OK, so yesterday, as part of the monthly Gawler Poets at the Pub event, my new poetry collection, “Leonard Cohen Is Dead” was launched, in the presence of a keen group of friends and fellow poets! I sold some copies of this book, and probably made enough money to have paid for the cost of buying them from the publisher, Ginninderra Press, at the author rate.
I enjoyed the day, from the excellent workshop held (more about that later), to the lunch, and the book launch – not too long, not too short, but just right!, and then the poetry reading to follow, with me as the guest poet! How exciting!
Reading of the poem that this collection is named for went extremely well, and I could feel the strength and passion in my voice as I read the poem to those present. This poem is an excellent one, that shows how I feel about this great man, Leonard Cohen, sadly no longer with us.
Passion and poetry go together well, and the reading of a poem with no connection or care is a pallid version of the words, and should never be done, in my opinion. If you couldn’t care less about what you are reading out to others, why bother even reading it? Whether you like the words or not, the listener should be able to understand your feelings about it, by your presentation!
Anyway, back to that workshop … The “(Developing) A Sense of Place” workshop was attended by a keen group, and we all wrote notes, and then put together our words in poetic form. I certainly got right into this subject, and I feel got to what the presenter, Alex Robertson, was working to convey to those present.
In the end, I actually wrote three new poems during the day, such was the ‘creativity’ I was feeling there!
These are my brand new poems, three different styles, all inspired by the doings of a lovely day in a lovely hotel, in a lovely town. I love Gawler, and the Prince Albert Hotel, and I love my writing group members and others who are involved too!
This was an excellent day’s entertainment, for those who love words, writing, especially writing poetry! With the five word challenge, five words are chosen at random from the Guest Poets writing, then those present are involved to write something creative, using those five words, or versions of those words. They have ten minutes to write, then one by one, each has their chance to read their new piece of creative writing to others present. Then the winner is chosen by the Guest Poet, and the winner is given a bottle of wine, kindly donated by the lovely people at the Prince Albert Hotel!
So this event happens every month, and the good thing is, the guest presenter/poet is paid for the gig. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s an easy and stress-free gig, to a large extent, and is a great way to go for a newbie on this scene, with more of a being with friends feel to the whole thing. But we are all getting better and better at doing this, and so really, anyone there, may be the one who most attracts the attention of the guest, and wine that bottle of booze!
For the final part of the day, the Poetry Reading, poets are give a few minutes to read their own words, whether brought with them, or written in the workshop section earlier. And gosh, the quality of the words read just keeps on getting better and better! Because there is such a friendly ‘country’ feel to the day, most people enjoy themselves, and we hope will continue to join us.
This event was actually begun 27 years ago by the poet, Martin Johnson, who was in fact the person who launched my book for me. And not long after this event had begun, I first met Martin for my first ever public poetry reading, so it all felt perfect for me yesterday, like a joining up the ends to make a circle of my poetry life!
Poetry brings me joy in so many ways!
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 