ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

G'day Marty,

We all have different expectations of what an Association should offer it's members. You note a very active interest in competitions and I include a healthy interest and participation in performance, be it in competition or concert form. These are two of the vital components of a contemporary poetry group.
The only point, as I see it, in writing is to share your poetry with anyone who is interested. Two ways of doing this are above. The third way is to have poems published. This can take many forms. In the Association magazine is a good place to start. Then once published we need to get the publication 'out there'.
So my next question is... is our magazine totally 'in house', that is a mail out to members only or is there some way for the general public to stumble across it and buy it? I know we send a few copies to the armed forces but is it available in Libraries, (or anywhere else for that matter) for the general public to access? At my own expense, I have donated to my local library and my local high school, the Bronze Swagman anthology for several consecutive years. But am I a lone voice crying in the wilderness? (I must go in one day and see if anyone has borrowed them.)

Maureen is doing a splendid job in having poems published in an e-mag but how many people know of it's existence? My IT skills are very limited so I am probably asking the wrong questions but... Does anyone know the cost of those little annoying ads that appear at the side of the page when you are looking at Google? also how do you go about having a link to other bush poetry, or poetry in general sites? Any time you google something you are then bombarded with ads for similar products .. does anyone know how to access this type of advertising or information dispersal? and then again, would this be appropriate or do we consider that any publicity is good publicity?

Well one way is to share and share and share again. For example - The details of the TAT magazine goes onto 8 different poetry forums each fortnight (can't guarantee how many people read it but the link to it is there and people are aware of it.) Three of these are overseas forums. UK, USA . I include the links to the mag in as many responses as I consider appropriate and actively encourage poets work from them. It is shared with Google+ and Linked In both of which are international and I request all poets who contribute poetry to share the link with families and friends - I know some do. Others probably don't. The link is also on every personal email I send out, regardless of where that is going. I also share work to the TAT FB page from other poetry groups and poets and most will reciprocate at some stage. So wheels within wheels, and lots of cross indexing or networking. But you have to actively work it.

So if every one of our poets on this site did the same thing imagine the audiences we would reach. Promote and include the ABPA link at every opportunity. Add it onto your email signature. Try featuring a fellow poets work on your own blog page or FB/Twitter page. Use Pinterest and put some work on there, utilize Google + for your own work, send work to local radio stations. Community radio stations are often interested. Mannie showcases a lot on his radio show, and I have had 3 other radio stations pick up my stuff over the last month and also the Redcliffe Historical society and the RSL. Your local newspaper will often take a piece written for or relating to an event. It's a numbers game - and like Lotto you've got to be in it to win it.

Maybe one thing that could be considered in the interest of sharing is to have a guest poets section on the site - where regardless of whether it be bush poetry or free verse work from another poet is sourced and shared. For example - we already have several links through a few of our poets with the BAR D Cowboy Poetry Forum - there are some terrific poets there and most I am sure would be happy to share. I'm sure there are many of us who could recommend others or put forward others and why not share the load and delegate one person a fortnight/month to bring a guest poet into the group and ensure that their poems also make it into the magazine.

Entering comps is fine and winning is even better but at the end of the day how many people does that really reach? And I think that a lot of our mob are now not putting their work on here but holding it back for competitions where it may or may not get a showing. That's fine and that's their choice but I suspect it is also a captive audience within bush poetry circles and is not reaching out to the greater number of people outside that circle. A flower in a shade house is beautiful, a flower in the garden where so many more can enjoy its nectar and perfume, is even more so.

It seems to me that the ABPA is in very good hands with the new committee.

Why thank you Maureen,

You have given me the thought that... why am I not relaying the links you send me to my newsletter group.
some of them are in the ABPA but some are not. Some would be getting a feed from other sources but you never know where the fertile ground is unless you broadcast seed around.

Now I have had a recent contact with a lady named Janice Downes who broadcasts a poetry programme on 2 way FM 103.9 in Wauchope. She prepares 90 minutes of poetry on a particular theme and records this on a CD so she can 'look after' the station while the programme is on air. She answers the phone or any knocks at the door etc, She says she loves my work and asked for permission to do some of it on air. She sent me a recording of one of my poems which she has obviously used in the past. She also asked for suggestions for topics to cover. How she knows my poetry I don't know. She doesn't have any of my books and she didn't mention going to festivals of being a member of ABPA or using the website. She did ask in her first letter where she could get my books.

She doesn't seem to be very IT oriented and sends me snail mail. She mentioned that she has been in contact with Carol Heuchan in the past. I gave her the suggestion of 'the Cooee Marches' and I sent the two poems or mine that are directly related for which she seemed grateful.

What does everyone think? should I continue to 'feed ' her? Does anyone know her or have been contacted by her? I mentioned my 5 books and prices etc but I think she may have been on a bit of a fishing expedition.

Zondrae, Janice Downes does a wonderful job of promoting poetry over the airways and has presented some of my poetry. She sent me a number of recordings of her programs and they are very professional productions. I suggest you send her your work.
I am afraid there are not many themes or topics that Janice has not covered over the years.