ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I read with interest a lot of comments about written comps for school children and a lot about workshops for school kids to encourage them to write. I am more concerned about getting them out to perform in public. A lot of kids have been through the performance poetry ranks and some have kicked on. But at present, we have to think carefully about even holding children's sections if only one entry is going to be received. This is the area which concerns me. I do a lot of school workshops and unfortunately, as much as they enjoy it, once you walk out the door, that's often the last they will think about poetry. I suppose it comes down to serious prize money and a heap of advertising around the schools.

Hey Kym I reckon there's a certain ring to "Corn-fed Poetry for Kids"

Keats, I reckon the kids'd be much happier to sit through your rendition of TMFSR (there was movement at the station, for the word had passed around, that the colt from old regret had got away . . . so we went and got'im)

As much as it may 'dumb down' the craft of bush poetry somewhat, I think a good bit of slapstick 'rancid doggerel' (love that term too . . thanks Col) gets the younger kids interested more than anything. My young kids (oldest is 5) favourite poem of mine is the one where green ants bite me on the bum.

As for older kids, I think a bit of mainstream commercial success helps. I remember the popularity of Rupert McCall's patriotic sporting poems as a younger bloke re-sparking my interest in rhyming verse.

And Nev . . . how come a big tough ex-walloper can't handle 20 kids in a library?

Cheers, Marty

Right on the money, Marty. I knew you were blessed with children for reasons other than to choose your Nursing Home. I think Rohald Dahl and Paul Jennings and co. may have proved this with mainstream writing. I always remember my boy's favorite book as a kid. 'The Bum Thief'. Probably been banned and burnt by todays PC Army!!

I think ( gees that is scarey ) we may have hit the nail on the head. Focus our attention on those who show an interest already. I had a group through the van park last year who were on the way up to Winton to perform and they loved bush poetry and I got some to perform with me at the park. Stole the bloody show little buggers. They were from the ( Wait for it ) A B Patterson College on the Gold Coast.

They are out there we just have to find them.

Ps anything to do with schools has to start early in the year so they can include it in their programmes.

Cheers Bob

G'day Marty, I'm just a not-so tough pensioner.
I thought that more than 11 children would not allow enough time to give each child the attention they needed to progress, the attention included giving them a chance to participate, and we filled the allotted time easily. I think that with 20 we would have run out of time. Some teacher might explain the rationale of teacher/pupil ratios.



I was interested in Heather mentioning how her daughter gave a presentation in front of a large audience.

It might sound far fetched but I think if people could realise that a small activity like performing in a bush poetry comp may well have the effect of giving a child some advantage in their education, there might be some encouragement given.
A confident and practised speaker could be first for school captain, maybe even a career as a highly paid barrister. You know what I mean ? In all seriousness I think that advantage exists, if we could pass the message on.

Way back in 1990 I was assigned a task of being on a panel that interviewed applicants for employment in our organisation. I think a lot were taken back when I explained that we had over 100 applicants for some 50 positions and their task was to persuade the panel that they were worth having over others. Most of the applicants were nervous, we understood that, but many obviously had no idea how to speak persuasively on a subject and that being one they should know well .... themselves.
I think that here is an instance where experience in an activity like bush poetry comps would really ground them well . I really mean it. Job and promotion applications. Bush poetry performers would kill it.

All this I suppose is separate from the issue of fostering the bush poetry culture.
Just some thoughts.

It might sound far fetched but I think if people could realise that a small activity like performing in a bush poetry comp may well have the effect of giving a child some advantage in their education, there might be some encouragement given.


Not far fetched at all, Neville. A great lesson in life. My eldest son performed poetry as a young tike, around a few festivals and now has no fear of jumping up to give speeches at weddings, birthdays etc.

This is one of the more relevant comments to date. Thanks

G'day , my first introduction to bush poetry as a kid of 13yrs, came from the late Getrude Skinner, ( The great old lady of Tamworth Poetry) in the 1980's.
She wrote her poems down , and read them to me as i walked through her home door in Gipps street Tamworth.
over many cups of tea and years of freindship with mrs Skinner, was a great privalige to be learnt the art of Australian Bush poetry.


Duncan.

Hi Duncan - read your tribute poem to Gertrude, and it is obvious she touched your heart. Remember seeing a saying once that related to the education of children where if they were exposed to literature etc before a certain age they would retain the love of it for life. So how lucky were you to know such a special lady who fostered that love in you for poetry.

G K Chesterton's Poem - ' The Donkey' was one I learnt about aged 7 or 8 and still love to this day

Cheers

Maureen

I think Kym's on the right track with the Eisteddfods. I would approach a few of these, and try to work out how it is working for them.

The other huge untapped resource, I think, are the speech and drama teachers. They are generally the ones, I believe, who encourage and help prepare the children who perform at Eisteddfods. These teachers have their own organisation and newsletter. I believe they are especially strong in Queensland. Victoria much less so. NSW somewhere in the middle.

I would be happy to pass on the name and contact details for the editor of the newsletter of the NSW Speech and Drama Teachers Association. She is a publisher of children's poetry herself, and very keen to assist in any way she can. I have found her very helpful in the past. Perhaps the ABPA could write an article for these newsletters, explaining what it is they are trying to achieve, and asking for assistance.

A further thought. Neil, have you seen 'Big Book of Verse for Aussie Kids', published by Allen and Unwin in 2009? The reason I mention it is that, firstly, I have several poems in the book and, secondly, a couple of these poems are now appearing as prescribed texts at Eisteddfods - quoting this book as their source. So presumably the book is doing a pretty good job at hitting its target.

There are over 600 poems in the book. They are not all written by Australians, though most of them are. There is a wide range of stuff in there, from the 'classics' by Banjo and Henry, to nonsense verse by Spike Milligan, and everything in between. It also appears to all age ranges, from the very young to the young adult.