ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Well I wouldn't ask here if that was what my post was about. Of course I want submissions from anyone within the Association. That has nothing to do with what I was debating. We have around 400 members. About a dozen participate here on a regular basis. That is why I don't ask here anymore, I always ask for submissions through the magazine Editorial so the majority are notified. I don't see how a personal call to every member will achieve much more. Some share regularly. Some don't.

Bit I digress. I am concerned about whether the ABPA in general can survive. Not as an Editor's point of view, but as a member of twenty years. Regardless of Magazine submissions. I don't know where the debate turned to a purely magazine oriented thread.

Neil

Thanks Terry... !! good onya mate!

...everything I have done is being done at a personal level only, and nothing whatsoever to do with ABPA. The Association has never been mentioned.

However.. the end result will increase public awareness of Bush Poetry, and therefore be a boost indirectly to ABPA and its Membership, the subject of this thread!!

Someone said to me recently "After all that you have done, they (government) just have to do something for you..." and I said "My Oath!"

Unlike Free Verse where grants of $40,000 are handed out by the delightful Australia Council to people/mates who write about mushroom growing on the moon, we as Bush Poets I believe enshrine something far more important that future generations (when the bush and its values have mostly vanished) may regard as a compass for living. It may inspire some of them to also pick up their swags, leave their computer screens and get out "on the wallaby track". Like Manfred does.

One aspect (of many) in my program is the subsidy of Books and CD's of Bush Poetry or related material.

Where people like Heather take the time, effort and Cost! to produce something tangible that will endure for generations, and these twits produce material about pregnant womens panties and get $40 - $80k then while it may be the easy path to say we have never needed politics so lets bury our heads in the sand... I have no problem engaging them in combat... obviously. As Lawson said "there may not be law and order but there is justice" and it is that justice that I am pressing for.

An outward looking attitude not tunnel vision. The potential is enormous.

Until then I will just keep my thumb on the firing button until I run out of ammo... BUT all support is greatly appreciated and does its bit for the Cause, believe me.. thanks again!.. cheers, Gaz

What you are doing is appreciated by us all, Gary. Anything benefiting Bush Potry is helpful to the survival of the ABPA.

Have a great Christmas/Holidays

Neil