November Poem of the Month: Lindy Warrell

The Tourist by Lindy Warrell

It's not my country… 
          this jeweled isle of caparisoned elephants
           and twirling dancers chanting and
            torch throwing in dazzling costumes 
             over pure white cloth 
              to a million torches and drums
               thrumming in veneration.
                                    Buddhist spectacle surround sound.
 
It's not my country…
          where obeisance to gods
           and vows are performed
            in coconut frond palaces
             woven for the divine when
              a priest trans vests to dance
               in silken sari and trance. He is the Goddess.
                                     Cries of joy and rupees adorn Her sacred hem.
 
It's not my country…
          where drunken tourists
           lounge near-naked in hotel luxury
            and palm-lined beaches
             wander unheeding in
              paddy fields people call home
               where buffalo graze and children play.
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FSP December City Meeting and Open Mic

Monday, 2nd December, 2019
6:00 – 9:30pm.

The Box Factory
59 Regent Street, Adelaide.

Our last meeting for 2019!!

Bring along your poems to read or just come and listen to a diverse range of poetry. Remember, 3 minutes maximum mic time per reader to make sure everyone gets a go and has an audience.

Sign-in from 6:00pm for a start around 6:20pm. Second session starts around 7:30pm.

If you want your poem to be considered for this year’s anthology, you must be a member of FSP (you can join on the night). Bring along two printed copies of your poem with all your contact details on them for submission.… Click for more

FSP Featured Poets at Halifax Cafe in November: Peter Goldsworthy and Jessica Alice

Thursday, 28th November, 2019
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Halifax Cafe
187 Halifax St, Adelaide.

A stellar duo for our final Featured Poets session for 2019: Peter Goldsworthy and Jessica Alice.

Come early, stay late. The Cafe will be open for food and beverages.

$5 cash at the door to pay the poets.

Click here for the Facebook event.

Peter Goldsworthy‘s first collection of poetry won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1982, the SA Premier’s Prize, and the Anne Elder Award. His second won the Australian Bicentennial Literary Prize for poetry in 1988, jointly with Philip Hodgins. He wrote the libretti for the Richard Mills operas, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and Batavia, the latter winning Mills and Goldsworthy the 2002 Robert Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work.… Click for more

Friendly Street Poets New Poets 20 & Single Poet Books Launch

Monday, 25th November, 2019
6:00pm – 9:00pm

The Box Factory
59 Regent Strett, Adelaide, SA 5000

FSP is proud to launch the latest collections by the winning poets in the New Poets and Single Poet Competitions:

Single Poet winner: Ben Adams‘ first full collection of poetry, A Synonym For Sobriety.

New Poets 20 winners: Alys Jackson‘s Wolf Ghosts, Sharon FoulkesFinding Their Voices and Julia Wakefield‘s Shifting Viewpoints.

Please come along, help celebrate the success by these emerging poets whose names have joined a wonderful list of past winners and hear them read some poems from their successful manuscripts.… Click for more

FSP November City Meeting and Open Mic

Monday, 4th November, 2019
6:00 – 9:30pm.

The Box Factory
59 Regent Street, Adelaide.

Bring along your poems to read or just come and listen to a diverse range of poetry. Remember, 3 minutes maximum mic time per reader to make sure everyone gets a go and has an audience.

Sign-in from 6:00pm for a start around 6:20pm. Second session starts around 7:30pm.

If you want your poem to be considered for this year’s anthology, you must be a member of FSP (you can join on the night). Bring along two printed copies of your poem with all your contact details on them for submission.… Click for more

FSP Featured Poets at Halifax Cafe in October: Jill Jones, Alison Flett and Banjo James

Thursday, 31 October, 2019
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Halifax Cafe
187 Halifax St, Adelaide.

This month we feature another fine line-up of Adelaide’s best: Jill Jones, Alison Flett, and Banjo James.

The Halifax Cafe will be open for meals, refreshments, coffee and more. Come early, stay late. 

$5 cash at the door to pay the poets.

Click here for the Facebook event.

Jill Jones was born in Sydney and has lived in Adelaide since 2008. She has published eleven full-length poetry books including Viva the Real (UQP), short-listed, 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, Breaking the Days (Whitmore Press), shortlisted, 2017 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and The Beautiful Anxiety (Puncher & Wattmann) winner, 2015 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry.… Click for more