REVIEW

VOX DOMINA PHOTO REVIEW*

The Ladies Step Out!

VOX DOMINA

Wow! What a fabulous day at the Olde Croquet Club. Amazing poetry, an eclectic soundtrack, delicious food and, as ever at Kurilpa Poets gatherings, a friendly and diverse mix of interesting People.

MC and organising genius of the day, Fiona Privitera,

Reaching out to the Audience;, Fiona Privitera

had assembled for us an impressive array of poetic talent of the Feminine persuasion.

One such was Mystery Musician Marissa Allen, who hummed and thrummed her eldritch Violin and crooned like an ancient Sybil as the hall quickly filled with Old Friends and New Faces.

Marissa thrums and ullulates!

First up of the Feature Poets, Laura Kenny‘s poetry delivered intimate observations with a Wise Woman’s eye, surveying a World of meaningful minuatae, her observations ranging from homely memories of the ritual of dressing, to the sad existence of the child miners of India.

Laura Kenny

The Open Mic unleashed a diverse motley of voices of every gender for us to consider;

Kurilpa newcomer Suin Ni gave us a vision of predatory Urban Landscapes where, “Leopards are stalked by Developers” (She later told me that the “Leopards” in question could also refer to “Leopard Trees”)

Bohemian poet Bernadette le Goullon making her first appearance at Kurilpa, then told us the tale of her own ongoing battle with Developers to save some trees.

 

 

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Last month’s Feature Poet Savanu warned us that “Life has become a terrible risk!” Cahala came on next to rumble and roar, followed by Sue Dreeves, a vibrant vision in purple. Alas, soft spoken Sue’s voice was drowned out somewhat by the sounds of Dischord drifting in from the “Real World” outside.

Trent then gave us an Epic nursery rhyme (I had trouble finishing it, he later confessed) with lashings of Sex.

The Rev shuffled on stage, broom in hand , to bemoan the fate of the modern “House Husband”. Cam Logan was quick and to the point. Loaded Dog growled a warning. CAVE CANEM, as the Ancients put it. Old Kurilpa-ite Rebekah Copas returned, jaunty Ibis feather in her hair, to speak of “Unseen Beings” and finish up the first open Mic.

Time for a break and whilst Marisa Allen wailed and vibrated, her nameless minion on drums rattled an ominous Thunder.

rattle and thrumm

(tho I personally felt that a simpler drumkit would have worked better with Marisa’s sparse sound.) The poets & friends meanwhile feasted on the fine Spread aesthetically laid out before them by our hard-working and hygienic kitchen crew. Linda and Gil deserve a big call out here for bringing Order out of the kitchen Chaos each month.(Lord knows why, but people just love to loiter and lurk in the kitchen. In future we may have to put up a piece of string to act as an Impenetrable Barrier.)

 

 

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After the break they emerged from the kitchen to demonstrate their own artistic talents. Gil brought a couple of her new paintings along to display and spoke of how her most recent work, a blood-red affair, was inspired by the recent tragic events in Manchester. Songstress Linda Loop later demonstrated her vocal prowess during the Open Mic

Gil brings out her Art vision

by delivering a cascading, note-perfect rendition of the Schubert Lied “To Art” (An die Musik) in faultless German.

Visual Art Supremo and Candid photographer Shane K gave an informative talk on Australian “Modernist”, Margaret Preston, whose paintings and prints had been playing over the Virtual Gallery. I was interested to learn that apparently her husband was one of those rare paragons who gave unwavering support to their partners Artistic aspirations. Should be more of it.

Vanessa Page

At this point I must confess I’ve lost my notes for

Vanessa Page‘s Feature Set. Sorry. (Better than last month though, when I lost ALL my notes. This month I only lost one page. Damn it, it was here this morning!)

But I do recall it was a bloody good set, professionally and passionately delivered, that had the audience’s attention riveted throughout, despite the sounds of Dischord once again drifting in from the Hostile Outside World. If you get the chance to see Vanessa Page live, you won’t be disappointed.

Vanessa delivers

Marisa Allen demonstrating her versatility, then did a set of her poems sans violin. (notes! notes!)

Finally the second Open Mic session arrives, somewhere in the middle of which my notes resume..

 

 

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The REV made a call for “More Beautiful Men and more Powerful Women“, whilst Bernadette returned to explain how her glasses were provided by the Government noting; “that’s how they Control what you see!” After 29 years off alcohol, Savanu gave us a poem about “Harold who hates cats”. Cahala assured us we are “all Masterpieces of Art”, though in my case possibly a “flawed masterpiece”, which is surely better than no masterpiece at all I suppose. Trent gave us an Australian Haiku,

“Bus stop Dreaming”, to which Cam Logan touche’ed with an absurdist “Parsley Haiku”.

Marisa declares and declaims

Finally Shane moved a vote of thanks to our stylish and talented MC, Fi Privetera, to which the audience responded with enthusiastic applause.

