ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

To say that Bush Poetry is only about bushrangers, kangaroos, gum trees, dunnies and red-back spiders is ridiculous,
and, I think, an insult to today's icons of bush poetry.


Sorry I'm a little lost as to just what the discussion is ???


This is at the top of Vals letter and then she goes on the say that is excatly what we should be writing about ???


I find a good mix at most performances I've actually had people start to get up and leave as I started my performance and then sit down again when I perform a modern type poem and it is usally them who come up after and say Oh I thought you were going to do The Man From Snowey River ect but that was really great. I also take the time to ask my audience if they have any request of older poems and invariably they ask for My Country or The Bush Christening, ect.


I had a couple from Adelaide last week who came over and said that was great, a bit Man from Snoweyish but funny ??? So you just need to get the mix right.

As for what we write the notation on the site says it all Australians, Australia or the Australian way of life.

A lot of competitions ask for a particular theme as With Beef Australia where the theme is dictated eg Any aspect of the Cattle Industry but where they do not it is simply up to te Judges to decide if a poem fits what they expect.


Bob

Better go back and read all the stuff people say when they are tying to make a point about the need for change Bob and you will find a sprinkling of those sort o comments, I read something similar recently, but can't be bothered going back to find it for you.

Cheers Mate

Terry

A bloody good 'think' prompter.

Thank you Stephen.
Jim.

Stephen Whiteside wrote: Driving home from Monash University last night after dropping my son off (shouldn't he have his own license by now? well, perhaps...) I was struck by a beautiful gum tree in the middle of a roundabout.

Drunk again ay Doc

Those drunken gum trees standing in the middle of a roundabout, just waiting to pounce ...

Very interesting points Manfred about the trials of the Country Music and the Folk music.

Martyboy wrote:Henry , Banjo etc wrote about their times , what they saw , who they met etc . What would they write about if they were still alive ? I'm guessing it would be about what they see , who they meet etc . Lets not lose sight of where we have come from ,it is our history , but lets write some new history

I have to say this Marty..no I can't...I must...no I can't ...yes I can.. I agree with you.

I dunno Stephen,
I think I know what you are trying to say. I suppose in our urbanised society we still can't get away from the enormous " spiritual " power of a huge continental mass which we know or suspect is a challenge for humans to come to terms with.
So maybe " the bush " is an idea that reflects back at us when we take even a brief look at that vastness out there.


Just my attempt to make sense of it.

At the moment, the only thought I have on this discussion is that what will certainly diminish bush poetry or any other poetry, is contention over definitions, categories and fine thematic distinctions.

To bush or not to bush, that is the question........ we don't need to ask.

Hi Neville,

Personally I don't think it will make a scrap of difference mate,

This discussion or variations of it have been going on for years and I don't think too many friendships have suffered because of it. Certainly hope not from anything I may have posted.

Cheers Terry

It appears to me that the controversy is about a persons perception of bush poetry.
I know what the definition on our website says, and it is that that I work to - but where did that definition come from, and what would the 'purist bush poets' such as Val class as bush poetry? What would be her definition? What would be the definition of our 'older' poets who have been writing long before the discussion became so divided on what actually constitutes 'bush' poetry?

As Terry says, the discussion has been going on for a long time, and will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
Me - I'l just keep on writing!!! (well, if the muse ever comes back, that is!!! )

Catchya
Irene