ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Bush Pottery

© David Campbell, 17/08/16

I thort I’d ’ave a go at that bush pottery,
though makin’ stuff is sumthin’ of a lottery
fer ’opeless dills like me wot’s just all thumbs…
an’ can’t do sums.

Me ’eart was goin’ fast, real pitter-pattery,
like it ’ad been jump-started by a battery
when I sat down before that potter’s wheel…
ter get a feel.

The clay was squishy, soft, an’ kinda buttery,
but then me ’ands went crazy an’ all fluttery,
so bits fell off an’ flew around the room…
a sign of doom.

It looked so easy an’ I though that mastery
would come real quick, an’ not like this disastery,
fer experts make it seem like it’s a breeze…
but that’s a tease.

An’ potters? Well, I’ve found ’em kinda snottery,
some tend ter get their knickers in a knottery
when things don’t go exactly as they like…
an’ take a hike!

Wot’s that? It should be “poetry”, not “pottery”?
Thank Gawd! Them poets won’t make me all tottery,
an’ rhymin’ stuff’s a doddle, don’t yer know…
or ain’t it so?

so sums or do sums?

Very Dennisish David

Thanks, Maureen...fixed!

Oh David! I'd love to compose a reply, but how do you follow

knickers in a knottery

It's brilliant!

Cheers
Shelley

Agreed Shelley.

Thank you, Shelley and Glenny. Believe me, there's nothing quite so off-putting as a bunch of knickers in a knottery!

Cheers
David

But if it was not poetry,
And was indeed bush pottery,
Would that mean its quality
Was something of a lottery?

Would that mean it wouldn't last,
Based on techniques from the past?
Or mean that, practical and cheap,
It was the stuff you'd want to keep?

"Bush"…a tricky adjective.
It could be a pejorative,
But could, too, be a compliment.
It's hard to know just what is meant.

"Bush nurse": it sounds so clean and calm,
Protecting travellers from harm.
"Bush lawyer": doesn't sound as good.
Perhaps his brain is made of wood?
Stringy bark or mountain ash?
His cross-examination trash?

"Bush poetry"? It has the feel
Of being thrown upon a wheel,
Of being fashioned out of clay,
Of being brown, or maybe grey,
Of being baked until its hard…
Just like the brain of this old bard.

A brain hard-baked will likely lose the plottery,
and make dud rhymes…oh heck, that’s what I’ve gottery!
I’ll have to go and visit that bush nurse
and fix my verse.

Bush medicine, bush tucker and bush verse
might be the tools of trade for that bush nurse ...