All in all a very successful day, here’s hoping we have many more.

As always I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story, but before I do, let me move my own Vote of Thanks to our ever ebullient Art Director, Shane K, who each month takes the time and effort to document our events and produce the fine photographs that appear on this site.

(Historical footnote; When Shane took on the job I told him, “Make us look interesting and attractive!”, and God Bless him, he’s done the best he can with the material he’s got to work with.!)

The Attractive and Interesting Shane K, Fiona Privitera & Friend

WORDS: UNCKLE RAT

PHOTOS: SHANE K

*Note; to enlarge, left click on photos for greater viewing enjoyment.

 To enlarge gallery photos, pause slideshow, then right click.

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APRIL FOOLERY PHOTO REVIEW

KURILPA POETS

“April Foolery”

Photo review with; SAVANU,

LOC TRAN & QPAPAYANDI

Twas a fine gathering of Poets & Fools, Jesters and Japesters and Jollity in general,

as the Water rats held their APRIL FOOLERY event, their annual salute to the humorous, light-hearted and satirical in Poetry.

Naturally, Poets being what they are, some chose to read poems of Heart break, Desperation and Despair, but we laughed at those too, though the laughs on such occasions were often bitter or hollow.

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At this stage I must confess that while I took quite substantial notes during the Open Mic sessions and thru-out the day generally, alas, they have disappeared somewhere in the unholy depths of my In Tray, where no man goes..no, nor woman neither. Or possibly I lost them during happy Hour later that evening?..

So my review is sketchy at best this month. My apologies to the Open Mic folks. Fortunately we have the candid photography of Visual Arts Director Shane K to fill in the blank spots.

Singer/Songwriter QPapaYandi

Opening the day as we gathered to share our Words & Thoughts was street troubador and latest Water Rat recruit, Nigel QPapaYandi, with an upbeat set of his own thumpin & honkin’ tunes, playing his own material, both recent and new.

Brother Nige’ has played for the Kurilpa Poets a couple of times now, and it seems to me that there’s definitely a growing sophistication in his song-writing abilities. Certainly they were all well received by the steadily filling hall.

A shorter than usual Open Mic session nonetheless displayed much Heart, and anyway, this made some space for the days’ TWO Feature Poets.

First up, unless my memory fails, and it sometimes does, was one of Brisbanes most notoriously individualistic Poets, the ever sardonic SAVANU.

SAVANU practises his rabble rousing!

Despite his years as a fixture on the Brisburg Poetry Scene, this was SAV’s very first Feature Spot, if you can believe that, and he rose to the occasion confidently, delivering an upbeat and entertaining performance.

“I’m out of my HEAD-Head-head..!”, SAV assured us,

as he gave one of his distinctive cackles, the Laugh of the only Sane Man left in a World gone Mad, and by the end of his set his audience was laughing like that too. The Kurilpa Poets are proud to have had the honour of hosting this holy (if not wholly) madman.

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Refreshments were needed after that, and while QPapaYandi chanelled the spirit of early Bob Dylan, the strange images of Aus. Artist Jeffrey Smarts’, hyper-realist 20th century Landscapes of Urban Alienation played across the Virtual gallery.

QPapa sings the blues!

As always the generosity of the Kurilpa Crew provided a varied fabulous feast. While even the Vegans found enough to graze on, other tastes were well catered for and I for one particularly liked those tasty cocktail sausages Jezza bought..yum!

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BUTTERFLY REVOLUTION

A Spectre is stalking the Greenhouse!

After the break the ever eclectic Frank Jordan (a fount of all sorts of unsuspected knowledge)preached the Butterfly Revolution, as mug shots of the usual insect suspects fluttered on the Virtual gallery’s Big Screen. Frank gave a very entertaining and informative talk, peppered with obscure facts and showing us humans how even Kropotkin Ants and Imperialist Butterflies can co-operate! All Power to the Hive Soviets, comrade!

Preaching Insectism to the Masses, revolutionary etymologist, Comrade Frank.

Then it was time for the days main feature Poet, the Runner up in this years Kurilpa Poetry Cup, Mr Loc Tran.

Mr Loc Tran and awestruck audience

Reading selections from his 2011 slim volume of verse, OPEN HEART SURGERY, and other more recent work, he won over the audience from the start and held their attention through out. Loc has an ability to cut straight through with an open hearted commitment to emotional honesty in his Poetry. Here is a poet who understands that the only Great Poetry is the Poetry that speaks as True as you can possibly make it. I’ve sometimes chided Loc that he’s wasting his time with Architecture and should get serious and settle down to his poetry. I’m only half joking.

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The day ran a little late, as it always does when we’re having a good time, and the sun was setting by the time the last poems were read and the last stragglers were making their way to the LIZARD down at West End, for  Happy Hour, to continue the conviviality.

Where possibly I lost my notes..

See you all next month!

Damn! What WAS the next line???!!!

Photos; SHANE K

Words; UNCKLE RAT

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