Demise of the bush

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Neville Briggs
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Demise of the bush

Post by Neville Briggs » Mon Mar 18, 2019 7:51 am

Are we doing it all wrong ! I find that the bush and the country no longer exist in Australia, we now have regional Australia out there.

Should we now be doing regional poetry .

Are we to become the Australian Regional Poets Association. ARPA

" We're the boys from the regional area, and we're back in town "

Banjo Paterson to be reconfigured " A Regional Area Christening "

Australian fauna to include a Regional Area Turkey.

And bush bands will now have to be regional area bands.
Neville
" Prose is description, poetry is presence " Les Murray.

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Gary Harding
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Re: Demise of the bush

Post by Gary Harding » Wed Mar 20, 2019 7:23 am

That is an interesting point Nev.

Perhaps the term Regional might be just another one of these words that creep into fashion and many people pick up on and copy.

Like "space". Suddenly people on TV were using it to be in with the in-crowd. "Now, what is happening in the Bush Poetry space.?..." etc. Kinda silly. Maybe they are all just "dedicated followers of fashion" (The Kinks). If you worked for NASA you would have to say "Oh, I work in the space space."

"Regional"... might sound a tad cool and maybe even a little sophisticated?... but surely it lacks the passion and warmth and status that Bush does. "Regional" is a bit... sterile?

Bush... and Bush Poetry... have been around for ages and are very firmly established. Much loved and I suspect hard to displace.

As you suggest, people (rightly so) take pride in being ".. from the Bush".

Bush poetry does not need to be sold ... but "regional poetry" might be a hard sell? Would it ever really catch on?

The ABC Wide Bay here is described as Regional Radio. It serves only a non-capital city... a geographical region centred around Bundaberg. Hence Regional Radio. Fair enough. Bush Radio might sound a bit...odd?

As for the beautiful Regional turkeys you mention? There used to be a lot of them out the back of here but since people have brought their cats and dogs around, there are almost none. I wish I still had Dad's regional .22 and I would thin out their regional canine and feline population.

The two words, bush and regional, can hopefully co-exist in peace...

Nice topic Nev.

Neville Briggs
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Re: Demise of the bush

Post by Neville Briggs » Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:01 pm

I think you are right Gary, it is both a fashion and people imagining they are sounding "cool or sophisticated " . But these sort of expressions derived often from American lingo, I think tend to weaken the energy of English.

The Yanks say transportation not transport, elevator not lift, automobile not car, anyone interested in the development of poetry in English should be well aware of what makes energetic and powerful speech. Short snappy one syllable words carry most effect.


When I worked in the police car I had a colleague who used to say on the radio " affirmative" for yes and " negative " for no I said to him that as an emergency service we needed clear precise communication, Yes and No were distinctive and unmistakable , affirmative and negative could be misunderstood in a crisis. He agreed but, as you said, thought his usage was cool and sophisticated, he continued to use those pretentious sillinesses.

"I had written him a letter" writes Banjo. ( I had composed a hand written communication which I forwarded to a former acquaintance. )
Neville
" Prose is description, poetry is presence " Les Murray.

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Shelley Hansen
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Re: Demise of the bush

Post by Shelley Hansen » Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:35 pm

So true, Neville! Simplicity is the essence of power in speech, I reckon anyway.

I always remember at one of those Corporate training sessions you go through, the speaker read out the following and asked us if we understood the meaning ...

Scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific
Fain would I fathom thy nature specific
Loftily poised in ether capacious
Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous

Then he read it as we know it ...

Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky


We rest our case.

Cheers
Shelley
Shelley Hansen
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http://www.shelleyhansen.com

"Look fer yer profits in the 'earts o' friends,
fer 'atin' never paid no dividends."
(CJ Dennis "The Mooch o' Life")

Neville Briggs
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Re: Demise of the bush

Post by Neville Briggs » Fri Mar 22, 2019 4:18 pm

Evidence abounds Shelley :lol:
Neville
" Prose is description, poetry is presence " Les Murray.

Terry
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Re: Demise of the bush

Post by Terry » Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:34 pm

G/day Neville
There's still a fair bit of remote and unsettled country over here.
But more and more City dwellers and Tothersider's are encroaching these days.

The Bush poetry scene appears to be shrinking fairly rapidly without a moniker like that.

I have mentioned before if there is a desire for change;
why not start a new group and leave the poor old Bush Poets alone,
there's still a few of us that reckon we don't need saving.

The answer I suspect, is that no one has the courage to strike out by themselves.

Cheers

Terry

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