Tuesday 31st January 2012

Presenters, Clayton Werner and Maggie Emmett will be talking to another mentorship poet from 2011, Rachael Mead, and asking her how she worked with her Mentor, the poet and broadcaster of Poetica (ABC), Mike Ladd. What were her goals and how did they work to achieve them in the mentorship. Rachael has already been successful as one of the poets chosen for publication in New Poets 17, selected by Judge Kate Deller-Evans. You will be hearing some of the poets from that manuscript. Rachael is currently undertaking post graduate studies at the University of Adelaide with supervisor the poet Jill Jones. Rachael has lead an extraordinary life, for one so young, filled with some rather unique experiences, which she is happy to share with us.

This program was first broadcast on 22nd November 2011 but was interrupted, so we are giving listeners a chance to hear this excellent poet and her interview completely uninterrupted.

Radio Adelaide ~ Community Radio at its best!

Thank you for the co-operation with Radio Adelaide staff.

Thank you to the SA Government

for their continuing support of the Arts in SA, in particular our Arts SA grant which make these programs possible

I love

You love

The difference is

I do not want to be known for

Only my sexuality

My sex life is private

As is yours

I seal my commitment

As you do yours

But yours is accepted as

Real yet

Mine is denounced as

Frivolous

Unnecessary and

Unjust?

© Sher’ee Furtak Ellis

Lost

He was the only one
walking down the street
in the first dusk
looking for his wife.
Curfew hour
sirens screamed
bombs falling near.
Exploding stars.

His steps dissolving in asphalt
Thoughts taking him back
Their happiness framed on the wall
his wife in white
sitting small
he
above her
protective, tall.

A dog barks
at the door
left ajar
drawn curtains
dimmed lights,
unknown men
pulling apart
dark plaits of hair.

She danced naked
from table to table
and offered her husband
what was left.

© Jelena Dinic

Kosovo

I walked down the steep hillside track,

following the path worn by centuries,

stepping carefully because of my load.

Looking out across the valley

where my family and the others

had once farmed together in harmony.

The black birds wheeling in the sky.

Dipped down, again and again,

to the newly turned fields.

Where old ideas, once buried deep,

had been brought to the surface

by the furrows.

I hitched up my heavy pack for the final time

and rounded the corner.

Towards the smoke of the blacksmith.

For the forge work previously agreed.

For him to beat

my ploughshare into a sword.

© John Brydon

Big Bad Wolf

In the fairy story

the fate of the wolf

depends on how scared of him

the children are.

He may have…

impersonated their grandmother,

huffed away their house,

nipped them with his big teeth,

or blown their friends to pieces on a sunny July day.

His fate is proportionate:

He may be…

drowned in the cooking pot,

hounded by dogs,

he may meet the arrow of a brave huntsman,

or take a headshot in the cool of a Pakistani dawn.

© John Brydon

The Politician to his Speechmaker

I need a way of saying

Nigel Dey ~ Kalicharan

This is the face of the honey unmistakeable, dulcet toned, English voice you’ll hear in two programs over summer on Poets on Air our weekly radio program on Radio Adelaide every Tuesday 3.30pm – 4pm. Nigel is sure to surprise us with his poetry and musical choices so please enjoy the rather eccentric, but utterly dazzling talents of this broadcaster. His guests will includepoets Mike Hopkins and Ian Messenger.

Radio Adelaide ~ Community Radio at its best!

Thank you for the kind co-operation with Radio Adelaide staff.

Thank you to the SA Government

for their continuing support of the Arts in SA, in particular our Arts SA grant which make these programs possible

Julia Wakefield

This is the bespectacled  face of that efficient  BBC- styled Australian voice you’ll hear in two programs over summer on Poets on Air our weekly radio program on Radio Adelaide every Tuesday 3.30pm – 4pm. Julia’s programs are focussing on two interesting subjects. The first a poet profile on FSPoet Dr Valerie Volk and the second a themed program on War.

Listeners might like to look at the Australian Poetry website where they are asking people to nominate their favourite Australian Love Poem of all time. Maybe you’d like to nominate one too. Mike Ladd  will be producing a Love Poetry Radio special on the ABC Poetica in February. Obviously love is in the air around Valentine’s Day – the joy of all chocolate makers and florists! Julia will be presenting her program on the theme of Love on Tuesday 14th February 2012. Put that unforgettable date in your diary.

Radio Adelaide ~ Community Radio at its best!

Thank you for the kind co-operation with Radio Adelaide staff.

Thank you to the SA Government

Seasonal Fractal Greetings

to all our friends

We will be on holday until our first meeting in February 2012. Please stay safe and well away from hospitals.  Please write or read lots of poetry, relax and enjoy the summer holidays.  We will be putting poems up during the holidays to keep you going over the break. With best wishes for jollies with your families, unburned BBQs, happy Beach trips, edgy surfing or just lolling somewhere cool and relaxed. ENJOY!

Australia (after Alan Ginsberg)

Australia, I gave you my heart and you broke it. It’s over between us. This is not about me it’s about you. You’ve changed.

Australia I came to you with nothing, and now I’m something. Why am I not sure I made the right choice? I was a socialist when I was young and I’m not sorry. I marched in the streets. I waved placards. I sang The Internationale. I thought we would grow closer as we got older, but Australia we’ve grown apart.

Australia why do you insist on draping another country’s flag over your shoulder? What is it with you and America? You do realise you’re in the southern hemisphere don’t you?

Australia why do you have a third world country living right inside your belly?

Australia take me to your leader.  No. Cancel that request. It’s clear you don’t have any leaders.

Australia why do you let shit for brains shock jocks rule your intellectual life? Why are your businessmen such macho pricks? When will you come out of the closet?

Australia when will you free David Hicks?

Australia I feel nostalgic for Paul Keating. Christ, I’m worried I might even be feeling nostalgic for Malcolm Fraser and Robert Menzies.

Australia, if you were on the psychiatrist’s couch, I think you would be labelled ‘psycopathic’, lacking in empathy for anyone earning less than $150,000 a year. Australia I am being serious. What are we going to do about this, and don’t tell me she’ll be right ?

Australia it occurs to me that maybe you’re not Australia at all. Maybe George W was right, and you’re really Austria. You’ve certainly been exhibiting some Teutonic tendencies of late. Maybe I’m really Australia. I’m talking to myself yet again. Hell, I’m scared – my extremities are about to be colonised by hordes of desperate, dark skinned people. They’re coming to put a mosque on every street corner, to force our women to cover their faces, to impose Sharia law. Australia this is the impression I get from your media. Is this correct?

Ok Australia, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. You can be Australia again. I’m too small for the job anyway. Seriously Australia, you need to make some changes. I’m prepared to do my bit. I’ll put my straight shoulder to the wheel. I’ll give up beer, watching football and staying out late, if you’ll give up shock jocks, spineless politicians and forelock tugging to far off countries. That seems fair to me.

Australia do we have a deal?

© Mike Hopkins

And if you like to hear Mike Perform this poem why not click on his blog below for a recent REBELSLAM! performance of Australia

http://mistakenforarealpoet.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/video-of-australia-my-political-poetry-competition-2nd-placer/

You can also read Mike’s poetry in New Poets 17, published in 2011 by Wakefield Press. For a copy to be sent to your home please contact FSP at this website. Cost $22.00 (includes p&p) or buy a copy at our next FSP meeting in February 2012.